Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving morning the guys headed off to the PA Gamelands to shoot clay pigeons or in honor of turkey day, we were calling them turkeys. This was Andrew's first time since he was in Tennessee last year and he was really looking forward to it. They bundled up and headed out the door early morning. As it turned out, there was no longer shotgun shooting allowed, so they were out of luck. Booooo!

The girls and I stayed home and watched the parade and stayed warm.  Lily was being silly and making funny faces at Reagan.

They ate breakfast and watched a good portion of the parade until Andrew and George got home and then they were off to play with Andrew before it was time to eat.

 

Lily is a unique soul and I'm so thankful she's mine.

 

We enjoyed a yummy traditional Thanksgiving dinner that day for which we were very thankful!

 

 

This is what two overstuffed little turkeys look like.

 

party of 3

 

my love

 

 

One thing I have learned over the last several years of my life is holidays do not always go as expected or planned.  We've had pipes burst, custodial issues with kids, missing one person in our family etc. The guys' morning didn't start out as they'd hoped and the remainder of the day kind of followed suit.  We made the best of it for our children as we always do and spent the evening home together as our family of 5. 

 

Sometimes when you don't know what to do...

 

You just throw leaves...

 

Later, I headed out to Black Friday shop with my friend Amy...which actually is less Friday and more Thursday now, but it was fun, successful and I think a new tradition is born!

 

Happy Turkey Day!

gobble gobble

 

Don't forget to enter my Shutterfly Christmas card giveaway for the chance to win $50 off order of $50 or more!







9/11/2012

Each year, my husband, son and I spend hours watching the 9/11 coverage on the History Channel, Discovery and every other channel you can find a different "story" or perspecitve on.  George and I tend to reflect on where we were in our lives moreso than physically where we were. Andrew always likes to hear the story that he and I were watching Blues Clues when my friend Genevieve called and asked if I was watching tv and told me to turn it to the news.

Andrew's, 22 month old, choice of words for the day was "dammit," that he'd colorfully express upon seeing the repeated coverage of the planes hitting the building. 

From a 12 year old perspective, I'm guessing his fascination is that it wasn't part of history BEFORE his life, but rather during his life.

In April of this year, Andrew and his Scout troop went on a trip to Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Valley Forge and the September 11th Memorial in Shanksville. He said the Memorial was his favorite part of the trip. He read a lot of the information there and shared when he returned home. 

These are some of his photos from that day:

I See Your True Colors

I wasn't quite sure how coloring eggs was going to go with Lily this year. With her, you just never know if she's going to dive right in, sit back and watch, or get fussy about any part of it.

Last year, she turned 9 months on Easter Day and this year she's 20 months, so there's definitely a mix of laid back and toddler drama.

Turns out she did all 3. ;)  Of course.

As I said, we waited until Easter morning when Reagan came back home before coloring, so after breakfast and baskets and once our dessert was baking, it was time!

Lily is one funny little person and this year was definitely fun to watch!

Hmmmmmm....what to do first, Bubby.

{she literally says "hmmmm?" when she puts her hand on her face like this}

Most definitely there was some tasting involved this year too.

We tried using the wire whisk method this year to keep it easy for Lily and although she did use it, she also used her hand and the spoons as well. At one point, she picked up an egg and literally threw it in the dye. You know, since 20 month old toddlers are always gentle.  That created a lot of laughter in the older two.

She was wayyyyy too fascinated with the egg dyeing to stop for pictures. :)

Easter egg coloring success and I think Lily is a big fan too ! Can't wait 'til next year!