Smiles

My baby girl is smiling now and it's so precious!

Snow Man

There was still snow on the ground when we went to my parents for Thanksgiving, so my dad helped Liam build a snow man!

Snow Fun

it snowed a bunch last week and we had a ton of fun playing in it!

Kiddo Photo Shoot

Family Night

We had a special "family night" the other night. We did crafts, played a game and watched a movie (had popcorn too, of course!)

New Blessings Block

I know, it's been awhile, huh? I took a bit of a break from my blessings embroidery project to work on some Christmas projects. BUT, I did pull out my blessings project long enough to add Miss Heidi:

Dedication

we dedicated Heidi at church on sunday. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I got. None with my inlaws, because we were going to do them at our house afterwards and then completely forgot.

In our church, we do not do baby baptisms, as we feel that it is a outward sign of a personal commitment to the Lord and so needs to be done when the person is older and aware of what is happening. Instead, we do dedications, which is a time for parents to make a commitment to raise their child in the Lord, and to remember that the child ultimately belongs to the Lord.

Birds, big and small.

We've had many different birds come to our feeder since I got it for my birthday last month:

Black Capped Chickadee

Chestnut-backed Chickadee

Black Eyed Junco

Red-Breasted Nuthatch

House Finch

They've been sweet little birds all around the same size and it has been so much fun to sit at the table and watch them.

And then, yesterday, I was sitting there and saw this guy:

Holy smokes! He's so big, he had to clutch the side of the feeder, and as you can see in the picture, use his tail to help hold him there while he snarfed down the seed.
But, he's gorgeous. All that beautiful speckling on his belly, and when he flies away, his wings are all red tipped.
I went to this great bird web site and typed in our zip code, and then wandered through the lists of birds until I found him. He's a Northern Flicker.
I also used the web site to check and make sure I had our other bird friends right...such as the one I showed a picture of in my post the other day, which is a House Finch.

This has been so much fun. I am so, so glad Jon and the boys got me the feeder!

Wren Bay

While I was visiting my folks last weekend, I had the opportunity to read "Wren Bay" by Clarice Fox-Hughes, a woman my mother knows and who's web site I frequent as Clarice shares many wonderful recipes, craft ideas and more.
I had been hoping for a chance to read her book, but I knew I didn't have the money to buy myself a copy. Thankfully, my mother had bought one and I almost immediately sat down to read when I saw it on mom's side table!
"Wren Bay" is a story about a young Bostonian woman who marries a young man and goes to live with him on his dairy farm. Shortly after their wedding, he is called to war and Wren remains at the farm, learning much about gardening and farming and more about herself in the process.
"Wren Bay"  is a sweet and simple story and I enjoyed it very much. A fun and unique aspect to the book was the recipes Clarice included at the end of each chapter. I also really enjoyed the daily blessings part of the story. It is another reminder to look for the good in a day.

Snippets of Life Lately

Newest bird friend. There are beautiful red-headed/breasted males as well:

Giving Heidi a bath in the sink. She wasn't too sure about what she thought of it. I think she'll like baths better in the baby tub we have:

We finally got the swing set up (thanks Jonny!) and it has been great! Heidi takes nice, long naps in it and it frees me up to be able to do more chores and things more easily, because she's usually happy in it when she's awake:

All three boys on the couch, watching a show:

Enjoying a Fire

Baby Comparisons

I keep having people ask me which one of the boys Heidi looks like, or which side of the family she takes after. So far, my answer has been, "I'm not sure."
Tonight, that changes. Because tonight, while pulling newborn/baby pictures together to make a comparison for all of you, it seemed obvious to me...and well, take a look and tell me what YOU think!

eating apples!

Unfortunately, these are not my parent's apples, as their trees did not produce very much this year (boo hoo), but I wanted to share this apple-enjoying picture, since it's Apple Season!

Nana and Papa Weekend!

The kiddoes and I spent this weekend at my parents house, since Jon was going with Joe and Nicole on a youth retreat to play bass in the band, and I didn't want to spend the weekend alone with the kids at home.

We had a very nice time. I got to read a sweet book which I will write about in another post, and we got to have some really good Nana and Papa time. I am glad we went!!!

Getting Papa cuddles:

Getting Nana cuddles:

Watching Toy Story 3: