Emma's First Birthday

I have not posted this entry on purpose.  I have to say, I am a little annoyed.  I feel as if Little Girl is my daughter.  I am the one that holds her when she's sad, comforts her at night and knows how to get a bubbly laugh out of her. I AM her mother. Yet, I can't mention her name or post pictures of her face on my family blog.  So, her first birthday rolled around and I couldn't even post the pictures of her cute, chubby hand squishing her cupcake.  Her birthday was in November and I am finally getting around to the post.  Not because I had forgotten or didn't have the time but because I was mad.
Anyway......
We had a party planned for the little peanut but the night before she ran a high fever.  The party was cancelled and we ended up snuggling on the couch that day.  In the end, we went to our local cupcake shop (can you believe little Black Mountain has a cupcake shop?) and bought 4 beautiful cupcakes.  I picked out a small carrot cake cupcake for baby girl. 
After dinner, we let her dive into the special treat.  She enjoyed squishing the cupcake more than eating it.  Oh, how I wish I could post the photos. 
Little one, you complete our family.  Always remember that we love you no matter what happens.  You will always be my daughter.

**Photos posted March 2016

Thanksgiving 2013

We had a quiet, cozy Thanksgiving.  Well, as quiet as a small house dominated by three kids could be.  Shelley and Peter came to spend the holiday with us.  It was great to see them and catch up.  The boys, as always, were in heaven playing with their grandparents. 

 

 

The Thanksgiving table.  As you can see, we are not fancy.  And yes, Myles is wearing snow bibs without a shirt. 

 

Josh cooks the turkey a different way every year and every year he swears, "it's the best way to cook it".  This year he smoked the turkey outside.  His method consisted of two fires, one under the turkey and the other used to create hot coals.  The coals were constantly used to fuel the fire under the turkey.  Quite an experiment but the turkey was wonderful.

 

Myles, our resident vegetarian, attempted to try a bite of turkey.  He promptly spit it out and never touched it again. 

 

This is what Myles' plate really looked like.  He only ate the cranberry sauce.  Notice the one bean....he didn't touch it. 

 

Baby girl, on the other hand, ate more than both boys combined.

 

 

Quality time was spent lounging around.

 

The day after Turkey Day we picked out our tree.

 

It was a great day for tree pickin

 

Look, we had a reindeer in our yard!!

First Snow

A few days before Thanksgiving we had our first "snow".  It wasn't much more than a dusting but the boys were super excited.  They put on all of their snow gear and headed out.  Unfortunately, it was all gone by lunch time. 

 

 

You can see what I mean by "snow".  It really wasn't much.

 

There was more snow on the van than on the ground.

 

So, they played where the snow was most abundant. This little excursion resulted in a very scratched up hood.  Needless to say, I was not pleased.