A's First Thanksgiving and other November Happenings

November was kind of a crazy month for us. Which is why I am catching up on the blogging now.

Little A in her Halloween bib. The woman who watches her when we go to the Temple made it for her.  She taught me how to make these bibs (made out of hand towels); they're super easy, and I love them because they cover her clothes and she can't pull them off.

We finally got around to laying the rock down in our yard.  Allan worked really hard on it, and we had some help from some of our neighbors too!  Allan was out working one day when he started getting pretty tired. He prayed that someone would come and help him so that the work would still get done.  Heavenly Father answered his prayer almost immediately when our neighbors came by. They are 10 and 5 but they did a good job helping and kept him going. Another day another neighbor (who is our age) came and helped. We are very grateful for answered prayers and good neighbors.

Allan laying down the cloth.

We marked out a spot for a flower bed in front of the window that will match the one at the front of our yard.  We don't have the flower bed in yet, but the rock looks really good.  I'll have to post a picture later because I forgot to take one.

One family night we had a lesson about Jesus Christ.  We often use the Gospel Art book for our family night lessons. I showed this picture to Little A and bore my testimony to her about the Savior. She was completely engrossed in the picture.  She reverently touched it and smiled her best smile.  She looked at and talked to it for a really long time.  Our girl loves her Savior. :) It was such a sweet moment.

Little A had her teeth brushed for the first time this month.  She LOVED it! She didn't want me to stop, lol! It must have felt really good on her gums. I do it in the bathtub now because drool got everywhere.

Brushing A's teeth.

Little A in one of her adoption shirts. :)

Gotta love those cute booties from Great Aunt K.  She loves to play with the loops.  I love them because she can't pull them off of her feet.

 Little A decided that she wants to crawl!  She loves to get onto her hands and knees and rock back and forth.  I do it with her and try to encourage her to race me by saying "Ready, set, Go!" and then crawling.  So far she just rocks faster and watches me crawl away. Ha!

A caught a cold at the end of October that carried over to November a bit.  I hate it when she's sick because she won't sleep unless one of us holds her. I do love the extra snuggle time though. Allan spent several nights on the couch, and I spent a night on the daybed. Allan is so good to me and sleeps with her so I can get a good nights sleep. It doesn't bother him to sleep on the couch, but I can't sleep on it for some reason. 

Fiesta dress. She's such a cutie. She wasn't the biggest fan of the dress though.

I've loved our schedule this month.  She wakes up at 6:30 and eats and then she'll sit on the couch beside me and play while I eat breakfast, check the emails, and read my scriptures.  Then she goes back to sleep for an hour and a half which gives me time to exercise and shower before she wakes up.

A wrestling the pillow before she goes down for her morning nap.

We took a trip to visit our families the week before Thanksgiving.  We had a lot of fun visiting with everyone.  Little A had a blast playing with her cousin J.  She squealed and laughed and jabbered at him while he stared at her. Too funny.  She was so excited that she scooted forward until she was able to reach him. She even inspired him to stay up on his hands and knees.  They practiced rocking back and forth together, lol!

We got to visit AG and her family too! We enjoyed talking and catching up with them.  Little A loves all the attention she gets. She was going through a bad bout of teething though so by the time we left she was very, VERY upset. Poor girl.

We got to visit Nana and Pops as well.  When little A saw Pops she cried and cried.  It was so funny, and so sad.  We think she didn't like his beard.  He took her one morning and spent some time with her alone so they could bond, and after that she was okay with him.  She loved Nana.  She spent a morning with Nana too, and when Nana gave her back to me A told me all about the fun time she had and said "Nana"! Too cute! Of course Nana was thrilled. :)

Playing with Pops.

She caught a virus while we were visiting and the plane ride home was miserable.  She cried while we were waiting to get on the plane.  We relieved when she fell asleep.  She didn't wake up until we were landing.  That was horrible. It probably hurt her ears or something because she screamed and screamed and was completely inconsolable. I felt so bad for her, and for all the people on the plane. 
She was so hungry but couldn't really eat.  I ended up sitting in the back of the car for a while on our drive home to comfort her.  We were all relieved to be home, and A was so happy to be back in her quiet house.  Even though she was sick she still giggled and smiled when we walked into our house.  I'm glad she likes home so much. She had a fever all day until a man in our ward came over and helped Allan give her a blessing. After the blessing, the fever went away. We are grateful for the power of the priesthood.

Allan and little A sleeping at the airport.

A loves to stand up by the couch. I started facing her forward so she can balance by herself. She's had a lot of fun with it and likes to push herself off of the couch with her bum, balance, and then fall forward into my arms.

Little A and I. We have the same blue eyes. :)

A discovered buttons. She loves to play with them and try to eat them, especially if they are on Allan's shirt.  She also discovered pockets. Little A fell asleep holding on to Allans pocket one night. I love this picture. When I was little I would stick my hand in my Poe's pocket and say "Poe, you have a "Poe"-cket". He always got the biggest kick out of it.  I have a similar picture to this of me holding on to Poe's "poe"-cket. 

A loves to be in her walker.  She especially likes to run into things.  She will take off running and then slam into something, turn herself around and then take off running again, all while laughing her head off.  She'll follow me all around the house and watch me work.  When she's done and wants to get out she parks it in it's designated spot and sits there and fusses until I get her out! I did not teach her this. I always put it away in the same spot, she must have noticed because that's where she always puts it too!

She also loves to make messes while she's in the walker.  She'll grab anything she can reach and throw it on the floor.  If its her toy she'll stash it in the seat of her walker, but if it's not then she throws it on the floor and runs over it.

I made little A a bib for Thanksgiving (Allan - and she did a great job too. She is getting skilled on the sewing machine).

We had Thanksgiving with the family that watches A when we go to the Temple.  They are so wonderful and made us feel so comfortable with their family.  They have a big family and almost all of them were there.  It was a lot of fun. Little A ate a ton of mashed potatoes.  We played the newlywed game with their family and tied for first!  The food was delicious!

I love this pic of A because the sun is shining behind her and making her ears glow.  She's got the cutest ears ever! I love how they stick out a little bit and make her look like an little imp.

The next evening we went to Merry Main St (and forgot to take our camera). They lit the town Christmas tree, had Santa and the Grinch there, and a lot of activities for little kids. A lot of the stores were having sales as well.  It was a lot of fun. A loved being out among a lot of people. Everyone thought she was adorable in her Cabbage Patch beanie.

So proud of herself for standing up alone!

We made our own Thanksgiving dinner that Saturday because we love Turkey so much, lol. I was sick so Allan ended up making almost all of the food himself.  It turned out great! (great considering who made it. It would have tasted infinitely better had Kami made it)

A's first Thanksgiving!

We also did almost all of our Christmas shopping over black Friday and cyber Monday.  We didn't go into any stores, we just shopped online.  It was crazy, there were several items that I tried to buy; I put them in my shopping cart and continued shopping and then when I went to check out they were gone because other people had bought them faster them me! I didn't know that could happen! It was nice to get it all done though.  I make a calendar for my parents every year and that took up most of the time. I forgot to ask all my sisters for pictures earlier in the year so I ended up using the pictures they posted on Facebook. They weren't thrilled about that, but it turned out cute.