Giving Thanks

We spent Thanksgiving in Milwaukee, WI with Nana and Papa and had a wonderful time visiting, playing, shopping, and gaining 10 pounds. We stopped at this cheese store and tasted the best string cheese I've ever had. We left with 2 pkgs (it was incredible)! We couldn't find Hadley for a minute and then we realized where she was and what she was doing. She is ripping all the tags off the bottom of these chairs.

Hadley and her 2nd cousins. Grant and Anna and their parents (Andy's uncle and aunt Lance and Stephanie live in Iowa and came for Thanksgiving too. We had never met Anna and they had never met Hadley so it was so great seeing them! Grant and Anna like to wrestle and they were teaching Hadley how it's done.

This is our Thanksgiving Tree (Grant brought it to do). We each wrote on a hand who we are thankful for.

Hungry people waiting for the 1000 pounds of food.

Hadley got a head start and ate about as much as we did!

Reading a story.

While the moms are away (shopping on Black Friday) the kids will play (and the guys will let them :)) They were jumping on the bed and playing and we have some video of Hadley laughing. We will make the next post a video post (if I can figure out how to get the videos off our ridiculously hard video camera). Love you all!

A quick one

This post is short and sweet but I wanted to get these random pictures up that don't really go with anything we've been doing. Hadley is growing like a weed (although she is still stuck at 18 lbs). The first thing that people say when they see pictures of her is..."Look how much hair she has." I look at old pictures and can tell that she is younger by looking at how much hair she had--I can even get it in a ponytail. Oh and I also gave her her first hair cut...just a little snip of the bangs so she could see :) She is still a happy baby (most of the time) and sleeps well and eats well (I have a video of her eating a banana that I'll have to post later).

We go swimming at the pool on campus when Andy is life-guarding. We tried these on her and she actually didn't mind them.

When I put her down for a nap, she always fusses because she just has better things to do than sleep :) The first thing she does is sit up and cry. I heard the crying stop and quietly checked on her and this is what I've found.

I think (know) she is going to be one of those stubborn ones. We are leaving tonight for Milwaukee to spend Thanksgiving with Andy's family. We are excited to meet some of his cousins that are only a couple years older than Hadley that we have never met. I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Autumn Days

One thing is for sure....fall has come to Louisville. It really is a pretty time of year and since it has been 80 degrees outside, we have been able to enjoy it. We went to the park one day and took a Sunday drive through the big park in town. This first outfit says...Autumn Days and finally fits her....just in time too. I couldn't get her to stand still but she is trying to rip this paper apart...she likes doing that.

The first time I saw this tree it was so orange and so beautiful...now it has some brown but it's still nice.
This is Hadley at the park. She isn't wearing a coat and believe me, she didn't need one! She loved playing and sliding and picking up the leaves to....well tear them apart.

We went to Deere Farms one Sunday too. They have a corn maze (which we didn't do because it was expensive), and a hay maze (which Hadley kind of did), and a long pipe slide (which we definitely all did).

We also rode a wagon out to the pumpkin patch where you picked your own. As you can see, it was a little sparse and the pumpkins well....there was a reason they were still sitting out there, but Hadley had fun walking around and trying to pick them up.

We are very excited to be going to Nana and Papa's house in Milwaukee for Thanksgiving--though we wish Uncle Ben could be there. I am doing well with the pregnancy (15 weeks) and had a check-up last week and everything looks great. Andy is trucking along with school and work too--only a few more weeks left in the semester....so crazy! Hadley is talking so much (and does great imitation). She says for sure....banana, baabaa (for sheep), mama, dada, ball, thank you, please and cheese (which sound exactly the same), duck, hi, oops, uh-oh, and Hadley. She also signs...more, thank you, hi, bye, dog, cat, please, yes, no, and is working on I love you. She is understanding way more. I can tell her to go get something or do something (throw that in the garbage) and she usually does it (if she feels like it, of course)....so neat seeing her grow into a little girl. Oh, and she still only weighs 18 lbs. and gets to eat only really fatty foods...only high fat, no low fat---must be nice :) Her doctor said the forward facing car seat won't be needed until she is probably 16 months old. Hope this finds all of you family and friends happy and healthy! We miss you!

