Thankful

 We had a great Thanksgiving this year and have so much to be thankful for.  First and foremost on my list this year is that Josh finished his last away rotation and got back in time to spend it with us. 

 

 

 I am also so thankful that my mom had the whole week of Thanksgiving off and that my parents came to visit.  I am so lucky to have parents that are not only so good to me but that my kids absolutely adore. 

 

 

We debated what we wanted to do for dinner but after calling pretty much all the restaurants in town and finding out that they were all closed (how dare they want to spend time with their families!!) we knew we would be cooking something but I didn't really want to deal with a full turkey.  Luckily we went to Sam's Club a few days before and they were sampling this deep fried turkey breast and it was delicious and super easy.  So we went with it



and decided to make stuffing, funeral potatoes, and green beans with almonds to go with it along with pumpkin cheesecake crumble bars for dessert.  Somewhat festive and totally delicious.  As an added bonus it was in the high sixties and beautiful that day. 

Also on my list of things to be thankful for this year:
-two healthy, happy kids and another little GIRL on the way!
-the gospel of Jesus Christ and modern day revelation from living prophets
-a husband who works so hard and has found something he is truly happy doing
-the opportunity Josh has to interview with so many residency programs
-a great house to live in in a good community with a great support system of friends and neighbors
-the gift of being together again as a family
-great in-laws, and an interview near their new house that gives us an excuse to go visit them next week!!  We are super excited to see them and to have some time together as a family. 

Love This Girl

Oh I love this little girl!!  She can give me a run for my money and melt me all at the same time.  She is 19 months now and has been going to nursery for awhile with no problems.  Thank goodness because I have 10 rambuctionous 7 year olds to teach and it is a lot easier without her!

This is typical Marissa- always drooling, still.  And always has a snotty nose.  I'm sure people think she's sick.  She's not, she's just Marissa:)  Pretty much she is always a mess!

It has been so fun for me to have some one-on-one time with her while Shane is at school.  Her activity of choice while he's gone?  Reading lots and lots of books.  If Shane is at home and there is a book being read, he HAS to be a part of it, so it is nice to be able to read to her without him up in her grill. 

She loves her brother, and the feeling is mutual.  When he is sad a kiss and hug from Marissa works better than anything else. 

 

She can say a lot of words now, and they are starting to become more understandable.  I am trying to get her to use them more now when she wants something instead of just whining.   

 

She is still a pretty good eater, but not very consistent.  Some days I can't get her enough food, and other days she will take one bite and decide she's done.  One day something will be her favorite food, and the next day she won't touch it.  But the other day they gave her a little apple at the Y and she munched on that thing for quite awhile while we waited for Shane to be done with school.  When we got home and I looked in her seat for it, the only thing that was left was the stem!  Silly girl ate the seeds and all!

Grandma Dettinger sent her some alphabet magnets, and I started noticing that she was always carrying around the letter O.  So I told her what it was and she is obsessed with it now, she will find it in books or places and point and say, "Ooooohhhh!"

 

I love you Marissa!

Trick or Treat!

We started off the first of many Halloween celebrations at the library playgroup.  Shane asked me in the car on the way there, "Is today Halloween?"  I tried explaining that it wasn't yet, but he insisted that it was.  So said, "well buddy, we are going to have a lot of Halloweens then!"  And we did.  The next week we went back to the library for storytime and trick or treating. 

And this is a pretty accurate depiction of Marissa at every Halloween event.  She figured out quickly exactly what this holiday was all about and wanted to get right to the good part.  I quickly learned which candy could be used as a chew toy to tide her over without making a huge mess down her costume when her jaws of death inevitably ripped open the packaging (Laffy Taffy works great for any of you out there with little candymongers like mine :) ). 

We of course did the trunk or treat at church and Shane's preschool party.  I wish I had brought my camera to his class, it was so cute to see him and his little buddies all dressed up!  Then we ended it with trick or treating in the neighborhood the actual night of. 

I was worried it was going to be cold and rainy, but was glad it wasn't rainy (but certainly cold).  But hey, that's what cute bundley costumes are for.  They both had a lot of fun, Marissa couldn't really say trick or treat but she did say thank you a few times and she sure knew what to do when they held out the candy ha ha.   

Shane got tired of walking by the end and was ready to go back home. I tried to tell him we might as well stop at the few more houses that were on our way back anyway but he was done and told me, "I'm getting tired of Halloween."  I guess it's a good thing, cause that was our last hurrah buddy.  And probably even better because we already have WAY too much candy for a tempted pregnant lady around here by now!!

Happy Halloween(s)!