Thanksgiving Reflection

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful day filled with family and good foods! A nice afternoon of visiting while enjoying a good meal... can't beat that! Mostly though I really want to reflect on all that I am thankful for - which I am not sure you can always put into words. But, I am thankful for our family~ my immediate family, my extended family as well as my family of friends! All the people in my world who make our life so wonderful, peaceful, well rounded, fulfilled, exciting, calm, adventurous, traditional, amazing, educational and loving!!! I can't imagine our lives any differently and I am thankful for everyday with you in it!

Look who did the dishes....

Reading...

See all of those cards up above... Holly can read all of those words now! She can read more than those, more than just three letter words. If a word has basic phonic sounds - she can pretty much work her way through it and get it. She has been interested in reading for some time, we have not really pushed it but will sit once in a while and sound out stuff. And, with like anything it's starting to really click for her. It is awesome!!! She is super proud of herself too -- like last night when she read all of these cards her sweet little face was beaming... simply beaming. We'll slowly start adding some other rules to reading now, other sounds - but for the mean time she is busy reading her little books on the couch as I type this - Wow! Not bad for 3 1/2 years old.

*sigh*

One proud mommy here!

My 'Scope'

Holly received a gift from Grandma Annette, a microscope or as Holly puts it her 'scope'. She has taken to this new little device like a fish to water and wants to use it all the time. Last night she asked to break it out again, so we did. She took her little dish around and collected things to instpect, Bryan set up some juice and beer to look at -- beer yeast is very cool looking, we looked at animal fibers, cat hair and more. It was a lot of fun and the best part is that Holly really loves it!

Not the hand over one eye to help her see in the microscope - cute!

Fantasy Lights

Sunday night we took in a local holiday light show for the evening. This light show only opens one night a year as a walk thru light show, typically it is a drive thru show. However, we enjoy walking it way more. Driving is so hurried - walking allows you to stop and enjoy, talk about the light displays, answer questions from your child, listen to carolers, sing Ruldolph the Rednosed Reindeer at that display and visit with your company. Much nicer and not hurried at all!

I'll admit we meander, but I am amazed at how many hurry through this kind of activity... especially after rushing to get there I can't imagine rushing to get done. We like to be a bit slower and take it all in, something I really hope to instill in Holly... which will be hard this day in age when everything is rushed.

We had a really nice night and wonderful company! Afterwards Grandma Annette invited us all out for dessert and cocoa. So we met up and enjoyed a nice night sipping cocoa and visiting some more. Made for a great kick off to the holiday season!

Fall Walk & My Camera

It just doesn't get better: a beautiful morning, my family, a morning walk and my camera... with a little time to play too! Saturday morning we headed out to take advantage of the crisp morning sun and took a morning walk. This is one of our favorite paths in town, a good length and the park is simply fun.

This morning I brought along my camera - I just don't get enough time to play with it and try my hand and different kinds of photos. So, this morning I captured some fall berries and mushrooms of sorts. There were some really cool items to photograph... it was hard to choose and keep up with Bryan & Holly on our walk!

Scrapping Fun!

So, last Thursday night and all day Saturday I attended our annual scrapbook convention with Annette. We took in four classes that were filled with a lot of great project ideas and some new techniques! We walked the show and shopped for supplies for a long time and picked up great ideas there too. I think we both had a great time! Saturday night we finished up with stopping for dinner at Red Robin - what a fun day!

Here are some photos of the projects we did. The first night we made an altered scrapbook into a recipe collection. Each person who attended the workshop brought with them scrapped recipes and we all swapped. This class also had a fun candy wrapper, bread wrap and a cute chinese food box.

On Saturday we did three workshops. The first one was making a wonderful altered canvas that is used to display photos and memorabilia. You can set it up as a tri fold frame or a wall hanging lengthwise. This was by far my favorite class!

Then we learned some new paper techniques for scrapbooks where you can work outside of your protective page. The ideas were cool and I might use some in other kinds of projects, but really not too much my taste. However, it is always good to learn something new and often times it makes a technique not seem as intimidating.

And, finally we made this adorable winter themed board book. It is just cute as pie, was very easy to do and a lot of fun!

We welcomed our tree....

This past friday night we put up our Christmas tree and enjoyed a fun family night of decorating it as we listened to holiday music. It was a fun night. Now, before I hear "What?"... it's not *that* early! And, Thanksgiving is so late this month we are losing a whole weekend of holiday decor. As well, we will be gone in a couple of weekends to Leavenworth - hence losing an entire weekend of our decor. That coupled with the fact that Holly is just beside herself for all things Christmas - we dicided, what the heck and suprised her Friday night with our tree! She loves it!

This week I will continue to decorate the house - although I am toning it down a lot simply because it is a lot of work to put up, we are busy and it is a lot of work to clean and take down. So, I will tone it down some this year and relax to 'enjoy' the season! We have already broke out our holiday books and have been reading them, watched a movie or two and this weekend we will take in our first holiday light show - I cannot wait!