Happy Halloween

These next few posts are going to be out of order but I wanted to get Halloween done since it's already over....where has 2009 gone? Hadley got to help carve her first pumpkin and I must say that she is a professional! She loved it.....well most of it. Here they are scooping out the guts. And playing with the guts......

And eating the lid.....
And watching Dad carve it....she sat there for a good 3 minutes while he worked.

Last year's picture with Hadley and our pumpkin.....

And this year's picture.

All of the pumpkins...we had one for each of us but only had time to carve one together as a family...I carved the other two later on and made delicious pumpkin seeds with the seeds from all of them.

Hadley's costume last year....a Peruvian Shepherd

And this year she was a Denver Bronco's cheerleader....GO BRONCOS. I made her little pom-poms out of tissue paper and toilet paper rolls and she went to town shaking those things.

Shaking her pom-poms.

Andy had a party at work one night (Chick-fil-A) and went as the 2 crucial pickles....that's what they call them....the 2 crucial pickles on the Chicken Sandwich. We even made them crinkle cut :) He had the best costume there!

So I was driving one day and turned down a street I hadn't been down in a while and found that almost every house and gone all out....and I mean ALL OUT for Halloween (apparently they do it every year for Halloween and Christmas)! Seriously over-done and most of is scary and deathly and skeletony....but this one deserved a picture. It is from the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown....it was so funny because I just watched it the other day and there it was. They did an awesome job...the best house on the street!

I will post our wonderful FALL pictures next time. The colors are incredible! We have been able to enjoy fall here...so weird not having tons of snow in October and 80 degree weather in November. Don't worry everyone in Wyoming...we still miss you! Love you all and hope things are well in your corners of the world.

The Grandparents' Visit

Again, we had such a wonderful visit with our parents! It was short, but we had a fantastic time.

My parents flew in on Saturday afternoon and that night we went to a German restaurant near our apartment. It was excellent. For those of you who don't know, my parents lived in England for 4 years and Germany for 4 years. I was actually born in Germany. So, I have been wanting to take them to this German restaurant since I saw it and it was delicious!!!
On Sunday we had lots of church activities (Janet and Kemper--Andy's parents met up with us then) and then on Monday we all went to the Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. It was pretty neat seeing how they make all the bats...we even saw them making the professional ones. No pictures were allowed in the factory though. At the end of the tour we each got a little bat to take home.
This giant bat is outside the main entrance. It is 120 feet tall and has the signature of the guy to started making the Louisville Slugger bats in 1884. Let's just say it was.....well big.
These signatures are from all the players who have ever had a contract with Louisville Slugger....saying they will only ever swing a Louisville Slugger bat during games. There were tons and tons of names but this one stood out :)

This baseball mit is carved entirely from one piece of granite. You (as in a small child) can crawl around behind the baseball.That night we had Hadley's birthday party. The next day, I took my parents to see some the sights of Louisville. We also went shopping :) so my mom could get some souvenirs for people back home. On a side note, these painted horses are everywhere (sorry if we have explained these already...I can't remember). Businesses buy them and have them painted however they like. We are trying to "collect them all" by taking pictures but there are more than 150 of them. We have over 70. It is easy to get about 20 just by walking around downtown. This is one of those. (This is also one of the only ones that has a rider).

And finally the last night they were here, we went to a seafood restaurant on the Ohio River. It has a great view of the city and the food isn't too bad either....mmmmm scallops!

Here are some more random pictures of Hadley during the visit. It was so good to have everyone here. We love you all!

The cute Columbia coat from her Nana and Papa.

It must be a good vacation....all the fun made everyone very tired! (You can't tell, but my mom is sleeping too.)

PS---For those of you who haven't entered the world of Facebook or who aren't observant (good job Jody!) or who haven't heard the news yet----Hadley is going to be a big sister in May. We are really excited and I am feeling great. We will keep you posted on that too! God has certainly blessed our little cotton socks off!

