Happy Thanksgiving

From our family to yours, we hope that you had a very happy Thanksgiving. We're so thankful for a great year with two healthy girls, two stable jobs, close friends and an extended family that we just love. Here's a few pictures from our day - we hope yours was a happy one!
Marilynn loves Thanksgiving! No turkey for her, but she ate her weight in rolls.


Uncle Christian did the carving - what a turkey!

Caitlin and Kenny decided to play some games after dinner - Marilynn didn't mind that they borrowed her toys.

Erika spent her Thanksgiving evening sleeping away.

Marilynn "helped" Uncle Christian with the dishes.

This Little Piggy . . .

Lately Erika has just loved to chew on her toes - she never misses the opportunity.

Good Birthday Weekend

We had a great weekend celebrating my birthday with the family and good friends. Marilynn enjoyed my birthday almost as much as I did. I think that sundae was bigger than she is! And, thank you, Mom for watching the girls while Ken and I got some time to celebrate sans kids!!

Erika's First Solid Food!

Erika had her 6-month check-up and passed with flying colors (okay, it's not really a pass or fail thing, but I guess I'm just one of those competitive moms). Here's the stats:

Height: 26 1/4 inches (75th percentile)
Weight: 16 pounds, 13.5 ounces (75th percentile)

Head: 17 1/2 inches (95th percentile - wow - big head!)

Everything checked out great, and she's now ready for solid foods, so we gave it a go tonight with rice cereal. Erika had every emotion possible - apathy, shock, resistance and joy.

Erika's New Best Friend

We spent Saturday evening at Skye and Eric's new home and had an amazing dinner. While we ate, Erika played with her new best friend - Selah. They were like two peas in a pod.

Thank you, Skye and Eric for a yummy meal and a great time!

Party Time

Marilynn's boyfriend turned 3 this past weekend, and Marilynn was quite excited to go to his birthday party. Problem is that she was not okay that he had other friends in his life - it was not so fun to share him. But, all was well once the cake and ice cream were served.

Erika at Six Months

It's hard to believe, but half a year has already passed by and little Erika is six months old today! She is getting to be so active these days - she rolls all over the living room floor, is playing with toys and is attempting to crawl already. She gets up on her hands and knees and just rocks and then takes a giant leap forward. She goes in for her six-month checkup on Monday, so I'll report back on how things went.

P.S. - to my dear husband - happy Veteran's Day!! And to all of those who have and are serving our country, thank you for all that you do for us!

Marilynn's First Movie

Shhhh. Don't tell Nathan, but Marilynn went out with another guy on Saturday night. Ken took her to see Madagascar II, and she loved it! Loved the popcorn, loved the big seats, loved getting to be with daddy and I think she even liked the movie. She didn't weigh enough to keep the seat down, so Ken had to hold it down the whole time with his knee. Too cute!

Lots and lots of leaves . . . .

I've been waiting for it to stop raining before I tackled raking leaves in the back. But, in the lovely Pacific Northwest, that just isn't a guarantee. So, Marilynn really wanted to get outside and help me rake them all up this morning in between rain showers. She's actually pretty good at it - about time that girl started earning her keep around here!

I'm a Big Girl Now!

Potty training has been hit or miss for us (yes, we've had a few misses, namely involving Marilynn peeing on Ken's laptop). So, tonight, I decided to just put her in panties to see what happened. She loved them and was so proud of herself! She announced "I'm a big girl now" and pranced around the house for the rest of the evening with no accidents. And, yes, those are monkey panties.

Two Little Monkeys

Marilynn just loves Curious George, so she wanted to be a monkey for Halloween. And, Erika is already wanting to do everything her big sister does, so I thought it would be cute to have TWO monkeys. Marilynn had a party at school and then the girls came by my office for some cubicle trick-or-treating. Then, Marilynn and I headed to our church for a carnival where Marilynn got even more candy.