Christmas 3

This picture is from yesterday, so not Christmas related - we rented an excavator so that Ryan could fix some of our drainage trouble (and apparently to move around some brush as he is doing in this photo).
This is from the Christmas party on Sunday - we were so glad that Aunt Louise could make the trip to join us again this year!

We were very glad that Lizzie got some new music to play - hopefully she will let us play these CDs in place of the Clifford CD she has so far insisted that we play whenever we are in the car.

Lizzie in her new coat, hat and mittens. Pretty girl!

Lizzie got a new drum this year - she knew what to do with it right away!

Christmas 2

More Christmas! Here is Mimi getting a special quilt made by Angi:
Lizzie got this pretty fleece shirt and insisted on putting it on immediately!

Lizzie really enjoyed all of the food - double dipping at every opportunity.

Looks like Santa came!

Passing out stockings - she was very much up to the task!

Christmas!

Here are a few Christmas photos - I will probably post a few blogs to capture them. Here is Lizzie looking at what Santa has brought (Santa came a few times, lucky girl!). Lizzie's new dinosaur - we call her Wanda - she loves to climb onto her!

Lizzie got a new jewelry box from Uncle Dan - she loves the spinning ballerina on the inside! (and we love that it came with a blonde ballerina and and brown ballerina so we can use whichever princess fits us - thank you pottery barn).

Lizzie loves to go sledding! We went on a Christmas Eve walk - we had beautiful weather!

20 Months

Lizzie is 20 months old now - it is hard to believe! Here are a few pics of some recent holiday fun. First, the new kitchen in progress - the countertop here is from our old kitchen - the new counter is supposed to be ready soon.
On Saturday Lizzie and I went to Pittsfield to make Christmas crafts and meet Santa. She loved the crafts (especially "decorating" her own cookie) but wasn't so excited to sit on Santa's lap. Here she is making a Christmas frame.

Santa arrives! All of the kids were excited, Lizzie wasn't sure what to make of it.

On Sunday we went south again for Grammy Phyllis' Christmas. A few of Ryan's cousins traveled from long distances to come to the party - we hadn't seen them in a long time and it was nice to visit. Here is a corner of the room with the tree and Christmas presents - tons and tons (there were a lot of us)! We were snappy gift openers this year, so it didn't take as long to get through it all as you might think.

Lizzie and I are headed out shortly to deliver some Christmas presents - tonight we will probably open some at our house - we can never seem to wait until Christmas!

Nana's Christmas Party

The old cabinets have been ripped out and the new cabinets assembled and hanging in the kitchen - lots of mudding (walls and ceilings) and finishing (counter top, kick board, painting, etc) to be done still in the kitchen, but the new cabinets look great! In the meantime, we are living without dishwasher or kitchen sink for a little while longer - we are making due with our impromptu kitchenette in the dining room and I broke down and washed the dishes in the bathroom sink (we had hoped to have the dishwasher running by now, but like all projects, have hit a snag). I will try to post mid project pictures soon.

So, on to more exciting things. Earlier this week we made the trek south to celebrate Christmas with Nana. Lots of nice food and family to enjoy. Lizzie had a great time - these pictures are out of order - this first picture is Lizzie on a sugar high - she was exhausted by the time we left from all of the running around (though she really didn't sleep on the way home - probably still from the sugar - it was a long ride!)!
Here is Lizzie enjoying the cake that caused the extra excitement (her face is covered in chocolate):

Lizzie visiting with Aunt Angi and Grampy Gary and looking over their presents:

Nana and her pretty Christmas tree, before the present opening began:

Lizzie playing with Mimi - probably doing some good jumping or dancing.

We have a solstice party tomorrow and another Christmas party on Sunday - things are very Christmas-y these days!

Photo success!

I have had a much easier time uploading photos tonight - phew! Here is one of the Christmas tree decorating - Lizzie has been a big help with the ornaments on the lower branches. The tree is in her play room - we have presents under the tree now - she doesn't seem to notice them!
Tonight Ryan begins the long process of dismantling our kitchen cabinets. I have emptied them and setup up a mini kitchen in our dining room. Our new cabinets are supposed to arrive on Wednesday - we are taking the old ones out now and crossing our fingers that the new cabinets are not delayed. If you were wondering why we are not hosting any Christmas dinners at our house, this is why. A quick before shot - hopefully we will have at least a partial after shot before Christmas (keep those fingers and toes crossed for us!).

We were trying to get a few cabinet pictures tonight and of course I had to zoom in on our Lizzie - yes, she is wearing a long sleeve shirt, fleece vest and sweater - we were not home for most of the day, and we were just getting the woodstove going - we keep our house at a "balmy" 62 degrees when we rely on the furnace.

