Christmas!

What a great Christmas we have had! These photos are a bit out of order, but I think tell most of how we spent the last week or so. Here I am reading "T'was the Night Before Christmas" to Lizzie. She had much of it memorized this year and was very excited about it! Uncle Dan bought Lizzie some new rain boots - she was so excited to try them on (this is what we call "new boot goofin'").

Earlier this same day we (mostly Kate - I helped with sprinkles and baking, Lizzie helped cut them out and made finger prints on them) made Christmas cookies.

Another photo of Lizzie meeting Santa - I was so excited to get her picture with him this year! She was not shy at all - she went right up to him and shook his hand and was the first to sit on his lap. He asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she said "a candy cane, please" (which she received from Mrs. Claus when she hopped off his lap - pretty easy to please!). I was so glad she wasn't scared!

Do you see her below? The other kids are sort of hanging back and she ran right to them when she saw them. I know it might not be like this another year (I think she was the youngest one there), but I hope she continues to feel confident when Mom and Dad are there.

Right before Christmas we got a nice snow storm - perfect for making snow balls! The three of us spent much of that afternoon outside. We made a fort, snowmen (2), snow angels (many) and used the little sled. What a nice time!

Here is Lizzie opening one of her gifts at Mimi and Timbers - a big jar of olives! She loves olives (we all do) and this was a great gift.

The photo below is also at Mimi and Timber's house - before we opened presents. Lizzie got her first real taste of major present opening of the year here. She was exhausted by the end of it!

Lizzie and Aunt Angi, patiently waiting for present time.

We opened presents at home the night of the winter solstice. Ryan surreptitiously bought and wrapped a necklace for Lizzie - she was pretty excited to have a necklace just like Mommy! I asked her to look at us so we could take a picture - this is the best we could get from her. She really likes looking at it in the mirror.

This is Lizzie looking at it before she discovered the mirror.

Merry Christmas!

Holiday shares

Ryan is delivering his winter holiday produce shares this weekend and he took this cute picture of Lizzie while they were boxing up the produce. Here she is wiping any dry dirt off of the squash - she loves to help and have a job to do!
We have a busy week ahead of seeing family and friends - I love this time of year!

December

We haven't taken any pictures in the last two weeks, so a few minutes ago we snapped a few of Lizzie. She is very excited about Christmas and the tree - she is learning the words to all of the Christmas Carols (especially Rudolph and Jingle Bells).

Thanksgiving

What a nice week we have had. I have been on vacation and we have had a lot of opportunities to get together with family to celebrate Thanksgiving. On the actual day itself, we started out with a brunch at our house and then went to Aunt Laurie and Uncle Chris' house for an early dinner. What wonderful food and feasting! We were well stuffed by the end of that day! Here is Uncle Dan, Lizzie and Uncle Tom. I didn't get many pictures at this Thanksgiving, though I know someone took a group photo - hopefully we will see that one soon!
Lizzie learned that she loved playing "horsey" - here she is on Mimi's leg:

Grampy Timber gave it a try too:

Aunti Angi did a round as well (Angi's dog Georgia was looking on from the floor - just out of the picture):

I may have taken a few too many pictures of Lizzie on this day - this expression is how I can tell she is done with smiling for me:

Getting ready for Christmas!

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone, we are full steam ahead for the Christmas season. For us, that usually means getting the farm ready to sell Christmas trees and black Friday shopping. Here are Lizzie and Dan showing the new snowman cutouts at the tree stand:
After a day of tree sales and working on the windmill, we decided to cut our tree and bring it home. We usually do this on the spur of the moment and this year was no exception. Here Ryan (who is quite jolly tonight from the smell of the tree - he even yelled from the other room "Em, where is my Santa hat?") and Lizzie are bringing the tree into the house. We have it in our office (adjacent to the living room) this year as the old spot is being used for toys - it is easier to move a desk than it is to rearrange the toy room!

Lizzie was so excited to be decorating the tree this year - 2.5 is a great age for this kind of thing, apparently. Here she is squeezing the santa pillow.

I was trying to capture her excitement about being able to put on ornaments all by herself (she was so excited!), but I think I got her pleading with me to finish taking pictures so she could actually hang the ornament. Cute either way!

