So Many Things to be Thankful For!

Sit back and relax-here are dozens of pictures from our 4 days in Rhode Island:

First, Thanksgiving at my Dad's house-

Here's my nephew Kyle giving some serious love to his baby sister Isabella:Some outside time with Auntie Carole, while the Thanksgiving feast was being prepared:
Burning off some energy:

The sisters, and 4 of the 5 children (Isabella was napping):

Our traditional family shot on Thanksgiving Day:

Me and my Dad:

We had a fantastic, traditional Thanksgiving meal. My Dad worked so hard to create a memorable feast! We all left stuffed, and barely touched dessert. But don't you worry- I took tons of leftovers and enjoyed my desserts later!

On Friday, we went to visit my friends Kim and Ken. Here are their 3 children- Sydney (5) and Gabriel (22 months)- with our suddenly UN-camera-shy munchkin:

Next are some pictures from Elijah's Birthday party at my sister Paula's house. Here's Nana, with all of her beautiful grandchildren. Talk about something to be thankful for!

Nana gets bowled over by loving grand kids!

A sideways shot of Elijah's second birthday cake:

Blowing out the candles

Opening presents:

Thanks, Auntie Paula and Uncle Jim for hosting a great family Birthday party for Elijah! Even after all that cake, Elijah slept well on the looong drive home!

Happily, Ed returned home from deer camp this morning (Sunday). After Elijah's nap, we had one final birthday party:Leftover birthday cake!But the cake will have to wait until after the presents are opened...A couple of books from Mommy and Daddy:
And the Big Present- an artist's easel:And, finally....back to that birthday cake!

Happy 2nd Birthday to my sweet "baby" boy. Can't believe how the time has flown...seems like just yesterday that we were sitting around Martha and Chris' Thanksgiving table making bets on when the baby would arrive!

I love you!!!

Serious Birthday Fun...Part 1

The excitement began last week, with a birthday card from Lisa and Dan. Followed by another cute card yesterday from Grammie (with money!)- Elijah thought that was pretty special, and says, "TataGaga" (Thank-you, Grammie)

Just as I had 3 baby showers, I think Elijah is destined to always have 3 birthday parties. There are pros and cons to living so far away from my family!

Here are the photos from party #1, at "Miss Tammy's House" (Elijah's daycare). Tammy was actually recognizing 3 of the childrens' birthdays- Elijah (28th), Rhiannon (the girl to his left turns 2 on the 30th) and Olivia (the girl with the dark hair, turned 8 on the 12th). Tammy made cupcakes and we brought some "sun cookies" from the Foothills Bakery. The children made birthday crowns as their craft and enjoyed some delicious eats.

In this picture- Tiller, Elijah and Rhiannon:

Clockwise- Tiller, Elijah, Edie, Olivia, Jeffrey: Yummy!
Tammy is one smart woman to have the birthday party (with all that sugar) in the afternoon....just before the kids leave for the day!

Birthday part #2 will be at my sister Paula's house on Saturday (Elijah's actually birthday), and party #3 will be back at home with Mommy, Daddy and Zoe on Sunday. I can't wait for Elijah to open our gifts!

Record-Breaker

For the first year ever in the "new camp", the Glover Camp Boys have harvested three (3!) Wheelock Bucks. Calvin on opening day, Matt last Monday, and yesterday morning, Paul got his first buck in something like 13 years. I think it was a 4-pointer, but I don't know any details beyond that. Congratulations, Paul!

Congratulations Matt!

Matt got his first "Wheelock Buck" yesterday morning. Whoo hoo! A ten-pointer (I think).

Our phone rang off the hook last night. Ed said it's the equivalent of someone in my family having a baby. I doubt that...but it's still very exciting.

Congratulations, Matt!

When the Cat's Away....

Well, another hunting season is upon us! Ed left after school yesterday for deer camp, and will return on Sunday. His original plan was to stay through until Monday, but then Elijah was sick all week and we alternated taking days off. We both have missed a lot of school lately.

When our new Bunco group formed this past summer, we all chose our month to host. I picked November, knowing how dark and lonely the hunting season weekends could be. Sounded good back then. What I didn't anticipate was how hard it would be to plan, cook and clean for Bunco with Elijah around and Ed gone to camp! I was especially questioning my decision as I stood in line at Costco at 5:30 last night, behind a woman whose debit card would not work, as I watched the clock, realizing that in the next 90 minutes I had to have dinner prepared, Elijah fed and in bed and the house ready to accept a gaggle of women.

Throw in there an exceptionally fussy, feverish and mucousy almost-two-year-old. I still have no idea how I pulled it off. But when the first guests arrived at 7:05, Elijah was sound asleep, the house was sparkly clean (a rarity), and there was rotisserie chicken and stuffing warming in the oven, a crock pot of creamy mashed potatoes, Waldorf salad, cranberry sauce and even an apple pie and a pumpkin pie!

Admittedly, I took half the day off of school, and I made the pies, mashed potatoes and salad the night before (and the pie crusts 2 nights before)...but nobody needs to know that! The food was delicious, the meal was a huge hit, and we even played a record NINE rounds of Bunco. On top of that, I got the lowest score so I won the "loser prize" ($10). Cool. Miraculously, Elijah slept through the entire party...and it wasn't exactly quiet.

I only ever see midnight on Bunco nights. The morning came too quickly, and Elijah woke with a runny faucet nose, a terrible sounding cough and a fever of 103. We had a very low-key day, it poured rain so we hung around the house, watched a lot of Elmo and Bob the Builder, read books and played cars. We both took a 3+ hour nap.

Now Elijah's in bed and I am making a pot of Grammie's corn chowder as well as a pumpkin pie for a Science-teacher brunch I am hosting tomorrow. A much less stressful affair, since the house is already clean and after making a few "heads-up" phone calls, some of the teachers with children opted not to come tomorrow, due to Eli's illness (although before I had the bright idea of calling people, I soaked all of Eli's cars, balls and plastic food items in Clorox. Then I thought, "This is dumb. If I am feeling the need to disinfect all his toys, I probably shouldn't have children coming to the house!")

So it will just be a small crowd of maybe 7 of us or so.

That's my crazy deer camp weekend in a nutshell! Wonder what next weekend will bring?

p.s. I did talk to Ed-- Calvin shot a deer today, on opening day of rifle season. Congrats, Calvin!

Moving Day!

Tyler and Aimee closed on their new house in Derby on Friday afternoon. Saturday was moving day! They had a great crew involved- Peter, Paul, Wes, Matt, Barry and Kim Adams (and Gabe), Ed (and me & Elijah). The people listed in parentheses did nothing to help with the move. We just tried to stay out of the way! I didn't take too many pictures, and sorry that I have none of the new house to show. Although I'm sure once they begin feeling settled, Aimee will post all kinds of pics on her blog! Barry and the birthday boy:

Tyler and Pete:
Wes, Matt, Tyler, Pete:

Walking around, checking out the view. Fred seems to like his new home!

Meanwhile, while others were manually laboring, Elijah was torturing poor Fred by refusing to let go of his leash. Elijah cannot do this with Zoe, she's just too big and she bowls him over. Poor little Fred didn't have a chance at escaping!

This swing set is eventually going with the old homeowners, so we figured we'd enjoy it while we could!

Closing Picture: the absolutely adorable Gabriel Adams.

Not only is he cute, he's also about the best baby you could imagine!