Thankful 2012

We had a glorious Thanksgiving Day.

It began with a Turkey Trot with friends and some pre-trot victory dances.  David and I were on competing relay teams--  I am pretty sure David won the dance competition simply because of the subtle moves he was daring to pull in his stretchy pants (which may be difficult to see on this low-quality, cell phone recording).

At least you can hear the featured song..."Do the gobble."

Time to eat!  We like to mix up the traditional menu a bit as an excuse to try out new recipes.  This year's huge hit: Gma K's Corn Bread Stuffing.  It had turkey sausage, apricots, cranberries, lots of crunchy veggies, and fresh herbs.  I probably ate five pounds.

More removal from norm...no pie here...just Gingerbread Trifle and Pumpkin Brule.  

And after three rounds of food, the day was complete with some board games to burn it off.  Mia's fave?  Pretty, Pretty Princess with her aunts.

We are richly blessed!

June's Top 10

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As June gets more solid, Dad gets more and more daring with acrobatics.

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June has graduated from the Bjorn to the cart for shopping trips.

Her little legs and arms flap with excitement over the sheer joy perceived freedom.

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We discovered one morning that June likes to shout (or sweetly declare, rather) "hooray!"

Here she is celebrating her 8 month birthday. 

She will be 9 months on Thursday, so I'm a little behind in documenting.

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Over the last month, June's hair has become more and more curly.  

Here it is as it began to curl earlier in October. 

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June does not care to be spoon-fed baby food, so lunch-time is often a chore.  

This day, however, was the first the whole jar was finished in <30 minutes.="minutes." p="p" whew="whew">

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Puffy early-morning eyes and debut of June's first two teeth!

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Here is a sampling of June's pass-times.  Note the fact that June has never produced a traditional laugh...only a Pterodactyl-like squeal :

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Further evidence of June's best tricks:

Happy Honkin'

The words "haunted" and "haunting" are not a part of Mia's vocabulary.  

Instead she refers to scary displays as "honkin" houses."  

One such display at Home Depot had a life-size goblin or something.  Mia spotted it the instant we entered the store and Mia had been dead-set against venturing within a 50 yard radius.  David figured by the end of the trip that it was time for Mia to face her fears...get up-close-and-personal with the display in order to realize that it isn't real.  Mom tried in vain to convince determined Dad that "she will have nightmares!  she is only three!," but a whimpering Mia was wheeled deliberately toward the goblin.  

Upon arrival the previously stagnant goblin leaned forward, reached out a hand, and cackled.  

Mia did a full fledged backflip out of the cart onto the concrete floor and proceeded to SCREAM her heart out until we had made it to the car.  Needless to say, we provided a good show for the onlookers. 

Here is a much less spooked-out pair (well, June is a little spooked by her new, rounder shape), pausing on our way to the local library's Halloween activities.

Our flapper girl's elementary rendition of the Charleston:

Well, trick-or-treating last night was a failure.  Mia spent a day full of practicing her "TRICKOTWEET"s and "thank you's" and "I'm a flapper" phrases, but horror set in as we neared the "honkin'" neighborhood (we have to travel into town for Halloween-participating neighborhoods);  Mia became mute and rigid.  Her friends were sweet to try and include her,  but as far as she was concerned,
those bodies in the masks and hoods were NOT any friends of hers!
And apparently there is something terrifying about receiving free hand-outs:

June, however, had a fabulous time.

She even had an encouraging ring of cheering audience around her as she wiggled her body with all her might to Cotton-Eyed Joe at the church party.

This photo is for sentimentality.  We took one three years ago in the same spot with a different pumpkin:

P.S.

David and I got into it too.  David even wore eyeliner (after some feigned hesitation).

Aaand, SURPRISE! 

We each won our respective gender's doughnut-eating contest at our friend's Halloween Party.

Mia's Top 10

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Weekly, Gma R blocks out her Thursdays to spoil Mia (and her mom) with activities, fun crafts, and treats.  

Here are Mia & Gma returning from a "leaf hunt." 

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Mia was at the tail end of our wood-chopping assembly line last week.  

With our prematurely chilly weather, we have already gone through a third of that weekend's efforts!  

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A mug-shot of my lipstick thief:

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Braving the balance beam at gymnastics:

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When I was small and needed glasses, my mom chose a GIANT pair of tortoise shell frames to match her own not-so-flattering set.  Mia and I found both pairs of said glasses the other day:

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Mia fancies herself quite the horsewoman and trotts around on Aunt Jacque's little Daisy like it's no big deal.

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Poor June is often victimized by Mia's interest in high-fashion. 

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David took this picture on one of our last sunny evenings of the year.  

Times like this one make heaven feel tangible.  

Harvest Time!

We have been reaping the rewards of our fun garden this month!  

It is so much more enjoyable having a garden helper who is in continually in awe over the progress each plant makes.  Every day when we would go to check on and weed the garden, Mia would go into ecstasies over the size of our pumpkins. Now we get to revel in our squash glory as we pile them high next to our front door and make all sorts of soups, breads, cookies, etc.

What a fabulous time of year!

Our nine surviving butternuts:

One of my two beautiful eggplants.  I could hardly bring myself to pick these--  they were so lovely.  Alas, both were sacrificed to a tasty batch of babaganoush. 

I often find some pretty scary photos of myself, parts of my self (Mia's eye-level does not produce the most flattering perspective), and other things...courtesy of Mia...on my phone, and have to spend a lot of time deleting.  This one I found, however, is in focus and captures me in true, weathered-looking form: sweet t-shirt, two-day old hair, sunshine wrinkles, and dirt under my nails!  

Most of the produce we'd gather would look like this before reaching the table.  For the longest time I was feeling panicky about a large rodent hovering around our house, until I caught Mia in the act of tasting each individual zucchini. It also happened to our cucumbers, green beans, and carrots. An attempt was made on an eggplant and an okra. And for the MONSTROUS size of our tomato plant (it was grown from seed and took over a 10 ft by 4 ft space), we ended up with a relatively small number of ripe tomatoes because of this sneaky girl. I think I managed to get TWO unmarked zucchinis into a meal and the rest just bore some extra love. 

It was a chore keeping some of the root veggies in the ground until full maturity.  I found Mia at the sink one morning in early summer washing this carrot she had prematurely harvested.

It was a solemn moment when we determined that our two last beets were ready.  Mia got to do the honors.

June's Top 10

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This sweet disposition combined with this darling age makes for easy smiles and arm flapping.

We wholly abuse this fact!

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While taking inventory of my mom's Halloween costume stash, June got involved...  

She looked like an American Girl doll.  

It was a little creepy and Mia didn't like it, but I was in tears--so funny!

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June prefers to feed herself.  She stubbornly seals her lips to adult-powered spoon feeding. 

It makes things complicated for mom, but her manual dexterity is highly advanced from all the exercise!

Whew! Too much hand to mouth exertion.

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Mia always feels very protective of June while at her frequent check-ups.  

This one was her first blood draw--  June was way tougher during the process than Mom and sis.

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Mia has a fetish with comparing feet.  She often expresses her pleasure over matching her

"brown-skin-chocolate" with June's "brown-skin-chocolate."  It makes mom happy too.

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June was born with much more hair than she has now.  Her head has grown, but her hair has not.  It is a new experience for us to deal with baby baldness.  (Mia's hair was visible in her ultrasound picture.) We didn't have a sun hat in this circumstance, but as always,

June was obliging and wore Mom's sweatshirt instead. 

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June has graduated to sitting in the BOB like a real girl...no more carseat modification = much more to see!