Much to be thankful for

This year - as always - we have so much to be thankful for, and that is a spirit I have been working hard to cultivate within myself. We missed Jake but he was having a nice day with his girlfriend. John was able to join us over at Nana and Grandpa's after he left work, and many of our "extended" family also made the drive to NH to be together.
A busy morning of cooking and watching the Macy's Parade and then we were off; it was a lovely day.
This morning Katy and I followed it up with breakfast at the CornerView with my mom, and Gabe and Zach had a sleepover at the Taylor's last night. All in all a wonderful holiday. Wednesday night we hosted our annual (rather sacreligious) gathering to eat snacks and watch a string of "FRIENDS" Thanksgiving episodes - about nine or ten people joined us and it was really fun.

ok, not a great shot but LOOK AT HOW BIG HE IS!!!!!!

yes, another bad shot but the outfit simply screams Cousin Eddie from "Christmas Vacation."

Now THERE is a cute picture!

Walking and teething - a lethal combination.

Yup, there I am. Enough said.

(In)Famous

In the past week 2 of my children were in the paper and one of them was also on T.V. and the stage!
It was a very big week for Katy as she had a leading role in her third highschool drama production in the play by Neil Simon, "Rumors." She was also on the local Concord channel hosting a talk show for her t.v. production class, and her picture made it into the paper from one of the play rehersals. WOW!
Then, I found out through Jake that Zach was also in the paper, a shot taken during a field trip.

Concord in the Fall

Last weekend we had our first snowstorm of the year, and it was the most snow ever recorded in NH in October! Needless to say I had to hurry out to the stores and buy gloves for the boys, snowpants for Gabe, boots, gloves and a hat for John, and boots for Rilla. (Obviously Katy and I are always prepared, at least when clothing is involved.)  Gabe and Zach spent quite some time in the snow on Sunday, both in our tiny city yard and then later in the day at Nana's, where they could really spread their (snow) wings and enjoy themselves. Katy graciously came outside with the camera but was only able to get a couple of pictures before the batteries died.

One Year Later

Tomorrow our baby turns ONE.  We celebrated today with Nana, Grandpa and the Uncles, and tomorrow we will give Rilla our gifts to her. 
All week I have been recalling what we went through a year ago, not only because it's the anniversary of Rilla's birth week, but also because Laurie is in AZ welcoming HER new baby, and although it is a completely different situation there are many similarities simply because it's an adoption. A year ago I never could have imagined what a lovely, sweet, joyful, beautiful daughter God was placing in our family - watching April Jayne grow this year has been a tremendous gift. Not a day goes by that I do not stare at her in awe, remembering the miracle of her journey to our family.

When I was getting out her tights, Rilla saw her hats in the same drawer. She pointed and did the sign for hat. It was just what she wanted to complete her birthday outfit - her pink engineer cap!

Rilla is able to walk but often chooses not to!

The chocolate cupcake seemed to cheer her up - she's had a cold all week.

Her first sugar coma.