Christmas Card Picture??

Just wanted to know if anyone else thought this would be an excellent Christmas card picture? Poor Avolyn was not excited at all...

Thanksgiving, Daycare and a Cold

Avolyn in her Thanksgiving outfit.

Avolyns' first Thanksgiving was a busy long weekend full of friends and family. We went to Grandpa Eli's house on Thursday where Avolyn finally met Billy and Amy. We got to Grandpas and Billy and Amy had beat us there. Avolyn was asleep and was asleep until her cousin Cameron tried to share his cracker with her. What a loving guy. Amy and Billy were so excited to meet Avolyn and were anxiously awaiting her bright eyes to open. Amy said it best when she said, "its like a Christmas present that you just have to look at and can't touch".Our day was full of eating, game playing, shooting, eating and fellowship. I was told to bring a cheese ball and had never made one before. I wowed the family by making two. One called a cowboy cheese ball that was a little spicy and then a fruit cheese ball that had dried fruit in it and they both turned out pretty good. No, I did not take a picture of it...surprised huh? Actually, if I would have thought of it, I probably would have. It was great seeing our family and we are looking forward to celebrating Christmas with them.Hanging out with Grandma...

...and Great Grandpa Eli...

...and Aunt Rachael.

Friday we went to Spring Mill where my mom, dad and brother Tim where celebrating Thanksgiving. They had many people come and go throughout the weekend, but Saturday was our day. Dad, Tim, Mike and I went out for a hike around the lake while Mom and Avolyn hung out in the lodge. The hike was great. We became experts in beavers as we investigated many aspects of a beavers life. There was a fantastic dam and many half-eaten trees. We also saw a blue heron and a huge hornets nest on our hike. After our hike we ate lunch in the lodges restaurant and then hung out in the room and chatted and watched Avolyn sleep. Who knew watching a baby sleep would be so fascinating.

Mike, Tim and Dad
The beaver dam through the trees

the blue heron
the hornets nest

Our weekend went by way to fast and that meant Monday morning started daycare...and work. It was a hard first week for me, but Avolyn is doing great at daycare. I drop her off around 6 and Mike picks her up around 2. That means that we wake up around 4:30 so that we can get everything accomplished in the morning. The ladies at the daycare seem really great and spoil Avolyn rotten. They are not able to use cloth diapers because of state laws, but we are still using them on the weekends and at night. Mike has Fridays off so Avolyn stays home with him then, and Sundays she gets mama time, because Mike works Sundays. Monday was the worst for me, and I did cry after dropping Avolyn off Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I know it is going to be good for her to be around other kids, and it has been good going back to work, if only she could come with me, or at least just be in the room right next door...maybe I can work on that.

Thursday Avolyn started cold-like symptoms and we have been working with them all weekend long. I think it is more annoying than anything for her, and it gave us all an excuse to stay in our pajamas all day on Saturday. She has been better today not coughing to much and we haven't had to suck her nose as much today, so hopefully it is almost gone. I got some saline drops at the store tonight, so if we need them they are here.

Week 2 of our new routine starts tomorrow, hopefully it will go as smoothly as week 1. We leave you with the many faces of Avolyn for the past 2 weeks...