Thanksgiving Family Traditions

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. Before our baby girl was born, it was my absolute favorite, even more so than Christmas. The food, the family, I don't know...I love it! Now that our baby girl is 1, Christmas is going to surge to the top as my favorite holiday for quite some time, I'm sure.

At Kelly's Korner this week, everyone is supposed to share their Thanksgiving traditions or holiday recipes. I'm going to share our family's tradition.

Just about every Thanksgiving, we head to Eureka Springs, Arkansas to a cabin resort called Red Bud Valley. Nestled away in the Ozarks, it is the perfect escape this time of year. Not only that, but it's close to the Old Town Historic District of Eureka Springs, full of shopping and restaurants. It's a great place to take a family.

Normally we head up there for a several days, spending Thanksgiving at the cabin and enjoying the Ozarks, then heading into town on Friday for shopping, food, and shows.

If you haven't been to Eureka Springs, it's definitely something you should consider!

Here are some photos from our Thanksgiving trips there...











And now for the Thanksgiving LAST YEAR...baby girl's first Thanksgiving in Eureka Springs!

Who Needs Tweets?

Yeah, I'm not a huge tweeter, butthe concept is nice...so here is a tweet post!

0346 - Baby up and awake in her crib crying. Got up to go get her. Hungry. Got milk. Fourth time she has woken up tonight. Wonder why...

0630 - Wake up time now. Baby girl is completely happy. She is going "ruff ruff ruff ruff" like a dog. My mom taught her that. So cute!

0649 - Wife is taking a bath before work and baby girl is reaching over the edge to play with the bubbles. Now she is wiping bubbles all over the wall. Time for Sesame Street.

0655 - Sesame Street on. Super Grover and Elmo to the rescue. Horatio the elephant just might be the most annoying Sesame Street puppet I've ever seen. Love all the rest...but Horatio is just testing my nerves!

0723 - About to go get baby girl breakfast. Sesame Street at ice skating school. Brit in the bathroom doing her hair. I can see her arms moving back and forth straightening her hair, but that's about it. Man I look gross. Need a shower.

0828 - Grapes and bananas for breakfast. Found dog poop and pee on the floor. My fault. Didn't latch the crate properly last night. Very frustrating. Baby girl is drinking her milk now watching Clifford the Big Red Dog. Won't be long before she is ready for her first nap. Then it's off to work on the blogs for me!

1024 - Baby girl woke up from her morning nap. I can hear her in her room through the monitor. She keeps saying uh-oh and a bunch of other baby ramblings. Precious baby words. Think I'll let her talk a bit more before I go get her. She seems to be entertaining herself.


Baby girl after her nap.
1036 - Baby girl and I are in my bedroom and she is chasing me around as I try to take her picture. No such thing as posing just yet...



1123 - Eating lunch now...baby girl is having a hot dog with apple cinnamon cheerios and grapes. Still deciding what I am going to have. I have some rotel queso in the fridge I might make something with...

1245 - Baby girl getting tired. Watching Happy Feet. She is dancing and singing along with Gloria.

1300 - Nap time.

1428 - Still sleeping. Bugles and spaghetti O's sitting in front of me for lunch. High quality meal, huh? Need some more water...drank mine too fast. I think when baby girl wakes up we will go outside and have a backyard adventure.

1452 - Daughter awake. Talking lots. Sweet rambling, high pitched, baby girl voice! Now she's saying Dah-ddy. I am being summoned!

1619 - My mom came over for a bit to visit. Baby girl loves her Mims! Now she is down for a 3rd nap! I didn't think she'd need one, but she was practically falling all over herself. Maybe it's that rough night last night...we'll see how that affects tonight's sleep.

1649 - Baby awake again. 30 minute nap. Time to cook dinner.

1754 - Chicken, green beans, and more grapes for baby girl for dinner tonight. Then we took a shower (Yes, a shower! She loves them!). After we were all dried off and walking to the bedroom to get our pajamas on, somebody promptly took a pee on the floor. GOing to clean up the mess right now...

Baby Girl Halloween Pics!

It's overdue and a little late, but here are our baby girl's Halloween pics! She went as a butterfly. Brit got the costume at Gymboree I believe. There was a set of antennae to go with it, but I think they had difficulty keeping them on her head.

Savannah had two different times to trick or treat. Lucky girl! On Friday night, we went to Brit's mom's work and they had their whole office converted into an area all the kids of the employees could trick or treat at. Was lots of fun!

And on Saturday night we got out about 730pm or so, which was right at her normal bed time. But you wouldn't have known...baby girl was allover the place alking straight down the sidewalk from house to house.

I was lucky enough to get home from work in time for the trick or treating, so I was able to walk around with Brit and Savi. Our first true Halloween and I'll never forget it!

Halloween Costumes!

