Thanksgiving

This year the family got together for Thanksiving at Faye and Jerry's again. Since some people have moved away or had other plans, the number attending was lower this year, but as you can see, there was still quite a crowd.

We discovered last year that since Faye and

Jerry's house was renovated, it's the perfect

place to have a sit-down family Thanksgiving.

Aunt Kelley helped the kids play "Pin the Hat on the Turkey". I got a kick out of the hat she used instead of a blindfold.

Berkleigh never takes a nap usually, but

the festivities wore the poor girl out.

The kids got to play outside since it snowed all day.

Merlyn is sitting inside watching Myles play outside.

Later in the day, Emma and Berkleigh were

watching their reflections in the glass door.

After everyone else left, Merlyn sat with Grandpapa while Berkleigh made a train out of chairs for herself and her babies.

We had a great day eating too much, playing games, and enjoying spending time with all the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts, great uncles, etc, etc...

Myles' Birthday

Yesterday afternoon I went into Myles' classroom to bring the kids funfetti cupcakes baked in ice cream cones. Myles rode home in the truck with me instead of on the school bus, which is always a special treat.
Grandma Faye and Grandpapa came over for dinner, dessert, and presents. Myles requested my homemade macaroni and cheese, which just happens to be Jerry's favorite mac and cheese. I feel quite flattered that Jerry likes one of my signature dishes, since he's lived so many years with such an excellent cook.
















Myles wanted the ice cream sandwich cake. I like it because there's no mess of baking, and it sure is delicious.






















I got Myles some nice bulky yarn to help him learn to knit. He's been trying for a while but hasn't had the right supplies. Speaking of encouraging addictions -- I mean hobbies-- Myles also asked for and received a camera for his birthday. Now there will be two knitting camera hogs in the family!

Happy Birthday to Myles

Six years ago today, Myles Raymond was born in Burlington, VT at 5:35am. He weighed 8lbs, 13oz. I had a drug-free, quick labor after weeks of bed rest. It's hard to believe the tiny baby in these pictures is a kindergartener this year.



Bryan looks pretty tired -- I don't know why, since he slept all night while I was in labor. We played Enya and our bedroom was dark and peaceful. Faye sat in the rocking chair to keep watch since Bryan was sleeping.

Here's Myles ready to leave the hospital.

And here are my three boys.

Carter, of course, was enthralled with his little brother.

While looking for pictures to scan, I realized that even way back then most pictures don't include me. There's some of me pregnant and some of me in the hospital, but other than that I hardly ever appear in photos. I guess I've been a camera hog for a long time.

Bad News and Good News

Well, I finally got around to transferring pictures to the computer just now. The card reader thing that I use malfunctioned. I could even smell it burning (gross). Then I had to find the cord to attach the camera to the computer, which I've never used before. Well, it ends up that the card reader malfunction lost all the pictures on the card. There were a ton, too. I took a picture of Berkleigh this morning and it said I had 962 pictures left, and it holds about 1200. I don't even remember all the pictures that were on it. There were some of my parents' house and my dad's motorcycle that he wants me to sell on ebay, and of course pictures of our visit there. There was a beautiful sunset which turned the snow on the Green Mountains pink across the lake. The other day we got our first snowfall. It didn't stick, but Merlyn and Berkleigh were so excited. I got a picture of them standing on one of the windowsills watching the snow. The one this morning was of Berkleigh with Mr. Potato Head's teeth in her mouth and a lego on each finger. I can't get too upset since there weren't pictures of a birthday or something on there. I'll take lots of Thanksgiving pictures to make up for it. The good news is that all my bloodwork was perfect (especially my cholesterol) and my CAT scan was normal. The doctor thinks that since I am so slim (as she put it) that my organs are more pronounced when she feels my abdomen. So, I guess the bad news could be worse and the good news is good, so I'm grateful and looking on the bright side.