It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Friday, November 27

Lani came home with us Thanksgiving night. While the girls were busy playing with each other, I took the opportunity to start setting up the tree. Doxy was really excited to see the tree box come out and couldn't wait to jump in it. She settled for laying on the garland while I fluffed out the tree.

Saturday, November 28

While we got the tree up yesterday, we didn't get the angel and ornaments on it until today. Mara liked putting her ornaments on the tree and could hardly wait to set up the Thomas train track underneath.

Sunday, November 29

We took a break from decorating today and had lunch with Shari and David. Even though a cold front came through while we were eating, we braved the cold and took a trip to a nearby park. The girls had a lot of fun playing together.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very good Thanksgiving today and enjoyed spending time with our families. We started off the day by spending a couple of hours with John's family where Mara was very interested in playing "bonko ball" (aka pool).

We then went and ate dinner with my family. We definitely enjoyed the food that was served, and the pumpkin spice cake I made was delicious. :)

Short week

Monday, November 23

Mara wore a braid in her hair and had a lot of fun playing with the waviness when we took the braid out.

Tuesday, November 24

It's that time of the year again. We bought our first batch of Clementine oranges today. Mara loves the oranges and asks to eat them all the time.

Wednesday, November 25

Tonight, I made a pumpkin spice cake for dessert tomorrow. I haven't ever made it before, so I hope it tastes good. :)

24 weeks

I am now 24 weeks as of today. I think Mara's excited to be getting a little brother now. Before we left OKC, she kept hugging and kissing Gavin, which is very unusual for her to show that much emotion when saying bye. It was hard to get a picture of the four kids since she kept giving him kisses. :)

Birthday celebration

We packed up the car and headed to Oklahoma City this weekend to visit our friends Clinton and Evelyn and celebrate their son's birthday. It was a pretty quite ride Friday since Mara was plugged into her DVD player. (It must have been a scary part since she had her fingers up by her mouth.)

Then today, we celebrated Declan's 7th birthday with a Batman party. All of the kids had a lot of fun playing together, and Mara was right at home since she had a kitty to play with and sleep with her in lieu of Doxy. :)

Early Thanksgiving

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is just a week away.

Monday, November 16

Mara and John made chicken and dumplings for dinner tonight, and Mara helped add the dumplings to the pot.

Tuesday, November 17

Mara's school hosted its annual Thanksgiving lunch today. Mara invited Granddad and Aunt Diannie to join us. Before the lunch, the kids sang a couple of songs, including one about a turkey to go along with their hats they made that morning.

Wednesday, November 18

Mara got her first hot chocolate of the season tonight. It even included marshmallows, and Mara enjoyed every bit of it.

Thursday, November 19

Mara went in for her 6-month checkup at the dentist. She was a little leery of everything, including the X-ray machine, but she finally got her teeth cleaned.

Getting kicked

The baby has been kicking up a storm for the past few weeks. He doesn't seem to be quite as active as I remember Mara being, but it could just be that I'm more used to the kicks and movements this time around. Finally, last Sunday at 23 weeks, John finally felt a kick.

The baby loves to start kicking away when Mara sits on my lap, so I tell her that her little brother is kicking her. Yesterday, he was being really active while I was standing in the kitchen, so I placed her hand on my belly and he gave a really hard kick (or maybe it was a punch). She was so excited to finally feel him. I wonder what her reaction will be when she can start seeing him move.

Sights and sounds of fall

Monday, November 9

We moved the computer desk into our family room a couple of weeks ago, so I changed our screen saver to show random pictures that we've taken over the years. Mara loves to sit and watch the pictures go by.

Tuesday, November 10

We had dinner at Chick-Fil-A tonight and picked up our calendar for next year. We've been getting the calendar for several years now, and it more than pays for itself with the coupons we get. As an added bonus, we got the 2010 calendar for free because we bought a $20 gift card.

Wednesday, November 11

A few years ago, my friend Michelle told me about the rice socks that she used as heating pads. They are simply socks filled with plain rice that you warm up in the microwave. The nice thing is that they conform to pretty much any shape you need them to be, and they have been a blessing with the aches and pains of pregnancy.

Thursday, November 12

To entertain herself tonight, Mara took to coloring in her Little Mermaid coloring book while we watched TV and tried to pick up the house some.

Friday, November 13

My favorite color of leaves in the fall is red, and the house across the street from us has a tree with beautiful red leaves on it. I'm still waiting on our crepe myrtles to turn because they are a pretty red as well.

Saturday, November 14

We got our first carton of eggnogg this season today. When we got home, I fixed a glass to share with Mara, but she ended up drinking most of it.

Sunday, November 15

Mara and I went to the park this afternoon before the cold front hit, and she had fun playing hopscotch as well as climbing all over the jungle gyms.