A few days ago Lizzie helped me make blueberry crisp - she was in control of blueberry ripeness testing - we were lucky the crisp had any berries left by the time she was done sampling!

We got Lizzie bundled up for her first big snow storm - I was able to come home from work early on this day so we were all tucked in at home - I love those days when we are all home together! Lizzie has been really enjoying the snow - she loves to pick it up and eat or throw it.

The three of us have a cold that has been going around - Lizzie has been handling it really well, but I think there was a point today when both Ryan and I wished the other was feeling better so we could take a good nap. Lizzie had more energy than the two of us combined.

photo trouble

I should have called this blog trouble. I have tried uploading photos 3 times tonight without much luck. One last try with one photo only (I picked at random thankfully it has Lizzie in it - I try to keep her many fans happy). I also had other great dog pictures to post, some Christmas tree decorating pictures, and a few others. I will save those for another time. But, since I can't convey it in pictures, I will let you know that we are very busy these days - Ryan has been working hard to recover from a wind/greenhouse catastrophe (see www.parkerproduce.blogspot.com for more details - he hopes to have the greenhouse repaired tomorrow). We spent the weekend helping my Dad sell Christmas trees while Mom and Kate were in NYC. We have tried decorating our Christmas tree each night for the past 3 or 4 nights (tonight we finally managed to all be home and have dinner with some time to spare before Lizzie's bedtime to decorate the tree). The tree looks great! Lizzie seems excited by the tree, though she has had no interest (at least not yet) in the wrapped presents underneath.

T-day recap

What a nice Thanksgiving day we had! I think the photos are in reverse chronological order, but that is fine by me. We spent the afternoon and early evening across town at my aunts house for a late Thanksgiving lunch. Wonderful food and family fun!
We spent Thanksgiving morning at our house (our first annual turkey day, turkey free breakfast). Ryan's parents, sister, Nana and aunt were all able to join us. We got a few family shots taken while everyone was together.

Here is Lizzie in a make-shift apron to help us make breakfast. Ryan and I were both wearing aprons and she really wanted one - the sheep kitchen towel was perfect, held closed by a clothes pin.

Here she is on Wednesday, getting ready to help Ryan put Christmas tree on the plum tree. It looks great! Lizzie finds Christmas lights to be very exciting right now!

Lizzie helped me to make muffins on Wednesday, in preparation of the Thanksgiving day breakfast. She really loves to help cook, especially if she gets her own little pile of flour and a measuring spoon to play with.

November 15

Here are some pictures from our weekend:
Lizzie had her first snow globe experience this weekend - pretty interesting to her!

We took several photos in an attempt to get a good Christmas card picture - even one of me and Ryan by ourselves - we don't have many of those anymore!

Last night I repainted the lower half of our dining room wall - it was a very bright blue before (though I had wanted a gray-blue). I am happy with how it came out! It was a late night project, so luckily only one coat was needed.

November 8

Here is Lizzie in one of the dresses that her birthmom gave to us when we were in Louisiana. It fits her perfectly and is very festive! She is pretty excited about these shoes too :)
Pretty girl!

Lizzie had her first long spaghetti experience this week. She loved it and we enjoyed watching her eat - it seemed to give us permission to eat like this as well (look out for us the next time we eat in a restaurant).

Speaking of restaurant, Kate, Mom, Lizzie and I went to Ellsworth to do some shopping last week. Lizzie was pretty hungry by this point - I think she is saying "Mom, put down the camera and please order me some food!" We had a great lunch and a successful day of shopping.

Last weekend we visited Katie at the lake. The water has been drained some, so there is much more rocky coastline to explore. It was windy and chilly, but we had a great day.

Part 2

Here is Lizzie running after bubbles in part of her costume.
This is the flower in her full dress - the only piece of her costume that she didn't like was the head piece.

There she is, ready to go out for candy. Grampy Gary and Mimi joined us this year.

We also took the opportunity to pick out our xmas tree - this is always easier and more fun for me before it is snowy and cold. We will cut it down some time after thanksgiving. Mimi and Grampy Gary joined us for this as well. Yesterday was the start of hunting season, so we are decked out in orange for visibility.

What a nice day we had!

Halloween part I

We have had a great Halloween - here is part one of the post (no Lizzie in costume until part II). Here is one of our finished pumpkins.
This is Lizzie not in her halloween costume, but a costume from my first dance class. The fringe is fun to twirl:

Lizzie helping Ryan with the pumpkins:

Be sure to pull up those sleeves!