Thanksgiving & My Birthday

Each year I keep getting closer to 30. Weird how that works, huh? For my birthday I got spoiled with a 1-hour prenatal massage. I think I need one every day. I got gifts and cards and phone calls and texts from family and ended the day with dinner out. It was lovely. I got enough birthday money to buy my glider. Yay! (Yes, I did take a picture of my empty glider just to show you all.)

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner in Boise with my parents and played a lot of games. The next day we went out and did some Black Friday shopping. It's not something I normally do, but we had a few purchases that needed to be done on a steep discount. The chaos really wasn't that bad, and most people were very pleasant while we were out and about. We got a new camera, and it's going to take some practice for both Mr. Mitchell and myself. Me more so. As my high school photography teacher told me: I'm not very good at photography.

Friday night we were treated to the Botanical Gardens all done up in lights. Sprout loved it, and it was very pretty.

We were thoroughly spoiled by my parents while we were in town with good food, eating out at new places, going to movies, and just enjoying ourselves. We're back home now and trying to get Sprout back on his routine. We just love this little boy.

This year I am incredibly thankful that I have a healthy baby growing in my stomach. Such a contrast from last Thanksgiving where I lost a pregnancy.

Thanksgiving and November 2013

We had quite a voyage this Thanksgiving. During the summer I realized we hadn't seen Mr. Mitchell's Grandma Ann since our wedding and decided we needed to go see her during the holidays. It worked out best for everyone if we came just after Thanksgiving, and that's what we did.

We spent Thanksgiving day and a couple days prior to it at my parent's house. We played games, ate food, watched movies, and I slept ... a lot.



 My parents took us to the The Village at Meridian which was super fun. I can't wait to go back in the summertime when it's nice and warm and the stores are open. Right now they have Santa's village set-up complete with an ice skating rink. Mr. Mitchell tried teaching my nephew how to ice skate, we watched the fountain show, window shopped, and watched Frozen in the fancy pants theater with leather seats.

How many uncles does it take to
get a nephew ready for skating?

That's where Santa hides out.

On Black Friday instead of hitting the stores we hit the road and spent 11 hours driving to Roseburg, OR to visit with family. We spent most of our time with Mr. Mitchell's brother's family, his aunt and uncle, and we were able to see his grandma and dad as well.

Aunt Liz, cousin D., and Sprout.

The grandkids were gifted giant teddy bears.

After a couple of days it was just us with Rick and Patti (Mr. Mitchell's aunt and uncle who graciously hosted everyone in their home). Patti spoiled me with craft time, we went on a beautiful walk and played at a park, and went to Festival of Lights. We don't have any pictures from Festival of Lights, but let me give you a visual:

Driving very slowly past lots and lots and lots of light displays, the window down, Sprout standing on Daddy's lap, head out the window, giant smile. It was very cute, and he loved it.

Luke, Liz, and their boys.

On our walk with Granty (Great Aunty) Patti

We had a wonderful time with all of our family and want to thank my parents and Rick & Patti for spoiling us rotten and helping us make this trip possible.

Now for the November wrap-up:

Pulling out ALL of my shoes is a favorite game.

Lots of outside time before it got too cold.

He likes his books.

Now some videos of Sprout playing with Mom and Dad:

Trying to Catch Up...

We have real internet for the time being so I can finally blog with pictures and it won't take an eternity. However, when I started this post weeks ago I was told I had no more room for pictures and I got discouraged. I was told that if I wait a few days Blogger might suddenly "change its mind." So, here I am.

Let's start with October:

My parents were able to come and stay for a few days to meet C.G. We snagged the opportunity to have him blessed while my dad was in town and could participate. Grammy and Grandpa Earls came back down for the blessing as well.

Bath time with Grandma Holdaway.

He seems to like it okay at the this point.

After the blessing with Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway.

I believe all three of us were a little tired here.

He had had enough for the day.

At C.G.'s three week mark we went to a pumpkin patch with Luke, Liz, and their boys. It was a little disappointing because they charged a hefty entrance fee and then there was hardly anything to do inside that was covered by that cost. We'll have to find a different place next year. We had good company, however, so we still had a good time.

Brothers and babies.

Corn field.

First train ride.

Mr. Mitchell at the pumpkin cannon.

Mr. Mitchell trying to feed C.G.

Mr. Mitchell educating his son
on the ways of the helicopter.

On the 25th C.G. turned one month old. I took some pictures to commemorate.

A small taste of the furrowed brow.

Cute little potato bug.

He likes his books already.

Sleepy boy.

Then we had Halloween and its activities. Also, Mr. Mitchell's brother, Joey, and his girlfriend came into town for Halloween.

Hanging with his cousin.

Chocolate chip pumpkin bread, butter beer, and carving pumpkins.

Father/son bonding.

He participated in the pumpkin carving.

Mr. Mitchell's final product.

C.G. and Uncle Joey.

And, of course, all through the month of October our little boy was as cute as can be.

He's a pothead of the pacifier variety.

Contemplating his first move as president.

Tummy time with Dad.

Being a good boy.

Little angel.

Our wedding shoes with C.G.'s first shoe.

Don't deny he has sweet hair.

And now we move to November:

I wasn't nearly as camera happy, and it was kind of a rough month.

Post-bath and pre-massage.

Reading with dad.

C.G. does not like the laundry basket.

Lounging on his boppy.

 We moved...again...the third time in 2012.

Our home for 6 months in California.

 We spent Thanksgiving at Mr. Mitchell's grandma's.

Hanging out with 'Granty' Martha
(Great Aunt = Granty)

Thanksgiving day with Dad.

Thanksgiving day with cousin.

Thanksgiving day with Mom.

It was cold in that house!

 Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway's where he turned 2 months!

Showing his support for Dad and his motorcycle.

C.G. had his 2 month check-up: 24 in. and almost 14 lbs. His huge noggin, that made delivery so fun, is in the 98th percentile. I'm still laughing about that. He got his shots and we were both sad for a couple of days.

We love watching our boy coo and smile and kick around.

We aren't sending Christmas cards this year because of sending out the birth announcements. I found out that some people did not receive their birth announcement (including my own mom and dad!) and we are sorry if that happened to you. I sent them all out, so, I'm not sure what happened. If we were sending out Christmas cards, however, they'd say something along the lines of:

2012 brought temporary changes, such as moving three times, and permanent change, such as having a baby. We had some sorrow with the loss of a nephew and extreme joy with the birth of our first child. We have had a lot of trials this year, but we're hopeful that things will pick up, and we're grateful for all of our friends and family during these trials. We are most especially grateful for the birth of Jesus Christ and the chance we have to celebrate it. Merry Christmas!