thanksgiving eve

my family always has their thanksgiving on the eve of the actual day. i like extending the holiday and i like even more not having to split my day up between families. i really love my family and we had a great time tonight. we ate fantastic food. we laughed a lot. we played games. the kids played which always brings back such good memories of playing with my cousins. it warms my heart to see them love each other.

river rode the rocking horse for the first time.

the '12 year old boy' humor was running rampant and provided so many laughs. take for example this picture, which was supposed to have us guessing a camel, but somehow 'grandpa on viagra' easily flew out of someone's mouth. i love it when my mom laughs that hard. good times. good times.

river thought this dancing turkey was pretty great.

thank you family. i love you. we had a wonderful night.

Sisters

Flower has been a big sister for a year and she is pretty darn good at it. River has been really good for her. Flower is not a solo player so it has been good for all of us that River is around. She has a built in playmate and it's pretty great. She is such a great helper too. She will get us diapers and even changes them sometimes. She gets her water when she's thirsty. She'll get her snacks. She's usually willing to share any food she's eating. She'll even share her toys. She loves sharing her room and won't sleep in there now if River's not in there. I love having two girls. The best part is they both adore each other. The look that River gets on her face when Flower walks in the room is priceless.











They both melt my heart.

Happy First Birthday River!

Wow. This year has been so fun and so crazy. River's hard to keep up with. I took the girls to my old neighborhood park, Combes Park, for the photo shoot. It was so fun. I really miss that neighborhood. As you'll see from the photos, she's much to busy to smile these days, at least for a photo. She smiles all the time and is a pretty happy kid, it just doesn't translate to the camera because she's too fast! :)
She had her last bottle. It's a sippy cup from here on out. So far so good. She's a champ! :)
She loves shoes and will randomly bring you one, back herself up to sit on your lap and touch the shoe to her foot to indicate that she wants you to put it on her foot.
She has great stamina when it comes to walking. She walks with me every time I take her to work. That's a pretty good distance for a 1 year old. She just holds my hand and away we go. I really love our walks.
She carries clothes around, especially our sweatshirts or sweaters, wrapping them around her shoulders and head and uses them as blankets.
She says, "ah-dah"(all done) and out and hi. When you ask her if she wants food her eyes light up, she shakes her head yes and looks towards the kitchen. :)
She loves Flower. As I am writing this Flower is acting like a puppy and River is putting things in her mouth, petting her head and giggling. She is totally amused by anything Flower does. For some reason she loves Flower's pony tails. She is so fascinated by them. She walks up and touches them and giggles. She'll chase Flower around trying to touch them.
She can be very intense, especially if she doesn't get something she wants.

She discovered sand and dirt on our outing and thought it tasted pretty great. :) She kept gnawing on the clump in her hand.
She has such a unique personality and it's been a really great addition to our family. She brings a nice balance. She's so perfect for us. I'm looking forward to things quieting down in certain regards this coming year and getting on with our little family. We are so incredibly blessed to have her. I will be forever grateful to her birth family for their sacrifice and especially M for her selfless love.

She had her one year check-up and is healthy as can be.
Here stats:
Weight: 25 lbs 1 oz.=95%
Height: 32 1/5 inces=97%
Head: 45 1/2 cm=70%

PS-happy birthday to my mom today!