Thankful For...

This Thanksgiving I've gotta say that I'm most thankful for Riley being home to celebrate the holidays with us. We had a gorgeous autumn day yesterday and we spent the morning going for a run as a family and then hiking with our friends, Jen and Emmy at Dunbar Cave. We took naps in the afternoon and played outside until dark. To top it all off we had a terrific dinner at the Cracker Barrel and no clean up afterwards! Hooray! We're looking forward to celebrating our "real" Thanksgiving at Dave & Jodi's house on Saturday night.

As for a "girls update" Saedi is very word curious. She's pointing at everything and wanting to know what "it's" called. She's enjoying touching all sorts of textures too. She begs to go swinging by going, "uh uh uh" and pointing outside. She's a smart little toot and is already signing milk, light, all done, more, please as well as saying momma, da-da, ball, woof-woof and trying to mimic what El says. She'll be 10 months tomorrow and is till only at 15 lbs...9th percentile so we go back to the dr in a few more weeks for anothe weight check. She eats like a orse so go figure!

El is her Daddy's #1 sidekick. They mow together, feed the birds, chop wood, rake leaves, drink hot chocolate, build fires in the fireplace, and most recently Ry has taught her how to use a computer. She understands how to use the cursor, backspace, identify her letters and can read Ellie, Mom and Dad. El had a blast decorating the tree this year and it's been fun starting new traditions with her. Little Miss also comprehends that her birthday is coming up and that she's almost 3. I think she mentions cake daily and I find her trying to sneak open Mimi's wrapped present that sits under the tree.

Lots of good times and so much to be thankful for!

A New Niece

Riley and I are happy to welcome our newest niece, Addison Jo Knoll! She was born at 6:02pm on Friday, November 21. Addi (what she'll go by sometimes) weighed in at 7 lbs 8 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. She has light brown hair and blue eyes. I think she's one of the prettiest newborns I've seen. We can't wait to meet precious Addi over Christmas! Ellie's pretty excited about her new cousin as well. She's been coloring her lots of pictures and when talking to Lacey on the phone last night Ellie asked, "Can she walk yet?" Too funny.

A Good Man

On Saturday Riley wanted me to have a day to myself so he kept the girls while I took off at 7:30am and got home around 6:30pm. I spent the day getting my haircut and shopping in Nashville...all by myself. It was a wonderful day where I could go where I wanted to go and do what I wanted to do...on my own schedule. To top it off, Riley gave me some extra spending money ahead of time as a surprise. While he was away this past month the army was giving him extra money to cover his food expenses while on the road, but for the past month Riley had been setting aside a good portion of that food allowance (not going out to eat and eating lots of pb&j) to save up money to send me on a surprise shopping spree. Because I am a woman and I adore pretty things my spending money is almost always depleted or in the hole come the end of the month; needless to say, extra spending money was a terrific gift! Come evening, after I returned from my day on the town, he had already tucked Saedi into bed, picked up the house, fixed all the broken outside lights, raked leaves and had managed to have a great time PLAYING with his daughters. (And take some pictures so I could see) Needless to say, I have married a good man and sometimes it brings me to tears.

My Girls Are Famous

Check out Riley, Ellie and Saedi on the main CrossFit Kids website.
CrossFit Kids | Forging the Future of Fitness

Dance & Kindermusik

The girls have started their new classes- Ellie is taking Ballet & Tap & Saedi is enrolled in Kindermusik. Both girls are enjoying themselves, but it's especially fun because each girl is finally getting individualized attention.

Ellie's class is with 3-5 year olds & she's the youngest in her class. I don't go in the 45 min class with her. All the mom's wait outside the room and watch through thr glass windows. She's a big girl now...no more Mommy and me! I think it's been good for her to be the smallest and observe the older girls instead of being the boss for a change. It's interesting, though, because sometimes I see her being shy and sucking her thumb when she's not as confident (I rarely see this side of her), but yet I still see her leader qualities coming out of the woodwork. Gotta love my spirited firstborn!

In Saedi's class all the baby's birthdays are within 2 months of each other. Saedi, like most 9 month olds, is crazy for music. Her favorite instuments are wooden sticks to bang and egg shakers to...shake! The best part is the one-on-one time I have with her. Saedi amazes me with how quickly she picks up new skills. She's an observer and a great listener. She's already signing milk, change, all done, and duck. She's got a more sensitive soul than her big sis and she's pretty confident doing her own thing.

I love my girlies!