Thanksgiving at Grandma's

Dear Baby Bird,

Today we drove to Grandma and Grandpa's house to have another Thanksgiving dinner!

 
You always love the toys Grandma has out for you to play with.

 And you played a little piano with Aunt Karina.

 Delicious food with wonderful people.

Love,
Mom

A visit from Santa

Dear Baby Bird,

Today at the hotel, we had a special visit from Santa.

You weren't afraid at all, and happily sat on his lap to show him your car.

Later you got to go back and sit on his lap with brother for a photo.

All the cousins got gifts from Santa, then you all took a picture together. Unfortunately your cousin Ryan missed the fun, but maybe next year he'll be there in time to see Santa.

Love,
Mom

Fun Family Time

Dear Baby Bird,

You enjoyed bowling with your many cousins the day after Thanksgiving.  Here you are getting a leason from cousins Trevor, Cruz, and Brooklyn (and brother and Nana).

Here are your 10 cousins (minus Ryan) at the bowling alley.

After bowling, we spent the day at Embassy Suites Hotel.  Our family has been going there for Thanksgiving for 20+ years.  We took this picture in the hotel lobby.  Welcome to the family to Matt, Khyrstin's fiancé.

Love,
Dad

Turkey Day

Dear Baby Bird,

Today was Thanksgiving Day. We celebrated at your Aunt Loree's house, where she had over 30 people to feed! Dad and Brother built this LEGO version of our family... there sure are a lot of us!

You had a lot of fun playing with your cousins, especially if that meant you got your hands on an iPhone. We were amazed how quickly you figured out what to do, you are already ahead of us.

 You napped while everyone ate the big meal, but you enjoyed plenty of food afterward.

 You also learned a trick that Nana has taught all her grandbabies: putting black olives on your fingers. You thought it was very funny!

 We love seeing family on the holidays, and having you there to giggle and explore and dance makes it even better.

Love,
Mom

Hanging with Dad

Dear Baby Bird,

Snow season is upon us.  We've been having a blast putting on our hat, gloves, and jacket to go outside!

And you've become more in love with books.  You now love to sit, read, and point out items in your "I Spy" book.  You can always find the buh-buh (bus).

Love,
Dad

On the Go

Dear Baby Bird,

Life feels busy lately. We're busy, the schedule is busy, but you are also busy. You rarely sit still and play with the same toy for very long; you much prefer to walk (or run!) around the house, taking a toy from one room to another, dropping it to pick up something new, and then moving to a new place.

Tonight we took you and Brother to see a tree-lighting downtown. They had reindeer there, lots of people singing, and you even saw Santa, though he was pretty far away. You are learning to say "ho-ho-ho."  Keeping up with you in a crowd takes all of our energy, so we didn't get any pictures of you, but Dad got this quick one as we were coming home at the end of the night.

Love,
Mom

Buzzcut Before and After

Dear Baby Bird,

Before

After

You were so good while Daddy gave you your second hair cut.  You sat on the counter holding a comb and looked in the mirror. The hair in the back of your head likes to stick up all funny, so I have a feeling we'll be giving you this short hair cut pretty often.

Love,
Mom

Nana's New House

Dear Baby Bird,

Nana moved into a new house and you got to visit it last weekend. You loved running around exploring the new house, especially playing peek around the island in the kitchen.

Nana brought some toys to her new house, and your favorite one was the McDonald's set. Brother loves that one, too!

We're going to have lots of fun on our visits to Nana's New House!

Love,
Mom

Snow Day

Dear Baby Bird,

Today you woke from your morning nap to a wonderful surprise: Snow!
At first it was just flakes, but by the time we got home from a shopping trip (to buy you boots), it was sticking to the ground.

Daddy was home today for Veterans' Day, so we bundled up and took you outside for your first walk in snow.

You were pretty excited about it, although at first you mostly walked along the sidewalks.
 

 Finally you were willing to walk across the yard, and didn't even mind when you tripped and got snow on your gloves.

 In fact, the only time you cried was when we got inside. You wanted to go back out, and kept carrying your gloves and boots to us, signing "please" and pointing to the door.

Guess I know we'll be spending a lot of time outside this winter!

Love,
Mom

Brothers are best

Dear Baby Bird,
Although you love playing with pretty much anyone and everyone, there is no-one in the world quite like Brother.

You don't even need toys to play together. Just space to run, maybe a place to hide.

Love,
Mom