How much do you love Halloween? For us, this year, it's all about our baby girl. We have a beautiful 13 month old that will be dressing up as a butterfly! I can't wait to see her walking around in her costume trick or treating!

At Kelly's Korner this week, everyone is showing off their Halloween costumes, past or present.

Brit and I also have costumes, and mine is a surgeon. Yes, it is easy for me to get scrubs and any supplies I would need since I work in an ICU at a hospital. So my costume will be very complete! However, I must admit that it's not the perfect costume.

I would really like to do something next year where Brit and I have 'couples' costumes. Maybe you guys can help me convince her! Her are the options I would LOVE to do!

Here is the first:

Pirate



I think we'd be perfect Pirates! I think she'd be open to this one. At least I'm not picking a wench ;)

Roman



Gladiator and 300 are just racing through my mind with these! Can you tell a guy is picking out these costumes yet? Love this pair!

Star Wars



Now, this is the one that might take some convincing...Brit absolutely HATES Star Wars. HATES it! And on top of that, there are a couple fairly risque Leia costumes...but I guess that's just the Star Wars nerd in me coming through. Still, if I could manage to get her to agree to one of these costumes, it would be a great Halloween!

Has anyone ever done any of these combos before? If so, leave me a comment and let me know how it worked out!

Also, don't forget to comment so I can come see your Halloween costumes as well! I love getting more ideas!

Not Me! Monday

Baby girl is teething some more, and it has woken her up the last 3 nights. Poor thing, I feel bad for her. We gave her some Tylenol, Orajel, and then let her have some milk. Hopefully it won't last too much longer.

I was off from work Saturday, which was just enough time for me to mow and scalp my backyard, as well as trim the bushes and fix some other things up I had been waiting to do. It seems like it has rained for three weeks straight here, and Saturday was a nice break, as the sun was out and shining. 10 bags of grass I cut. 10! And guess what? Now it is thunder storming again. Glad I got it done.

For those of you that have been to my blog before, you might notice I have links to a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit website. I created this site to help parents of babies in the NICU who are overwhelmed by the sudden circumstances they find themselves in. It is aimed at providing them intro general NICU information so they can have some place to start.

Now for Not Me! Monday...



On Thursday, I did NOT grill tilapia for a very delicious dinner with my wife. Rice Pilaf, steamed veggies, and a glass of chardonnay to go with.

Baby girl did NOT wake up with teething pains, thus ending our romantic dinner. She also did NOT proceed to stay up for another hour and a half!

I did NOT finally, finally finish the final touches on my NICU site design...check it out at NeonatalICU.com!

I am NOT a guy who likes practical jokes. :) So, when I went to scare a nurse at work on Sunday by sneaking up behind her, I was NOT equally as surprised when she shrieked in startlement. I did NOT jump back about 3 feet.

I did NOT feel bad for a nurse today who was so busy that she had to fight back tears as she took a much needed lunch break at 230pm. Hate when girls cry. Total soft spot for me. I went to check on her, she was okay :)

Hope everyone has a great Monday! Don't forget to comment so I can head over to your blog and read your Not Me's as well!

Fall Decorations

Brit always does a great job decorating our house with the seasons. All of our Fall and Halloween decor is out and it won't be long before Christmas makes its way out of the closet as well!

At Kelly's Korner this week, bloggers everywhere will be showing off their household fall decorations, so here is a little sample of what Brit has done for us!



Our front door, complete with wreath and all. I think I need to sweep some...





Hanging from one of our doors.



Dining room table centerpiece. We actually got this from my mom. Looks great, the photo actually doesn't do it justice!



Kitchen table centerpiece. Of course, we have the butterfly present, the notorious fall icon ;) With Brit, everything is butterflies!



Scarecrow by the fireplace. Looking way too peaceful to be made of straw and sitting by a frequently used flame thrower.



One of our wall decorations. Have the different plates for different seasons and holidays!

What fall decorations do you have out?

Spaghetti Whoahs!

Baby girl got her first taste of real spaghetti last week. I kept trying to get this post up sooner, but something else always seemed to put itself in my way! Now, she has had baby food spaghetti before, and loved it...but to me, that is a totally different taste! Yeah, I tried it. Too sweet for me. Maybe that's why babies like it...


So, I just cooked some angel hair pasta and cooked some Ragu spaghetti sauce, and voila! easy spaghetti. Now, normally, if I was making this for myself, I would have jazzed it up quite a bit more...hint, crushed red pepper. But since it was for baby girl, the simple version was the best!


She absolutely loved it! She ate every bit of that spaghetti, and whatever she didn't eat, she was wearing.


Brit and I aren't up for huge messes usually, but this was totally worth it. Yes, there was spaghetti all over her, but surprisingly, none was on her clothes, and no messes anywhere else. Good little girl! I guess it was just that yummy that we dare not put it anywhere but our mouths!

Must. Get. All. Spaghetti. In. Mouth.