Turkey Day

We hosted a very quaint Thanksgiving this year. It was just my parents and us for dinner, but we did get together with some friends for dessert and games later that evening. Despite being so small, it was a wonderful day full of delicious food and people I love! Brad did the gutting.
I did the stuffing.

The chefs-du-jour in our matching aprons.

Brad and my mom doing some last minute preparations.

Libby got to read with Pops while we finished up in the kitchen - she sure does love books!

The Macbeths and our feast (which picky Libby wouldn't touch any of - that little stinker! Oh, well - her loss!).

Yep, that's it. Our small yet spectacular group!

Libby's fall dress was the perfect outfit for a festive day!

I am so grateful for all of my many wonderful blessings, and especially grateful for a day set aside to help us remember them all!

Sea World

The Wednesday before Thanksgiving, my mom, Libby, and I went to Sea World for the day and had a wonderful time! I was worried Libby might not be old enough to enjoy the whole experience, but boy was I wrong - she was in HEAVEN the whole time! She watched all of the shows quite intently and would totally clap along with the crowd. She loved the Shamu show so much that we ended up seeing it twice!
The sign said not to take the starfish out of the water, so this was me trying to be relatively obedient. Libby, as you can see, was not satisfied!
So, I totally rebelled and she got to touch it.
Throughout the day, she kept making her little fishy-face whenever she'd see a fish, so I'm sure by the end of the day her cheeks must have been so sore!
Loving time with her Grammy.
She really enjoyed the new Turtle Reef exhibit they have now.
The sea turtles get super close and are so fun to watch!
At the end of the day, we had to stop by the Sea World Christmas tree. It was really nice and made for the perfect ending to a wonderful day!

Random Libby Moments

Just a few pictures of random events this November...

We went to Arizona one last time to help the Stewarts back up and move to Montana. While we were there, we got to go to both Syd and Ty's soccer games and Libby had a blast kicking around the ball. She's a star in the making, for sure!
Another cute outfit from my mom that I wanted a picture of - and Libby's face is just too hilarious to pass up!

Less than pleased, but here's the full view of the outfit. So cute!

One Sunday morning this month the weather was absolutely gorgeous, so we headed to Badlands for a fantastic view.

We went to the Spectrum for a late lunch last week and Pops decided to take Libby on the carousel - she LOVED it!

Halloween

Halloween was great this year! We had my parents and Laura (and Zeke) over for dinner first and then took the little ones Trick-or-Treating. They looked so cute and were the highlight of everyone's night!

Libby the Ladybug!
She got the hang of the whole Trick-or-Treating thing FAST! She looked so cute cruising the street with her little bag and thought it was the greatest thing in the world to knock on a door, pick out some candy, plop it in her bag, sign "thank-you", say "bye-bye" and head on to the next house. She would have gone all night if we'd let her! She was in hog heaven!

If that isn't the cutest thing ever, I don't know what is! Libby and Zeke dividing up the spoils. Pretty good for a 13 and 8 month old! (Here is where I'm jealous, though. Zeke was a smiling fool for all of the pictures, and Libby...not so much! Little stinker! Glad Zeke looks cute in all of them!)

Libby got to enjoy a few treats and had fun feeding Smarties to Grammy.

Libby's other boyfriend, Ian showed up at the end of the night and we had fun trying to get them all to sit still in order to get a cute picture. This was the best one. What can you do?! All in all, it was a great night and I've been enjoying Libby's treats for her ever since. ;) Thanks, kiddo!

Halloween Parties

This year was a great one for parties! We had three fantastic ones and I really felt like I got into the spirit of Halloween more than usual (which maybe isn't saying much since it's not my most favorite holiday in the world). But I think there's something about having a little rugrat running around that makes everything more exciting!

My first party was a girls only annual witch party at my friend Aleisha's house. This is the third year in a row that I've attended "The Witching Hour" and it's always super fun - black hats and witching attire are required, by the way! The witches all got to enjoy a fantastic dinner, lots of yummy sweets, and plenty of socializing around the fire pit in the backyard. Thanks for a great party, Aleisha! My mom threw a pumpkin carving party at her house for the Sunday Seven (Britt, Mike, Mom, Dad, Brad, Libby, and me). We all had a great time and the pumpkins turned out pretty well! (Though I think it's pretty obvious who used a tracing kit and who didn't.)

I had just started on my pirate's patch by time my dad was already finished. Apparently he's not a big fan of actually gutting the inside - there were still seeds lodged in there when he was "done"!

The final showing. Mine, Mom's, Brad's, Britt's, Dad's, and Mike's.

Our third Halloween party was a couples only (no kids!) shindig at the Burches. The Burches and Robinsons sure know how to throw a party - it was a blast! They had rented Poker and Black Jack tables (complete with dealers!), a sound system for dancing and games, two chocolate fountains, and prizes galore. We had a wonderful time and stayed past midnight (ooohhhh, we're wild!). We went as "the Terrys", as Jake called us - versions of my dad in his former life. I wore his Navy uniform from Vietnam and Brad wore his racecar outfit from the 80s.

We even got our "mis"fortunes read by Jakzar!

There seemed to be a bit of a military theme going on this year. The Burches looked great and Blaine and I both wore our dad's old uniforms proudly! ;)

Dancing, a VERY tough game of "Finish the Lyrics", and costume prizes all happened outside. Thanks for a great night, Robinsons and Burches!

Libby's Big Announcement!

Libby has some exciting news to share.

Read her shirt carefully....

In case you can't quite see what it says, here it is: "Surprise...BIG sister in the making!"

Yep, it's true. This is my latest ultrasound from yesterday. Believe it or not, I am already over 13 weeks pregnant! Turns out when you don't find out you're pregnant till 10 1/2 weeks, time sure flies!
I am due on May 13th, 2012 (which is really fun because that's Mothers' Day next year) and the baby is doing great.
Brad and I are still wondering what we were thinking, but ready or not, here comes #2!
Wooo-hooo!

Pumpkin Patch

We were a little late making it to a Pumpkin Patch this year, but finally the Friday night before Halloween, we managed to sneak over there for about an hour to get some cute pictures.

The family shot
What a cute little ghost!

Libby amongst the Libby-sized pumpkins. (Fortunately she already had one so we didn't have to pay a fortune to get one there!)

Mommy and the non-smiling Libby. She refused to smile on command all night!

Daddy and his girl in the petting zoo.
(Please ignore the socks and sandals - I know, it's embarrassing! It got cold and her other shoes didn't match. What's a mom to do?!?)

Apparently it wasn't all fun and games. She HATED a few of the things we put her on - I think this was when we reached an ultimate low for the evening.

But put her behind the wheel of a car and, all of the sudden, we've got a happy camper!

She loved running the aisles of pumpkins and would occasionally stop at a favorite - looks like this one was it! (But, mean parents that we are, we didn't get it for her.)

The tongue out - she means business! Brad absolutely loves this one!

A final family shot at the tractor. She's certainly grown a bit since last year's picture at this same spot! Looking forward to many more years to come... :)