happy thanksgiving!

two cuties at the kiddo table.
matt tasting the stuffing.

much apprecition for all of the cooking time to dig in!

everyone standing around waiting to eat.

fun with the esclade

two silly girls at the kiddo table...

we went over to my in-laws house for the bird!

she was a great bird!

charlie and i hanging out waiting for everything to be ready.matt and april

charlie and ronnie

we had a great thanksgiving. my mother-i-law is the best cook. she had a huge spread of food and it was all delicious! after we ate, we sat around talking and then andrea and april and i took the 3 kiddos for a ride in the "escalade". they had allot of fun. when we got back it was time for pie and relaxation. i have so much to be thankful for...my family, my friends and our health. i am also very thankful for our amazing country, and to all of the brave men and women, and their families, that protect her. i am so glad that we don't have to travel during the holidays. all of our family lives here. so nobody is allowed to move! unless you are moving up to flagstaff, or munds park...i am thankful that every year, charlie b and i get to have two of every holiday. we spend the day-of thanksgiving at his parents house. we have round two at my parents house the next day (or in this case, three days later). we then spend Christmas eve at my parents house and Christmas day at charlie b's parents house. it is purely selfish that we do this. it is nice to be able to spend a whole day at one's house without having to rush through dinner to drive across town to eat again. so i must say thank you to my mom. she "settles" each year to have the day before or the day after. (and yes, i ask her each year if she really doesn't mind that she doesn't get the day of, and every year she says it doesn't bother her at all. she is also in the "selfish" mode and it fits everyone just fine.

jill b

i hope everyone had a great thanksgiving day.

did you see her?

my pictures do not do it justice! it was beautiful, absolutely beautiful! charlie called me on his way home on Wednesday. he said there was a pretty rainbow and that i should take zella outside to see it. so we opened up the garage and looked. she was breathtaking! we loved it and then played in the rain for a while. while i was taking pictures of the rainbow, some of our neighbors had come outside to look and to take pictures. she was mentioned on the radio traffic report.

zella kept looking at her and telling me how beautiful she was.

and then, as every time i have my camera in my hand, i took pictures of my little girl.

we enjoyed the rainy day, i hope you did too!

jill b

swimming?

yes, she was in the pool this afternoon! way too cold for me...
jill b

long time, no post...

we didn't do too much this last week. so i forgot to post. so let's see, what has been going on over here? zella has taken a sudden interest in my Christmas reindeers. just realized that she could move them around...

i got zella this poka-dot shirt the other day, now i can't decide if it is obnoxious or adorable. i think a solid brown shirt over it would calm it down some. let's see what else?...

now this bit is the big bit that that happened this weekend. we turned zella's big girl around!

she was so excited when we turned this bad boy around. she can now watch tv from her bed without having to stand up while looking over the back of her bed. i was worried about her falling out of the bed while she was sleeping. so i took the sofa cushions off of the couch in our bedroom, and placed them next to her bed on the floor. (see everyone, there was a reason why i collect couches!) saturday was the first night sleeping in the new arrangements. she wanted to sleep on the floor on the couchions. she didn't want to fall asleep by her self, so charlie ended up falling asleep in bed with her. she didn't roll out of the bed. yeah! sunday night, charlie had to bed early because he had to get up early. so it was up to me. she tried all of her stalling tactics. i have to go potty, (now we are in full swing of potty training, so this tactic has some merit to it.) we went potty. i want to play with the pet shop characters. i told her to play quietly with them. she didn't want to play quietly, she wanted to play loud... so in the end, i told her she had 2 options. she could play quietly in her bed, or she could lay down and go to sleep. she didn't really like either option. i told her that i was going to go to bed, and that i would check in on her in a few minutes. that seemed to work, because i didn't hear another peep from her for the rest of the night. i did peek in on her about 20 min. later... fast asleep, completely out! and hasn't rolled out of bed. yet.

just a cute picture. and a picture of the shirt. what do ya think?

jill b

video

here is the video that charlie and zella made at the wedding reception. they made it right before we left. the video is silly, but never underestimate the power of a giggle. they laughed and laughed. and when we got home, zella laughed and laughed when i replayed it for her on the computer. i hope this makes you laugh

jill b

wedding reception

tonight was a wedding reception for nate and sarah. it was at nate's parents house. the weather was just amazing. and it was so good to see friends that we haven't seen for a long time. it was so, so good to see them.

kristin and jon

kristin and jennifer

jennifer and ben

we couldn't find a babysitter, so we brought zella with us. she was so good all night. we had bought her some littlest pet shop toys. and she sat at our table and played the whole night!

more cheeseburgers! zella is getting good at these shots.

my party moto is, it's not a party until somebody falls in the pool...and nate got the party started right. the party was in the backyard. they have a pool, and since they don't have children under 5 living in the house, there is no fence around the pool. i heard a splash, and i looked at the pool. nate went in and completely under. now this time a year, the water is cold! nate popped out of the water as fast as he could. he then started to take everything out of his pockets. and you guessed it right... his phone! now there is this rumor that goes around that if you drop your cell phone in water, you can take it apart and stick all of the pieces into the oven. you don't turn it on, just turn the light on. so i guess only time will tell if that one works. otherwise, nate get's a new phone.

we took some video tonight. charlie and zella made a few videos. when he played them back for her, she couldn't stop laughing. i will post those tomorrow. i am sleepy...

jill b

more cheeseburgers

i have been a bad blogger. so it is about time for an update...
zella and i were waiting for charlie to come home, so we decided to go play in the backyard and take some pictures. we got alot of silly pictures. alot of pictures with one of us looking away...

this one was my favorite.

i have been following my sisters blog. she is posting a list of things she is thankful for. one a day for the month of november. i am loving it. which got me thinking that i have alot to be thankful for. i might play along and make my own list.

i am thankful for my family, friends, health...

kim is actually writing paragraphs for each item on her list. she has decided to not just list the things she is thankful for. or the obvious ones like family, friends, health.

i will start my list with...i am thankful for the conversations that i have with zella. she is almost 4, and she is already sweet. the other night, we went up to the park and it was cold! (ok, sorry to my Minnesota peeps) it was 60. i was playing in the sand with zella and i kept telling her i was so cold. after listening to me say this several times, she looked at me and said "see mommy, arn't you glad you are wearing a sweater?"

i love this kid!