I think this is a new tradition - Lizzie got to put the angel on the top of the tree!

Now time to put out the presents!

More pics

I had a few extra minutes during nap time today so have uploaded more photos. This past weekend the Rush family hosted a baby shower for Kate and John (and baby girl Rush). Mom and I came along with additional entertainment (Lizzie). Lizzie will be very ready for Christmas when we are done showering Kate and John (Lizzie will know just what to do at their next shower, I think!)! We are very excited to meet this baby! Lizzie is really enjoying the kicks she gets when she touches Kate's belly. Kate and Mom at the shower:
Uncle (Super) Dan was home this weekend too (busy busy!). He and Lizzie helped pickup sticks around the camp yard to add to the burn pile. This is a good picture of one of our favorite hairstyles right now for Lizzie - pigtails are so cute!

Kate and I have just started a camera class, so hopefully after 8 weeks, not only will I have a better understanding of shutter speed and aperture, but will have well lit pictures to share (at least when I borrow Mom's camera). For now, we will have to settle for automatic kodak.

November

Here we are two weeks into November and I am just now updating for Halloween! Lizzie had a great Halloween - she loved trick or treating this year as Cookie Monster. Here she is at her first stop (early in the day at Aunt Kate's house - we had snow!! long gone by now):

Another tradition of ours is to tag our Christmas tree with Ryan's parents in October. We usually do this so early so it won't be so cold and snowy, but it was both cold and snowy on this day. Maybe it will be warm and sunny when we cut them down closer to Christmas?

Lizzie fell asleep after only one house. I eventually woke her up and she was excited to visit a few more houses. She had a great time!

pumpkin carving

Here are our pumpkins this year. First Ryan's and then mine.
Lizzie asked specifically for a smiley face, and this is what Ryan carved for her.

In unrelated news, I have never seen such a large egg. I was wondering what the chickens were carrying on about on this day - now I know!!

Pumpkins

We have been fighting sickness here (ok, well I have been sick and so far Lizzie and Ryan are trying not to get my cold). In spite of that, we have been getting ready for Halloween. Ryan's Dad (Timber to Lizzie) has been staying with us while he works in our area and he was here to watch the pumpkin carving this year. I think he has his phone out in this picture so Lizzie can talk to Mimi while she is cleaning out a (ok my) pumpkin.

Earlier in the week, we went to the farm for the day and were able to help Ryan get one of his greenhouses moved. Lizzie was a big help (as you can tell).

We are looking forward to a nice weekend - I don't think Lizzie remembers much of Halloween last year, but she has been practicing her "trick or treat" all week!

Last CSA share

Happy Friday! Today represents Ryan's last CSA share of the season. It was a race to the finish and we are all exhausted and looking forward to more family time together as winter comes closer. Here are Ryan and Brittany cleaning today's harvest in the rain.
In anticipation of more family time, we spent all of Tuesday together. Here are a few pictures from our quick day trip.

Lizzie was in rare form on this day (which is why we only did a few of the things we hoped to do on this day). The below picture is a good example - this was in response to us saying "smile!" (we think Uncle Dan would especially appreciate this picture).

As many know, we have been working towards adoption #2. We had been matched for awhile now with a birthmom in another state. We got the news on Monday that she has decided to parent her baby. While disappointing news, we understand the enormity of the decision she had to make and are relieved that she made her decision before the baby was born. So, the door is open again and we are looking forward to whatever adoption situation presents itself next (kind of exciting to think about!). Keep your fingers crossed for us!

Common ground

Last weekend was the common ground fair. We had such a nice time! It was a mini heatwave here and we have since had a cool down (at least a 30 degree swing). That weekend may have been the last of the t-shirts for awhile. Here is Lizzie petting a calf (or about to) - they had all kinds of animals to look at and some to pet. She enjoyed the cows, rabbits, chickens, sheep, etc.

We have been away from phone and email this weekend as a squirrel apparently chewed through the wire and it broke away from our house. Luckily we are up and running again as of last night. Lizzie is helping me write this post and is really enjoying the bunny picture. We are getting anxious for mid October and have our fingers crossed about our next adoption - nothing new to report here!