Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving we headed to the great place of Orange City to visit Gramma and Grandpa!

 Gramma and Amelia bonding in the little tent Gramma had!

 Our Thanksgiving table.  Amelia was ready to eat!

 After a very yummy, filling meal - it was nice enough outside we went for a walk with just sweaters and sweatshirts!  Yes, its November in the midwest and no snow!

 Amelia can now run pretty well, so she was practicing and having a great time!

 Amelia enjoyed the open space and the freedom

 Gramma went chasing after and brought back the little runner!

 Gramma and Grandpa still had leaves, so we decided to play.   Amelia did not know what to think of Gramma as she lay in the leaves - what a puzzled look she gave!

 It didn't take long for Amelia to join in on the fun with the leaves!  She thought it was hilarious how the leaves would blow away when you threw them in the air.

 Amelia with her handful of leaves

 One other wonderful think about this Thanksgiving was being able to see my high school friend Andrea and her daughter Lillian!

 After we got back in the house, Amelia played in the tunnel and kind of gave herself a mohawk with her ponytail - but it was lots of fun

 Playing "sleeping baby" with daddy

 Mommy and Amelia

 Grandpa is SO funny!

 Amelia and Grandpa bonding

 The dogs also had a fabulous Thanksgiving.  Couches are so wonderful to sit on - not to mention the lovin's you get from gramma.

And from Amelia!

Happy Birthday Mommy

This year, Mommy turned the big 3-0.

 Amelia giving Mommy her gift!

And Daddy even made Mommy a cake!

There's Hope Yet...

Well Papa, this is a special message for you.....

There is hope for you yet!!!!  Tonight, Amelia said 'papa' for the first time.  She may not realize its you yet, but she can at least say it now!!! Yahoo!

Daddy's Race

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Daddy ran in the Living History Farms race with Auntie Amber and Uncle James!

 This is pre-race, Auntie Amber and Amelia

 Papa and Amelia had lots of fun walking around

 The runners!  The race is 7 miles long - through creeks, over fences and in fields.  Not your typical race.  People also do not dress like your typical racers either.  We saw Santa and his reindeer, multiple brides, and lots of other uniquely dressed runners.

 "People, when is this going to start?!"

 Aunt Jenna and Amelia

 And the race begins!!!!

 Amelia walking around a field......her hat was a little big.....

 The race ends in a little 'town'.  The girls had so much fun running along the board walk.

 Nana corralling the girls

 Nana with a quick moment of the girls sitting still.

 And they are off again!   Amelia clearly thinks she owns the place!

 The girls in their strollers.  Mommy and Nana needed a break.

 Amelia playing peek-a-boo with Olivia

 For some reason this year - I did not do a good job of capturing the finish of the race.....if you look closely, you can see 2 yellow hats....that's Uncle James and Auntie Amber.

 Here comes Daddy!

 Once again....difficulties....look for the yellow hats.....can anyone say 'Where's Waldo?!'

 The clan after the race re-fueling on food!

 The little girls back at the house - hiding in the chair together

 Unkie Patrick and Olivia

 .....but Amelia had to be apart of it too, so re-take! 

 Olivia had a tunnel - and it was SOOO much fun!   Olivia looks extra long....coming out the front, but still has her feet in view from the back.

 Playing together!

 Olivia giving Amelia a little hug

The girls are both in their Bears jersey's.  The daddy's were so proud!

Class Act

Amelia's personality is really starting to show, which is sometimes a new experience for us.  She still remains very laid back, but now she has moments of strong emotion - which tend to be very, very loud.  I have to say - I'm really not quite sure what to do in these moments.  So I'm reading and trying to be very patient.  

Tonight, Amelia was telling Indie to go outside, to put his bark collar on (was even helping), to get into his kennel and to go get the ball when she threw it.

As we went to bed, Amelia got her little light finger going and we sang "This Little Light of Mine" - her favorite song.  We also tried a new song, which she did pretty good with for the first time...."Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."   She knows all the body parts except for possibly knees and shoulders.  If one of them was belly - she would definitely know that.

And as I left, while daddy was going to read stories - I asked her for a kiss and she gave me a big open mouth one on the cheek and giggled with glee.

Good night my sweet angel.

Talent!

Amelia has been working on many things lately.  3 weeks ago she switched to the toddler room at daycare and this has only spurred her on even more! (The transition from the infant room and toddler room went really well)  One of the areas she has been working on is talking - the constants F and G are now part of the artillery!

As you can see below - Amelia is bound and determined to climb on things - in particular furniture.  Here she is mastering the foot rest!

 Amelia is actually very good at getting down for the most part!  Much better than the stairs, though we have been working really really hard on that area and Amelia is doing very good skutching down.  She still needs a bit of a watchful eye, but overall much better than imagining it was like walking on water!

Amelia realized she could play her piano with other parts of her body and thought it was pretty funny - especially when Mommy and Daddy were laughing!

Amelia also tried her luck at fitting into the bin, also with much success!

Amelia had a lesson in balance as well as she tumbled backwards.