Thanksgiving 2009

Its the day before Turkey day and we all attended the Thanksgiving singalong at Maddie's school!  She's so excited about it.  She couldn't wait for us to see her turkey hat and to sing her songs. 

Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi...its me!  I'm over here!  Do you see me?  Hellllloooooo!

We were glad she lifted her head up...she was covered in paper turkeys...this is one of the only decent face shots we got of her!

She was especially excited that Bella got to hear her singing.

These are two of her best little girl friends.  She loves playing with them at recess.  As you can see - they are both in their pajamas.  It was pajama day at school, but we forgot all about it!

The next day was ThanTHANKSGIVING DAY!

I'm thankful for my hard working husband.  I'm thankful for the beautiful world I live in and for crisp fall weather and crunchy leaves.

I'm thankful for so much good food and all the things that we've been blessed with as a family.  We don't want for anything and that is truly a gift from God.

I'm thankful for the constant adventure that my marriage is.  I am so much more in love with him than I ever was before.  I'm thankful he's in my life.

I am so thankful for so many things.  Thanksgiving day is a great reminder of how blessed my life is.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Wiesbaden and Wurzburg

John had to go to Wiesbaden for a week to take some class or other for his job.  We decided to drive up on the Friday and spend the weekend with him and check out Weisbaden.  The town is pretty big....we actually thought it looked a lot like Portland does in the city center. 

While at the hotel Maddie and Bella took advantage of the loooooong hallways to race and chase each other around.

We stayed at a hotel that was within walking distance so first thing Saturday morning we headed out to see the sights.  John and I have decided we want to live in this gorgeous house...isn't it magnificent?



We found a cool tree that was bricked up in the middle.  Maddie was fascinated with it.



The city center had a gorgeous cathedral.  With the sunshine and the clouds it was an amazing view and the photo just doesn't do it justice.



Like all town in Europe we found little back alley secret hideaways with amazing architectural features and designs.



It was great to just enjoy the mild temperatures and take a long walk around town.


Back at the hotel Daddy and Bella played hide and go seek.  Here is her face when she "found" daddy under the blanket.  Its time for a bathtub I think.



The next morning we were greet with the sun and a chattery baby girl...



We left Wiesbaden on Sunday morning to head back to Vilseck and made a detour to Wurzburg along the way...we'd heard it was a magnificent town...we only saw a small part of it and fell in love with its beauty.

One of the things we loved most about the town were all the interesting statues...

We also loved the riverwalk...


There was a palace in the center of town called Schloss Veitschochheim.  It had an amazing garden that stretched on endlessly...

...and had even more amazing statues. I only picked a couple to put in this post...we took probably 30 photos of statues.

Maddie was attacked by geese near the big pond.  She didn't notice it coming after her until it was only about 5 feet from her.  It was very funny to watch her shriek and run.  We got it all on video.  :)



And then we finally made our way to the palace...



The front steps had these great stone dragons



John caught this great "Maddie shot."  Isn't it just something you can see her doing?





After we left the palace and went back to the car we happened upon this gem.  No clue how or why, but it made for a fun final photo.

Dance Party & Kitty Cakes!

On Saturday we celebrated Bella's birthday with some neighborhood friends with a dance party.  We hung up some fun Christmas blinker lights, rearranged the furniture and laid out some great snacks.  I actually MADE her cakes...while its not as professional looking as the one in the magazine I think I did a pretty good job.

We got Bella all dressed up in her party duds and soon had some great friends over to open presents, dance to some fun tunes and eat and eat and eat.

When it was time for the birthday cake I chose the cute little orange tabby kitten and put her 1st birthday candle on it for her second cake experience in two days.

Because birthday girl had gotten so messy we changed her into an outfit that Auntie Jenna sent her. We had to work off all that cake and had a little more dance party time...someone was on a serious sugar high.

Just lounging around in my birthday suit.  :)

Auntie Jenna...did you HAVE to send this stinky headband too?

She had a wonderful day....but even with as much as we've had fun celebrating...the parties are now at an end...