Happy Birthday Hadley

We still can't believe she's one!!! Where does the time go? Hadley had more than one birthday celebration and she didn't complain one bit :) On her actual birthday we had church and I made cupcakes for the carry-in we had that day. Everyone sang to her and she was allowed to eat one since it was her day.

Then this week we had lots of fun and lots of company and lots of food. My parents flew in on Saturday and we had such a wonderful time. We miss them!!! On Sunday afternoon some friends of my parents came over (we had pot roast) and they brought Hadley some presents! So nice of them! They lived in England with my parents before I was born and live in Cincinnati now. My parents really enjoyed the visit and Hadley really enjoyed the attention!

Then....on Monday night we had the big (which actually wasn't that big) party for her. She wore the dress that she got from the Logans (above) and a Birthday Girl bib she got from her Nana.

Here is the cake. I baked it, Janet stacked it and put on the pink frosting and the towers. My mom did all the purple...her name and the edging and then I came back and did the hearts and dots around the bottom and the flags. It turned out so cute!
Kemper and my dad grilled some hamburgers and hot dogs, we had mini-pizzas, chips and dip, veggies and dip, fruit salad, and of course, cake and ice cream! It was so good and I was so stuffed!

These are some of Hadley's friends we invited. Savannah, Sabrina, and Elana come to help us celebrate. I don't know what they enjoyed more, the party or getting ready for the party. Their mom said they just had a great time picking out what to wear (they all looked so nice)!

And then we Hadley opened presents and did a good job too. She was way more interested with what was inside the present than the wrapping!! She got Wyoming footy pajamas from her uncle Ben....

Lots of wonderful things from her Oma and Opa (my parents) She got a stuffed horse, money, a puzzle, and more. This is a kitty book....she LOVES cats...notice her face!

A DARLING tutu from Jon and Heather! Thanks you guys....so cute Katie! (Katie, Heather's friend makes them!)

Her Nana and Papa got her lots of wonderful things too. She got a Columbia jacket (so cute--pics to come later), her favorite new cell phone, these dishes, and a fun ball popper thing that seems to be more fun for me than her!
And from her Aunt Courtney, CHRISTIAN Berenstein Bear books (so cool!!!) and a turtle music game. She loved both of course!

And finally, she got to chow down again! She was so funny and didn't dive in but picked all the hearts off one by one and ate them. She is so dainty....she made her Oma proud :)

We had such a good time with all the family here...we miss everyone! Thank you all for a wonderful birthday for Hadlebugs! I will post more pictures soon of the rest of the Grandparents visit!

Welcome to Southern Seminary

Every year, the seminary has what they call the "Fall Festival" to kick the year off and get everyone excited about being there. It is kind of like one big carnival. Well this year is the 150th anniversary of the seminary so what is usually a big event was HUGE this year. They had lots of rides for kids, a mechanical bull for adults, a caricaturist (not sure if that is even a word), some Motocross guys doing tricks over a car, and tons of free food. They served hamburgers and hot dogs and then every half hour a pick-up truck would back up into the area full of some wonderful thing...cotton candy, peanuts, etc. Then at the end of the night, they had a HUMONGOUS firework display....it was big and the grand finale was as good as anyone I have ever seen.

This is the behind of the mechanical bull....and some kid who apparently really wanted to be in the picture. :)

Hadley got to take part in the festivities too. They brought out loads of frozen chocolate covered bananas and she went crazy. I ate all the chocolate off and she sat there for a good 30 minutes and ate the whole banana. We had to change her clothes when she was done but she enjoyed every minute of it :)

When it got dark and before the fireworks began, they handed out hundreds of glow sticks. Hadley loved them.

Same picture, different camera setting.

We are still doing wonderful here and Andy is fully immersed in all thing school and work. Hadley turned one a week ago and while it was sad, I didn't even cry. We will get pictures of here updated next post. My parents are coming to town in ONE WEEK!!!! Andy's parents are coming too so Hadley will get lots and lots and lots and lots of attention! We are so excited to see everyone! I'll post pictures of that visit too. We are going to celebrate Hadley's birthday then, but she did get to eat a cupcake on Sunday on her special day. Blessings to you all!