Giving Thanks

 There is a lot to be thankful for this year........ First there is this little addition to our family:


Then there is this one, who recently got her health back.  You'd hardly know that she has pneumonia in this photo.  Yup, the poor girl had a nasty cough and fever that stuck around for eight days!  A doctors visit on day three led us all to believe that she had a virus, but on day eight, some crackling was heard in the upper left lobe of her lungs.  Through it all, Cal kept her sense of humor and spunk. 



And while we are on the subject, we are sooooo very thankful for our pediatrician, Dr. Parker.  Whether making time to see us at the end of a busy day or coming in to the office on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon because he is concerned about Cally, he's always patient and kind.  And Cally loves her visits with him!

I'm thankful to have this beautiful house that we can call our own.  If you look carefully at this photo, you can see John on the roof taking on the role of "Chimney Sweep". 

This guy, who celebrated his birthday the other day (he says he's now closer to 60 than 30), really is something to be thankful for.  If he's not playing handyman around our house, he's inspiring college students, being a devoted father, or challenging people to be better.

To celebrate his birthday this year, we took a quick trip up to Montreal.  The kids were incredible from being patient for sit down meals where service is a lot slower than it is south of the border to being flexible about sleeping.  I'm not going to lie, the four of us in one hotel room isn't all that fun at this stage, when it comes to sleeping, but "no pain, no gain". 

bundled in the Phil & Teds double stroller

checking out the view from the "high rise"

 

kicking it at the Biodome

Checking out the subarctic

loving the penguins

I'm thankful for Hunter's Breakfast (an annual fundraiser at one of the local churches)

I'm thankful for hikes with friends:

 And thankful that UVM won their first hockey game of the season while we were there to witness it:



I think their win might have had something to do with our little kitty who was fired up to get her face professionally painted in a pre-game alumni event.  Check out the transformation:

 I'm thankful for our first snow:

and Thankful for incredible friends with whom we've shared this special holiday for the past four years........Ten adults, eight children (two more in utero), five inches of snow to sled upon, and lots of incredible food made for an excellent gathering.  I felt like I was on vacation.  The older kids swept my kids up as soon as we arrived, other mothers were thrilled to hold and hug them, and we all had a very fun time.

H took a little of everything!

 I'm really thankful that I've had this week off with my family.  It's been such a treat to sleep until 7:00, hang out in bed as long as we want, eat a long lazy breakfast, get things done around the house, and celebrate all that we have in our lives. 

Nine Month Check Up

What a treat it is to get to know this fine fellow!  Every day, a little more of his personality comes out and we thank our lucky stars that he is ours!  To see him giggle and begin to babble is such a treat. 

The stats:

• weighing in at 19 lbs 2 oz. (25th- 50th percentile)
• standing tall at 28 3/4 inches (50th-75th percentile)
• He's got two teeth, smiles a ton, and is frequently heard saying "Dada"
• He's not officially crawling, but gets around via a backwards shimmying sort of thing.

And the girls (or Esme) can't seem to keep their hands off of him.  And he only takes being pulled around and bitten, for so long. 

We can't wait to see what kind of a guy you turn out to be (our prediction -- a mellow fellow, who likes to laugh, takes it all in, and goes with the flow). 

Our Lion & Dragon

Harvest

October was a busy month. Between the Farmer's Markets and our Farm Share, we spent a lot of time celebrating the harvest:

Chocolate Faced Girl post Pain au Chocolate at the Burlington Farmers Market

Kickin' it with old buddy I.Z in Burlington.

Oliver and Hazen reunited

Playground Fun

The foliage has been incredible this fall-- later than anticipated, but gorgeous none-the-less.  At some point during the peak of it all, Hazen's "God parents" e-mailed saying that they needed some red-headed Abbott kid time.  With exercise having sort of flown out the window lately (just not enough hours in the day), John and I took Tom and Kara up on their offer and had a lovely ride in the shadows of Mt. Mansfield.  And the kids had a lovely time with two people who adore them!

 

And for all my complaining about not exercising, I did get up to Camel's Hump with the kids and my dear friend Bo.  Bo was in the are from Boise, ID, helping his dad recover from a bike accident.  Bo is the kind of friend I am so honored to be able to introduce to Cally and Hazen.  He exudes great energy and fun. He has a friendliness and enthusiasm that are infectious and a heart of gold. 


Every Tuesday, from late May to mid October, we pick up our farm share at Arcana Gardens in Jericho.  It's amazing how exited Cally is to eat anything that comes from the farm-- especially if she has picked it herself.  And this includes brussel sprouts!  Every few weeks they have crafts for the kids-- t-shirt dyeing, gord decorating, and harvest hat assembly were all a hoot.  Below Cally is wearing one of her crafts, along with the costume that she wore almost daily this month:

After years of looking at a house wrapped in Tyvec and months of dipping shingles and listening to the drum of John hanging them, we finished the siding project!  I'm so proud of John and the countless hours he put into making our house look so beautiful.  There certainly was no rest for the weary this fall.  When the weather was clear, we didn't have guests at the house, the compressor was usually humming and John was dangling from some portion of the house or another.  Meanwhile, I put in some hard time with the kids so that Dad could "get her done".  

Looking at our newly sided house from the neighbor's fields

Next spring or summer, we'll do something about that porch..... oh, and those horribly inefficient windows.  But for now, whenever I drive up to the house, I feel an overwhelming sense of pride in what we finally were able to accomplish.

Cal and Hazen continue to be so adorable with each other.  It's not uncommon for me to see the following site when I look at the back to check on the kids in the backseat of the car.  They really are adorable and I need to document how lovely they are together, so that someday, when they aren't feeling so "lovey dovey", they'll know that there was a time......