a little behind

i’m feeling pretty behind in the blogging and photo department right now but just wanted to say that things are good, things are busy, and i’ll be sure to catch up soon.

we just got back last week from spending time with my family in key west.  my brother married his beautiful maggie and i finally got to meet the whole crew!  it was lovely, sweet, and so joyful.

the suitcases are back in the closet, laundry is finally done, and ananbelle has been helping clean up the house in between. now we are getting ourselves ready for christmas and looking forward to chris being off for a few days and all ours!

random acts of smartypants-ness

the past couple weeks we’ve been having several moments of ‘i must have the smartest baby ever!’  i’m guessing all parents go through this here and there, right?

the other morning we told charley it was time to go out for a walk.  we keep her leash in a covered basket in the kitchen.  when we headed out there to get charley ready, anabelle already had her leash out and was following her around with it.  today she got a carrot out of the fridge while i was putting groceries away and went looking for charley to give it to her (charley gets baby carrots with her meal).

she likes to ‘cheers’ with her milk or water bottle, she’s might be breaking records with how fast she can get her shoes and socks off in the car, she just started saying ‘uh oh’ and nodding her head ‘yes’, she waves at all her friends . . basically anyone, she can sign ‘thank you’ which looks a lot like blowing a kiss (maybe it’s a combo ‘thanks momma, i love you’ sign - hee hee), she can do the itsy bitsy spider with her little hands, and she’s quite the dancer with the occasional twirl when a good beat comes on.

she keeps on surprising us!

papa’s home, it’s time to fly!

(((at least he’s not doing it over concrete, i suppose)

this bear is one of the first gifts chris gave me - way back when

(we were so little then!)

showing off her tricks at dinner

- - - -

morning cuddles

trying to get a pic of us and our little tree

my view

missing chris and snuggling in his hoodie

legoland

the sunday after thanksgiving, rich & sally invited us to go to legoland with them.  it was my first time – chris and anabelle had been the weekend before (again, thanks to rich & sally).  it’s nice that the park is so close and so little-friendly!

first stop – an airplane ride

sally & seraphina were right behind them and rich & tristan in the third airplane

little anabelle didn’t show up in any of the pictures i took – too tiny.  you can see that chris was having fun, though.  he said anabelle was laughing as they went around and around.

happy girl, seraphina.

the girls!

tristan trying to catch up with his daddy on the slide.

the next stop was a huge tree house playground.

sliding all by herself!

i didn’t realize anabelle was such a brave climber

 

 

papa helped her get to the top

then through the ‘gladiator’ tunnel

     

taking a little break at the bottom of the slide.  such a full day!

chris’ photo shoot

last week chris got the opportunity to fly in the Mag-11 photo shoot.  basically the MAG CO (commanding office – mr. in charge) wanted a nice picture of all of his squadrons since they are all home right now.

chris flew the jet for MALS-11, the devilfish.  (look for the jet with the red octopus on the tail – that’s him!)  they are the logistics squadron, the ones who cover aviation supply & higher level maintenance.

do you see him?  dash-9, way at the end.

there he is!

not bad for a day at work.

fletcher cove with gran

   chris’ mom flew in from florida and was able to visit for all of thanksgiving week.  we spent thanksgiving up in encinitas with his brother’s family.  we got to skype with his sister in CT and just relax together.  thanks for hosting and for all of the leftovers, sally.  there was so much delicious food!

on gran’s last night, we headed up to fletcher cove to meet chris’ brother and his family for some outdoor play and then dinner.

it was a big evening!

anabelle started with a little sliding,

. . . then a little swinging,

. . . and a little climbing!

a quick break on a rock

and then more wandering.

it was such a pretty evening and anabelle loved being outside with so much space.

it wasn’t long before the rest of our socal family showed up.

seraphina is an expert at ‘cheese’!

tristan and his new sneakers. 

he was zooming all around the park showing us how fast he could run in them!

having fun and sharing the beautiful sunset with gran - thanks for coming to california!

here are a few of my favorite out-takes from trying to get the above shot together:

    

and dads trying to get babies back in position

rich, sally, tristan, and seraphina

and my own little fam

next we were off to dinner and then found ourselves driving through the holiday lights display at the del mar race tracks on our way home.  it was a fun way stretch out the evening and to get us in holiday mode!

start your engines!

last weekend I made a quick solo trip to target while anabelle and chris hung out at the house making some daddy-daughter memories (and I actually tried on a few things while I was at the store!).  when I came back home I found them ‘drag racing’ down the hallway in anabelle’s walker wagon.  it’s her new favorite thing!

here she is cleaning out her wagon to get ready for another race

after this morning’s nap, wearing her momma-made pj pants

it was a little chilly today.  anabelle and I made a trip to the base to pick up a few groceries for thanksgiving and then headed to the park.  we hadn’t been in a while so she was able to climb and run around more than she had before – all while hearing lots of jets flying!  it was overcast today so she was a little confused when she could hear them roar but couldn’t see them in the sky.

once we got back home she still had a little silly energy in her, but only for a bit.  she was down for nap pretty quick.

peek-a-boo!

my first sewing date

on monday my girlfriend invited me over for a sewing date.  she offered to teach me me how to use my sewing machine (i got it for christmas at least 3 years ago) and i was super excited!  i went over to her house after all the babies were in bed and we got to work on some cutie flannel pj pants for our little girls.

it was so fun to spend the evening together, to learn something new, to chat in complete and undistracted sentences, and just play.  thanks sarah!

and look, i did it!

i was trying to get some pics while she was watching a show

after a few minutes anabelle decided to watch from another angle

then back in her chair, enjoying her show

‘hi momma.  are you still taking pictures?’

i have found myself at joann’s fabric a time or two to get more cozy fabrics and am excited to play on my machine some more . . . just need to find some down time.  our next project – a simple jumper – perfect for the chilly weather.