Thanksgiving.

Since it's been a while, let me give out the news, then we will get to Thanksgiving.

First: if you didn't hear or see it on Facebook, we are expecting our second child. He (for ease of communication until we know one way or the other) is due in May, the 13th I think. Right around Mother's Day. I've been feeling pretty good. I was only nauseous for two weeks, instead of two months this time. I haven't really gained any weight yet. That's my only concern so far. Yesterday, he kicked me for about 3 hours straight. Guess he wanted me to know he was in there. I have another dr's appt tomorrow. But despite not gaining any weight, my belly is sticking out to the point of switching to my maternity clothes. I'm trying to be excited. Alann is really excited, and was from the moment I told him. I was a little apprehensive about telling him because while we planned on having more kids, this one decided to come along a little earlier than I had hoped. So I wasn't too excited. He was though. And I am getting there. It's more real now that I am showing a bit and feeling him move around a bit. I was thinking to myself last night: "Maybe this one came so soon because if I had just had Claire for a year or longer, I would have decided she was enough." Sometimes when I look at her, I could see myself being content (for a while anyway) with just having her. But I know I want more.

Second: the van is on hold. I'm a little bummed. Maybe something will work out, maybe not. I don't really know. But I am okay with the car we have, so it isn't a big deal.

Three: I'm not watching Jocee anymore. She was having problems about coming over here for some reason. I don't really know why. It's not like I was mean to her. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Alann is also quitting Wilbur Smith. Long story short: he would have to reapply for the position he has now, he doesn't want it, and doesn't think he would be hired again anyway. So he put in his notice and his last day is Friday. This is good. It gives him all of December to find a new internship or job. He has an interview tomorrow that I hope goes well just so that we know he has something. But for now, we are both technically unemployed. Fun! Not. Prayers and putting our names in the temple would be appreciated.

Fourth: Um, Claire is walking. Yeah, I know. She is 9 1/2 months old. I'm in shock. I knew it would come before Christmas. I just didn't think quite so soon. This weekend at Grandma's she just decided she wanted to walk and went for it. She still falls down (a lot) and crawls some, but it is closer to 50-50 than the 90-10 it was before Thanksgiving. She is walking around a lot without hand holds. She still likes to walk with someone, but will walk across the room on her own too. She has fallen a lot today. She smacked her face pretty hard on the edge of the front door and I think she gave herself a headache. She was grabbing the side of her head a lot during dinner. I gave her some Tylenol. I'm hoping that's what it is and not another ear infection.

Speaking of Thanksgiving:


Claire and her Aunt Amy. She LOVES Aunt Amy. I don't know why. (not that my sister isn't lovable, just that she has only seen her a few times but just loves her to death anyway.)



Amy bought Claire this cute outfit. This is when Amy was feeding her banana. She was just having a grand old time.

walking with Grandma


With Aunt Amy again


With both her aunts. I was so concerned about getting pictures of Claire with Amy, that I neglected to take any of her and Teene or my mom.


Amy, me and Claire, my Grandma, my mom, and Teene


me and my sisters.

Our four generations.

All in all, it was a fun weekend. We had thanksgiving twice- once on Thursday with the Woods family and again on Friday with my family. Amy had to work on Thursday, so we moved it to Friday. Claire ate a TON of roasted beets at the Woods house. She just loved them. Friday she ate a ton of ham. That was her favorite. I ended up cooking most of the meal and my feet were pretty swollen by the end of it, but since I love to cook, it wasn't a big deal. And my mom was willing to do all the dishes, so that was nice. The favorite dish was the mashed potatoes I think. Adam (Amy's boy) did a good job mashing them. Of course, he also added 3 or more sticks of butter. I lost count. But they were tasty. The turkey turned out good. The ham was the favorite meat though. Shh, don't tell anyone how easy it was. Here's my recipe: Buy precooked ham. Put in crockpot with 1 cup of Dr Pepper and some powdered ginger. Heat. Eat. There was very little ham left.

We also played a lot with the family. It was nice for both Alann and I to take time off at the same time and let Grandma play with Claire. Saturday we spent time with my grandma at my older sister's new house. We also left Claire with Teene and Amy for a few hours. More about that tomorrow. It was a really nice vacation. Claire was pretty good on the drive there and back. She was definitely more bored on the drive home. I think it was too close to the drive down there. She remembered it. But we persevered. We also listened to a book on CD, which was great. It makes the time pass very well. Alann was worried it would be distracting, but he likes to listen to movies, so it's kind of the same thing. We were able to get a book that we had both read before and so we both knew the story a little. We have the second and third books on hold for the Christmas drive.

Claire just loved playing with Grandma and her aunts. She played with Grandma for almost an hour and a half straight Friday night, walking up and down the hallways, visiting the dog in the kennel, playing in the mirror, filing the newspaper. She had a blast. And me? I watched a lot of TV. It probably wasn't the best use of my time, but like I said, it was nice to have the time off and not have anything to stress about or think about or have to do.