Thanksgiving 2012

And this wasn't even everything --- the deviled eggs and stuffing hadn't made it to the table yet, never mind the pumpkin pie, banana pudding and birthday cake!

We had such a nice Thanksgiving holiday in our new home! Grandma and Pop came to visit along with Corey and Emma. Sydney was soooo upset when they left. We had delicious food (thanks to chef Randall), fun family time, and we squeezed in a celebration of my 31st birthday. All in all, a great weekend with perfect weather.

No clue whose brilliant idea this was --- goofy people

Chef Randall and his oil-less turkey fryer. Delish!

This person enjoyed the food the most. Since this meal, he primarily wants real food. Forget that pureed baby stuff!

10 Months

Collin turned 10 months old on the 18th! I'm two days behind, but we've just been so busy, now that BOTH of our kids are on the go at such a crazy pace. It's hard to believe we'll be celebrating his 1st birthday in less than two months. Where has this year gone??!

At 10 months old, our sweetie, cutie-pie son:

• is a crawling maniac
• pulls up and stands on his own for up to 10 seconds - and is SO PROUD of this!
• adores his sister and laughs like crazy at her whenever she's being silly
• still just babbles, mostly saying things that sound like "dada" but he has all sorts of other words we can't understand yet :)
• takes two good naps a day when we're at home; two very short naps at school
• is eating every kind of pureed baby food and has moved into several finger foods
• wears 12 month clothes and size 4 diapers
• loves to bang on things, including the remote controls
• can get up our stairs in no time; baby gates are my new best friend
• shows a lot of interest in real toys; favorites are the play kitchen and anything that lights up and plays music - he dances!

Collin rarely cries. I heard a kid crying outside his classroom yesterday, and when Sydney and I walked in, I said "Oh good, that's not mine."  His teacher said, "Right, because Collin cries like ZERO times a day!"  That makes a mommy feel oh-so-good!

And here's his favorite person in the whole world, big sister! She loves "my baby Collin." I always say he doesn't have a chance because she is going to be all up in his business for the rest of his life. Ha! She's taking his picture in this photo --- her new favorite thing in the world. I spend a lot of time deleting!

 And of course she needed one by herself for good measure!

Now that our lives have settled down a bit, we're really enjoying being in our new home and starting to get acquainted with our new life. It has taken awhile, but each day is a little more familiar. We feel so lucky to have two healthy and happy kids. There are certainly challenges (hello, she IS a strong-willed toddler!), but this week is a great reminder to be thankful for everything we have.

Happy 10-month-iversary, Collin!!

A little Halloween, A little Christmas

(Don't worry, we haven't forgotten about Thanksgiving!)

Here is a recap of our Halloween. I think Sydney has had some pretty awesome costumes for her three Halloweens so far, and Collin is off to a great start! I loved their dog and cat ensemble this year.

Of course, when trick-or-treating was over, we returned home to the awful news about Randall's mother. I like to think that she would love knowing her grandbabies were out having a fun time on what turned out to be a terribly sad day.

Sydney liked to be escorted close to the door, but then she would knock/ring/accept candy on her own. Maybe by next year she'll be like all the other crazy kids running all over, wishing her parents would just leave her alone!This picture looks like our neighborhood was deserted, but there were kids everywhere. We just got an early start :)

Jumping forward and skipping a holiday or two, yesterday we learned that Santa was going to be part of a Humane Society fundraiser not far from our house. We thought this was the perfect opportunity to see if Santa was going to be considered naughty or nice by our kids this year. They love him! Sydney told him all about the princess baby doll she hopes he will bring her (now we must find one of those.) Collin didn't really care about it one way or another, but at least there were no tears. Can't wait to get them dressed all cute for a real visit to Santa (preferably with a nicer backdrop!) closer to the holiday.

Remembering Meme

We returned home yesterday after an emotion-filled few days in Virginia, saying goodbye to Randall's mother - our children's Meme. Her passing came all too soon. We just knew we had several more years with her, and we were thrilled to have even more time now that we were within driving distance. Easy weekend visits. Holidays. Birthdays. But, after the kids spent our moving week at her home, she was taken from us, and we were forced to find peace in the memories rather than focusing on the fun times still in store.

Here are some of my favorite shots of her with our children, and my favorite picture of Randall with his mom.

Betty was a lot of things to many people, and I always admired her strength and faith. Attending her funeral and spending a lot of time thinking about healing has caused us to give more thought to our own faith and the way we hope to raise our kids. She would be very proud of that.

She LOVED her family. It was #1. Her boys, their wives, and all the grandchildren. It was her favorite role in life --- providing for and loving her family. She worked very hard to raise her boys with no spouse around, and she did a pretty kick ass job. Mike and Randall made her proud. They are good people, and it's no surprise coming from a mom like her. I feel like Mike's wife, Muzette, and I got the best work she ever did, and I'm grateful for her every day.

As Randall told his mama before her casket was closed, "We will take care of those babies for you." We will make sure they know who she was, and we hope they turn out to be people she would be proud of. She loved them so, so much.

We miss her already. Rest in peace, Meme.