Wow, it has been a long time....

...so here is a very long post...
We went to Birmingham for my favorite holiday - Thanks giving - and here is the whole family. It is always so nice to get together - wish we could do it more often.

It is my favorite holiday because of its simplicity -it is a time to reflect on the things we are grateful for and eat lots of yummy food. Ok, so it is pretty gluttonous, especially in our contemporary culture, but the simplicity of the idea and relatively sparse hoopla compared to other holidays makes this one my favorite.

Ironically though, my parents bought a blow up castle for the grand kids. While I smirked at the idea, I soon saw that it was super fun and gave the kids something to do outside - they loved it.

A bubble bath in the big tub was also a real treat and a first for Alder.

My good friend Ana from Mexico (who just completed her masters in Knoxville - congrats!) joined us for her first Thanksgiving. I had not seen her in almost 2 years - much too long. I am glad that she was able to meet all of my family and discover the wonder of sweet potato pie! ;)

Thanks mom and dad for hosting us all. Can't believe it is almost time for you guys to come up here! We cant wait.

As for around the home front, I snagged this photo one morning when both boys had on nice sweaters. Heath is almost as big as Alder! I took him to the doc for a checkup last week and he was 21 lbs at 5.5 months. Alder is likely about 30-35. Alder has also made the big transition to booster car seat wearing the big person seat belt! I guess this was about the age where I was standing in the front seat of my parents Chevelle....haha....how times have changed.

A long awaited project is the installation of six panel doors throughout the house. Jason hung two last Sunday and Alder enjoyed playing with the tools and old door. I am excited to have them all in though I know that means it will be time to paint trim and I am not really looking forward to that...

As evidenced from that last pic, Heath is starting to sit up better. He enjoys being propped on his toy basket to drag out various items. This is really new and it is amazing how in only a couple of days, he has gained the strength to sit pretty steadily.

I know this is super premature, but we are beginning to anticipate inevitable conflicts as Heath becomes more mobile and starts to get into "Alder's things". We are not sure how we are going to deal with it so any advice from veteran parents is welcome. Our goal is to prevent Alder from thinking that he has ownership of all toys (we are a family and need to share everything) while at the same time preventing Alder from feeling resentment toward Heath...any ideas?

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My friend Janet told me about a simple pattern for turning an old wool sweater into a pair of baby wool pants/cloth diaper cover (i.e. nappy pants). Lindsay, I hope you do not mind that I did this with a sweater you gave me....I tried it on and it did not fit right, and the stripes are so cute I thought they would make great pants for Heath!

I wouldn't dare put a close up and show my poor sewing skills...I am happy with them though and may have to add a bit of elastic around the waist eventually.
While I am showing my rare crafty side, I will also show the three Christmas stockings that I have been working on for almost 2 years now. And yes, they look more like tube socks than stockings and I still need one more. Maybe by next year, Heath.

Jason and some of his best buddies went to a Phish concert in Charlottesville last weekend. I was glad he orchestrated this event and went through with it. It is tough to imagine doing something like this with two babies and the busy day to day we find ourselves swimming through. He deserved to get out with some guys and enjoy some great music. ...and because Daniel was one of those guys, we were fortunate enough to have their whole family come up for a long weekend visit! We had such a good time that I truly did not want them to leave.

We did a lot of chillin around the house and Jen and I even went out on Friday for a little girl time. Really nice! Ellen and Arianna are such a pleasure to be around - we all really enjoyed them being here.
Another buddy that went with Jason to the show - Justin - was enslaved early Sunday morning and found himself reading Thomas books to the kids by 8am...thanks ;)

We are beginning to feel the excitement/peace of the holiday season: The weather has certainly been feeling like winter - crisp and cool, the birds are attacking the bird feeders as native sources of food become more scarce, my semester is over and workload lighter, and we will soon to be seeing extended family and spending some more quality time with just the four of us.
Inhale...Exhale....