Non-tradish Thanksgiving dish

This year, we were a little less traditional, and spent Thanksgiving in Vegas! Party!! :)

My sister Brooke (13) is a pro-soccer player and had a big tournament down there so we decided to meet my family and spend Thanksgiving and a few days together. Ben and I also had a coupon for a free day in Disneyland which expires Dec 15th so we went a day early and went to D-land! It was so fun. Well, okay, it was very fun but very different too. I rode a total of 2 rides: Indiana Jones and the Jungle Cruise. It was SOOO crowded so the lines were ginormous, and it was just hectic with a stroller and switching off. So we mostly just walked around, watched the parade and met up with some of Ben's friends.

The Christmas decorations were so cool!

The Thanksgiving Parade:

Veerrry blurry but oh well:

Chris (from Ben's mission) and Steve (from BYU and our Asia trip) live and work in LA so they met up with us for a few hours:

She didn't know what was going on, but she loved it all the same:

Thursday afternoon we met up in Vegas and when my family got out of the car, they all ran to Claire. We're just not important anymore. Oh well again.

I must admit it was stinking cute and Claire loved the attention.

Everywhere was PACKED for Thanksgiving dinner so we went to Cheesecake Factory! Very fun!

Anna and her BF Brian:

Watching Brooke's soccer games were FREEZING, but she did great at got 4th overall.

Crocheting in our chill time. I'm pretty much an old lady:)

Family pics in our pj's:

We had fun hanging out in the pools, chillin in the hotel, walking the strip, eating, watching Brooke's games, and just being together! We also went to the movie Tangled, which was the cutest Disney movie we've seen in a long time, and Claire sat through the whole thing and watched it all! It was sad to leave (and a long drive home) but we loved it. Hope you all had a great T-Day!

4 Months

 {Click to enlarge}

New this month:

She went from 12 lbs 4oz to 13lbs 6 oz. She gained over a pound this month! (And so did I.... still have 10 to go did I mention that? Oh well).

She's still small and has MANY 3 month outfits that don't fit her yet. I just got her skinny jeans in 3-6 month size but they are about a month away from fitting her.

She gets prettier by the day. I don't see how she can get any cuter, then BAM she's cuter.

She won't sleep on her stomach anymore. She used to love it for naps but now she only sleeps on her side for naps (and back for night time).

She takes naps like a champ. I give her the binkie (which she kicks and smiles and opens her mouth in excitement for), I lay her down, she rolls to her side and closes her eyes and falls asleep.

She smiles like crazy. Especially when she wakes up.

She's started grabbing at our faces and man does she PINCH! 

This last month has been rough sleeping-wise. I'm really excited to try rice cereal this week. I think it'll help her sleep through the night better.

She's grabbing her toes. Hasn't put them in her mouth yet, but she'll get there soon.

She rolls so much it's as bad as crawling. I put her down, go do the dishes, and suddenly hear her bawling at the top of her lungs. She's rolled 3 feet and hit her head on the coffee table. Seriously? She's 4 months old!  

We've had to use that silly buckle on the changing table to strap her down or she'd roll right off. She rolls in her bouncer, in her tub, on your lap, on the boppy.... just about anywhere.  

She's amazing at standing. Has been since week 4.

She's the cutest model I've seen for Tippy Toppers!

Her schedule is really predictable now: Goes to bed at 8pm, wakes up at 8am. Takes 3 one-hour naps at 10am, 1pm, and 4pm (hopefully we'll weed out the 4pm one soon), eats when she wakes up at 11am, 2pm, and 5pm. However, nighttime is NOT predictable. She can go till midnight, then wake every 2 to 4 hours. Ya never know.

She won't sit up straight in her bumbo anymore. It's not long before she's sideways and all contorted trying to roll out of it.

She still loves getting her diaper changed, taking baths with daddy, facing outwards in the Bjorn, kicking, watching Baby Einstein, and yelling. 

On a different note, I couldn't wait any longer to put up our first Christmas tree and decorations. We've never had one (either been home visiting the whole Holiday or been in Africa) so we're excited. It's a cute little 4-footer and it's perfect.

Claire loves it too:

 

Remember the video of her first month? Well I've made one now of month 2-4 (could NOT cut it below 15 minutes no matter how hard I tried. And it started with over an hour so good job to me. Just watch it--it's adorable)

Click the arrows to make it full-screen:

We're off to Disneyland tonight! We're finally using the free tickets we got from volunteering with Dublin Pride Day. It'll be interesting just being the 3 of us, taking turns watching Claire while the other one goes. But we're so excited. Then we're off to meet my family in Vegas for the weekend! 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! 

Family Pictures

A fabulous friend and photographer in our ward, Lisa Long, took these family pictures for us! (We did a swap that day and I took hers here). We love them!

Take a look:

Thanks Lisa! You're terrrrrific! 

Tippy Toppers

Now launched! 

www.TippyToppers.com

Check it out for adorable crocheted hats! Perfect holiday or baby shower gift!

Grab our button! 

<a href="http://tippytoppers.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg23/ckendell03/tippybutton.jpg" alt="Tippy Toppers" /></a>

(Copy the code in the box and paste it in an "html/java script" new page element in your blog)

Thankful

Life is beautiful with these 2 by my side.

I say it all the time, but they are proof that God loves me.

Get a free blanket!

Follow this link to get a free Minky blanket!

 

 {It's a doll-size blanket (10'' X 17'') but it's free!}

She be rollin'

Look at this child:

 She is so funny. Now that's she knows how to roll, I can't get her to stop. I lay her on her back and go wash the dishes, 5 minutes later she's grunting and struggling and I look in there and she's on her stomach. When I try to put her down for her naps--forget it! She doesn't want to lay on her back because she tries to roll to her stomach and if I put her on her stomach, she tries to roll to her back. We spend 10 minutes going back and forth and I finally just leave her to struggle and fall asleep herself. Every time I go in there after she's asleep, she's on her side. Apparently given up and compromised in the middle :) 

Hats, hats, & more hats

Ever since I learned to crochet in Tahoe (thanks Lisa!) I've been on a kick. My cousin Tiffany and I get together a few times a week, and then everyday on our own, we're making beanies! It's so much fun and my new favorite are these with the earflaps:

(Can't see the cute black one very well):

I've probably made 10-15 now. And lots of fun flowers to switch out.

SO excited to dress Claire up in them this winter! Aren't they cute?? 

Next on our list--baby booties!

She has a lot to say

The first clip is what she does when she gets tired. She starts yelling at us. The rest is just cute cooing she does all the time now. She definitely has her dad's loud voice. I love it when she decides to use it during church, I have to take her out not because she's crying, but because she's talking!
Love this pumpkin.

Here we were on Saturday at the Stake Halloween Carnival. So much fun!

Pretty awesome costumes considering we literally threw them together in a couple of hours.
Hope you had a fun Halloween!