overdue update

wow, it has been a busy month...much busier than i had anticipated. thanksgiving went off without a hitch. it was my first year hosting and much more work than i was prepared for, haha. it was fun though. it gave me a good excuse to practice my apple pie baking and it was fun to brine a turkey with dave. the food was delicious and setting the table was my favorite part. i found these perfect leaf place mats and gold chargers and it was very fancy and formal and fun. i have been too busy to blog about everything i have wanted to blog about since i started working. i am cutting back to one day a week.

we did so many fun things while my family was in town. we went to see the elves and gardner village, we toured mrs. cavanaughs chocolates, we went to see new moon, my sisters and i took our kids (except audrey, she is still too young for the movies) to a dollar show.

dave and i have been busy getting the house ready for christmas. we put up the tree and other holiday decorations, we put candy in the advent calendar, we took audrey to go see santa, we decorated a gingerbread house with audrey, went to annual christmas lunch with some friends from high school, and today i tried out a new cookie recipe i found in yesterday's paper. this week's project is gathering addresses to try to get my christmas cards out. i have a few other christmas projects up my sleeve if i can find time to get them started and then time to get them finished, haha.

audrey is growing up so fast. she is repeating most of what we say and can climb stairs and up onto furniture with great speed. she is not very skilled though at going down the stairs or down from furniture so she keeps me on my toes. she doesn't like to hold still even for a moment. she is so busy exploring and discovering the world around her. she brings us so much joy. her favorite thing right now (besides climbing the stairs) is the christmas tree. she will kneel and reach up as high as she can and pull the ornaments and berries off and then turn to us and tell us things (we don't understand much of what she says but she says "pretty" a lot, haha) while using grand hand gestures, haha. i love watching her and am happy that she already feels the wonder of the season while tearing apart the tree several times a day. she cruises around furniture so fast that i don't think walking is too far off. she loves to be chased and squeals with delight when dave and i are "chasing" her around her playroom.

hope you all are having a happy holiday season.