Cake Pops

One day, Finn and Josette helped Bubbles in the kitchen making cake pops.  Finn showed Bubbles how he can combine ingredients, mix, crack eggs, and, of course, lick the spoon!

Cheyene Mt. Zoo

It wouldn't be a trip to Colorado Springs without a visit to the zoo.  Cheyene Mt. Zoo is a truly wonderful zoo.  They are really good about creating natural enclosures for the animals.  And for some reason, they have one of the best girafe herds in the world.  Who knew giraffes would do so well at 7,000 feet?  It is the highlight of the trip that you get to feed the giraffes.  They were inside on the day we went due to the colder temps, but Finn was delighted to feed them lettuce and Josette seemed fairly intrigued by these tall animals too.

Colorado Tree Trimming

We arrived in Colorado on December 2nd and we were so excited to see everyone.  It was the first time for Josette to meet her Baboo and her Aunt and Uncle and cousins and it had been way too long since Finn had been there too.  We quickly got into the spirit of the season and Zachary, Colton and Finn decorated Bubbles and Baboo's tree.

 

We are still here!

Goodness, it is almost a month since my last post!  December has flown by in a whirlwind of travel and family and holiday celebrations.  It has been filled with so much activity and merriment, I just haven't found a moment to actually sit and document the wonderful times on the blog.  And, I am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of pictures and video we have to share.  Never fear, I do plan to bombard you with as much as possible in the few days in an effort to get us up to date before the New Year, which I know will bring with it plenty of activity to blog about.  So, without further ado, I am going to start with an easy post before delving into all of the travel and holiday posts.  This month, Josette turned 7 months, so here is the month-day picture.  We actually had her 6 month well visit much closer to her being 7 months.  She was 17lbs 6 oz at that appointment.  I fear I don't even recall how much she weighed, but she is growing exceptionally well and meeting all of her milestones.  She has become such an active and curious little girl, eager to grab and explore anything around her.  She is striving to move, but hasn't quite figured out crawling.  She can get from point A to point B using a combination of wiggling, scooting, and rolling.  She can get up on all fours and rock, but hasn't quite coordinated all the limbs.  She loves to stand up and often if you put her down on her belly, she will just turn herself in a circle and then try to pull up on you in an effort to stand.  As always she is quick to smile and laugh and enjoys social settings, although as I think most babies her age are, she is most comfortable in the arms of her mama.  With that, I conclude with the promise of many more posts this week with our trip to Colorado next on the list!

Lily Baby

Ah, our sweet Lily dog was definitely our first baby and she loves to be in the middle of it all in the family.  She loves her creature comforts and likes to seek out the blankets that we place down for Josette to play on.  Here she is cuddling the baby doll.  My favorite part of this picture is the ear draped over the doll's head.

 Here she is on the play mat.

 Cuddling up next to Josette (and Josette showing off her sitting skills!)

 "No, Josette, I will enjoy the playmat while you play on the wood floor"

 Check out Josette's push ups

 Josette says, "Okay, Lily, if I can't play on my mat, I will play with you!"

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.  It was completely stress-free and laid back and full of gratitude.  We entertained at our house this year which was so much fun.  I love to host holidays.  Jan and Peter joined us.

Here are Josette and Finn in their holiday clothes

And, here we are set around the table.  Finn and I had fun crafting some decorations.  Josette was very excited to try out her first Thanksgiving meal with her favorite being the squash and rice salad.  We also went around and said what we were thankful for and Finn reiterated his gratitude for tanker trucks :)

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.  All of our friends and family near and far were in my thoughts.

Applesauce

This post is from a few weeks back.  I have been meaning to blog about our applesauce making, but I kept forgetting until we began delving into the delicious jars.  One day we finally decided to process all the apples we picked during the snow storm.  I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with the time it would take to peel and core every apple particularly because they were quite irregular in shape and I knew my handy apple corer wouldn't completely do the job.  So, I borrowed my neighbors' food mill/strainer.  This is my newest favorite kitchen tool!  Amazing!  All you do is de-stem the apples and quarter them.  Then you cook them up and put them through the food mill.  Instant applesauce and Finn loved using the machine too.  It has all different types of strainers for a variety of fruits and veggies.  And then the applesauce gets that beautiful rosy color fromt he red apple peels.  I feel like I should be on an infomercial for it, but we really did have a good time.  And the applesauce is wonderful.  It is strictly apples with no sugar added so that Josette can happily partake too.  She is as big a fan of it as the rest of us!