good traveler

Good thing Dennis is such an awesome traveler. No crying from him... just occasional bluffing about being poopy and so much spit that it drenched his clothes.

cheaper than ice cream therapy

Thought we were staying in St. Louis for Thanksgiving? You were right... that is until Wednesday night at 6:00pm. I had been feeling sad for a couple of weeks and couldn't put my finger on why until Wednesday morning when I went to visit my dear friend Katie. I just thought it would be nice to see her and visit. She asked if I was ok and said that I seemed sad.

She noticed? I'm really sad? Then the tears came... poor Katie... I didn't mean to come over and cry. We talked about a lot of things... and I realized that I needed my family- especially on the holidays.

Some people can't wait to start their own traditions as a new family unit... not me. Maybe its because I am the youngest and want to be the youngest forever. What? ME in charge of thanksgiving? Maybe its because I love to be with my family. Maybe its because I was going to be the only one Not there on our holiday. Whatever the reason... it was eating away at me... making me depressed.

I cried at Katie's house. I cried on my way home. I cried watching dancing with the stars. I almost cried in the grocery store. I cried on the phone with my mom. I cried when Ryan came home.

That's when Ryan decided that it was cheaper to go to Minnesota for Thanksgiving than to buy all the ice cream that it would take until I felt better. And cheaper than a therapist. So we decided at 6:00pm that we were going to MN. We were on the road by 9:00pm and made it to my mom's house just in time to take a shower before the Thanksgiving party.

The best Thanksgiving ever.

I am thankful for...

my husband

my family -every member

our traditions

good friends

our car

the parkway

my dogs

my mom

Thanks.

pseudo thanksgiving

My parents came to visit again last week. Since we are not going to Minnesota this year for thanksgiving, my mom made us a thanksgiving dinner a week early. We were so happy!yummy.

So excited to eat.

Thank you for coming! We love you.

monkey and me

fall

Dennis was in heaven at the park yesterday. It was getting dark and he was getting tired... but he jumped and jumped and then just laid there looking around enjoying the feel of the leaves.


What an awesome feeling... I love it too.

development

Children's development varies so much from kid to kid. Dennis wasn't the first one to roll over, or walk, or jump, or run, or talk... or many other things. In fact he is usually not the first. And we learned a long time ago not to compare him with other kids. Dennis is very good at his fine motor skills. He is very patient and can do intricate things with his hands. I love how he wrote in between the lines on this first picture.

Notice the coloring in the lines around the sun and the color choices.
We love our Dennis and his strengths.

gross things

Ever since Dennis was born, I was afraid that he would get into something gross... having dogs- gross things are around once in a while. When he was a baby, I found him chewing on a plastic dog bone. I was really scared that he would find something worse. Buster throws up more often than normal dogs. It became tricky when Dennis became so mobile. It was so stressful for me to clean it up while Dennis was around. Today things changed. I was in the kitchen when I heard Dennis say, "uh oh... uh oh... momma.. uh oh... bu-er... uh oh bu-er". Dennis told me that Buster had an accident. What a relief. I can rest from my worries.

just another day at the zoo