The Reason

So yes, we are a bit behind on the blogging. Partly we've just been busy. Those presents don't buy and wrap themselves after all! (Nor do those cookies bake themselves.) But also, we've had this to deal with...



She's picking up speed EVERY day and having great fun with it!

So we've been just a little bit extra busy keeping up with her!

Holiday Recap - Thanksgiving!

I am, as usual, woefully behind on the blogging. We've had a lovely holiday season, even if you haven't caught glimpses of it on the blog, so it's time to catch up a bit. For Thanksgiving, the start of the holidays, we traveled up to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with Grammy and Granddad. We had a lovely time - it was well worth the long drives on either end (9 hrs there, 11 hrs back!).  We even managed to get up to Michigan to visit Ammi and Poppa, AND see some snow! Quite the festive holiday!

First there was Thanksgiving day:

Making pumpkin pie

Helping Grammy mix the spices for pumpkin pie

watching football with Daddy

all dressed up for dinner

these stairs are so comfy

so pretty!

Grammy got to 'double-fist' grandddaughters a lot

pumpkin pie is goooooooood.

pants-less after dinner stair play - look I can touch the door!

heh-heh-ha-ha I'm so awesome without pants!

 The day after Thanksgiving we traded shopping for birthday celebrations

Happy Birthday to Ammi!

This contraption is GREAT for walking!

multi-level walking fun

Molly's first SNOW!!! (brrrr it was cold says the monkey)

showed the girls where Granddad grew up

 And on to the weekend:

M learned a new trick. And our laughter encouraged it's repeated performance.

Christmas cookies!

Merry Christmas!

I may not have written in a while, but that's just because we've been busy with holiday festivities. No time now to catch you up - just wanted to wish a very Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Hope your holidays are merry and bright!

Counting back to 13 months

I should have done this post a while back, but hey, life gets in the way sometimes! Anyway, at the end of September, Molly turned 13 months. (wow, that already seems long ago!) On that very day, it was fairly mild and I finally got around to doing an outdoor photo shoot of her in the special birthday dress that we have.  She may be smaller than the other two were at this same age, but I don't think that diminishes her cuteness!

I just want to ask, why do you do this to me?

It wasn't the best photo shoot ever. There were mosquitoes buzzing around. There were sisterly distractions. The grass was a bit long. But we managed a few decent shots, with the help of a special sock.

put your hands on your head, on your head

my precious Saturday sock

my sock, my sock, MY SOCK!!!!!!

Don't we own a lawn mower?

Even enough for a facial expression montage...

observing

happy

pensive

shy

disbelieving

And then of course, there's the obligatory comparison series. Can you tell who is who?* Can you tell which one had molars coming in when she had her fancy dress photo shoot?  I think they look really different, even though they are all around the same age!

 *from the top... Eliza, Molly, Hayden, Eliza, Hayden, Molly

So that's what I have for you today! 13 months is long gone by now - she's got more teeth, she's standing more and even thinking about taking a few steps. Sometimes I feel a bit silly trying to take all these pictures, but the moments fly by so quickly, it's nice to have the photos to look back on!

Birthday for Blizzard

This past weekend was Blizzard's birthday - #11 for those of you keeping track! I forgot about making special dog cookies to celebrate (even though Hayden remembered, once I told her it was Blizzard's birthday) so we decided to go for a family hike. Despite getting up there in years (the dog kind or otherwise), Blizz still likes a romp in the woods. And since I had been wanting to get back out there into nature, it seemed like a win-win.

Smiles at the beginning of the hike - love E's face looking at Hayden.

Of course, that meant taking 3 small girls with a tendency to whine out into the wilderness- with limited stuff because I didn't want to carry it - would it be a win-win? Thankfully it was!! It was a beautiful day, we didn't even run into many people so Blizz got to stay off leash for all but a couple minutes, no one (not even Eliza) got hurt by nature*, and everyone had a good hike! I was not on the top of my photography game, so pictures are a bit 'off' in various ways, but I think they still capture the fun of our hiking adventure.

Almost to the bluffs, holding hands to keep E upright!

H surprised me with her enthusiasm, hurrying on ahead for much of the hike!

 We headed to the bluffs trail in Duke Forest, a place I have been to many, many, many times before. The trail to the bluffs is fairly short, although it is downhill, and then there would be fun rocks and such to climb by the creek. The trail was indeed short enough for small children, but I neglected to think about the combination of rock climbing + small children who fall over while standing still. There wasn't really any trouble, but I did have several mom panic moments. 

Checking on the view - hold those hands tight!

The birthday girl on the bluffs

Good hiking so far!

Let's head down there!

After checking out the view, we headed down the side trail to the water, then backtracked under the bluffs by scrambling over rocks. The girls (2 footed or 4 footed) had a great time climbing up and down and around the water. H and E wanted to go farther, but I was worried about how they would do heading back up to the car.

Blizz gets her drink on.

up and over!

hold still Eliza, until we get up there too!

Blizzard wasn't always so patient at waiting her turn.

Waterfall! (mini-sized)

such a lovely day for a hike.

rocks are always fun to climb.

 After exploring by the creek, we headed back up to the bluffs for a little snack. Got our picture taken by the first people we had seen all morning, and then headed back up the trail to the car. There was a little bit of "I'm tired" whining on the way up, but we pointed out the pretty leaves, sang some songs, and played twenty questions. (Twenty questions is a current favorite -our version: one person picks an animal, then answers questions to have the others figure out the mystery animal.)

I got the monkey off my back during snack time.

 a great family photo! (Molly was fascinated by their small dog.)

spacing out in front of pretty leaves

E and her hair in front of the leaves

this pic doesn't come close to capturing the gold!

So that was our hike. It was a big success. I hope we can do it again soon! And Happy Birthday to our beloved Blizzard. Hard to believe you are 11 years old! You have been with us through so much! Love you!

As a teeny puppy, maybe on her first hike!

at the beach this summer