Christmas

So yet another holiday that we only got limited pictures of... lol.... I feel bad that somehow we have no pictures of Britton for both holidays now. I thought I got one of him opening his valet, but apparently not.



The girls in matching jammie tops.



Me helping Lexi to open a present. Ashton is on my lap.




Well, at least we got pictures of our first Christmas alone set table... lol.



Just for the three of us.

Skaneateles, NY

Actually pronounced skinny-atlas. They have a "Dickens village" every year where the characters from a Christmas Carol walk around. There are also free roasted chestnuts and free hot-cocoa. We had a great time, eating a late lunch at the hotel there,



going on a free carriage ride,



and then meeting various characters including:

Charles Dickens


Father Christmas

(Lexi's good friends Madeline and Scott were there randomly)

Scrooge

( he gave us a little coupon for a free post-it pack)

Thanksgiving

We had some friends over for thanksgiving, but forgot to take pictures while they were there...lol... so these pics are what we have to remember it by.... ;)


This was my first ever turkey... :) It turned out great!
All moist and yummy!
Thank you Michelle and thank you Fine Cooking!


Pumpkin and Apple pies....we've discovered that Cortland apples really are the bestfor Apple Pie! All sweet and tart with perfect texture! YUM!

Ashton - 2 Months

I just wanted to post some cute pictures of Ashton on here so people can get a good idea of what she looks like.... seeing as so many of our family and friends are not here. :)

Cat and mouse for Halloween. :)

Pumpkins

We went to Grisamore Farms to pick out pumpkins the Monday before Halloween. When we asked where the pumpkin patch was, they told us, but added that most of the good pumpkins were up around the store and that there weren't a whole lot of good pumpkins in the field anymore.

That was kinda an understatement. lol... we found some that would "work", but finally decided to go get some from up by the store since we couldn't find 4 that would "work". The people at the store said that they'd had an abnormally bad crop this year and that next year we should come about a week and a half to two weeks before Halloween to make sure that we got a good pumpkin and that it didn't go bad before Halloween. :) So next year, we'll hit it the Saturday before Halloween and stay to do the hay rides and corn maze as well. :)

One of the ladies in the shop was super nice and agreed to take a family photo. I just wish the trees in the background had shown up. They were brilliant yellow, orange, and red... just like in the first photo with Britton and Ashton's car seat. :)

Cookies

While the Quist's were in town for Ashton's blessing, we made some sugar cookies and Lexi did Jack-o-Lantern faces with Grandma Lisa. She had SUCH a good time!

Grandpa Curtis and uncle Kramer kept snitching candy corn, and so they became the "snitcher's club" (which Lexi still brings up and laughs about). Britton and Lexi finally joined as well, so almost everyone was part of the snitcher's club. :)

Ashton's Blessing

Ashton's blessing was great! Everyone got into town by Saturday night (my poor father got stranded in Detroit for a night since Ithaca's airport was fogged in) and we had a great time together, eating, chatting, visiting Cornell campus, and the local falls. There are a lot of waterfalls right around Cornell campus. They're all beautiful! I'll have to post some pics later!

My parents stayed at a nearby hotel to avoid the problem of having 8 adults and 1 bathroom Sunday morning when we all needed to be ready by 9am. :) It worked out well, and we all made it to church before the meeting started. I had a moment of panic when I realized after I sat down in the church building that Ashton's headband was too big for her head, but fortunately I'd randomly brought a needle and white thread with me, so my mom quickly basted it in the right spot before Britton took her up for her blessing. The sound system was on the fritz so we all moved up to the first and second pews so that we could hear the blessing well. It was beautiful. I feel so blessed to have two wonderful and beautiful daughters.

My parents left Monday afternoon and the Quists left Tuesday morning. The weekend was wonderful. Everyone seemed to have a good time and Britton was able to go up to Palmyra on Monday with his family after swimming with Lexi at m parent's hotel. We really had a great time with everyone, Lexi loved making pumpkin cookies with her Grandma Lisa (pictures to be posted later), and we were sad to see our families leave.

School

Alexis stared preschool this year and was SO excited to go! The morning of, she could hardly sleep and got up much earlier than normal, urgently telling Britton that she had to "get ready for school"! Britton promised Lexi that he would see her off at school, so we picked Britton up from Cornell and then the three of us went to school.

Lexi hung up her coat, then showed Britton around her classroom...she was most interested in showing him the wide range of dress-up clothes available, and put one on before we left.

Reading

That's right!!! :) Alexis is officially reading now!
This is her reading to me! Somehow it just finally clicked and now she just reads tons and loves it! :) We go to the library and pick out new books to try out new words in books she hasn't memorized. lol :)

Mormor

It's interesting to me how my girls look alike and yet so different. Lexi has always so obviously looked like my family and Ashton looks distinctly more like Britton's family, and yet they look so much like each other. It's weird!

Alexis (left) and Ashton (right)

Well, my mom came out about a week after Ashton was born to help us transition from one form of family life to another and, I have to say, we could not have done it without her! She was so indispensible to me! Taking care of my girls so I could get some much needed rest, sewing together curtains for my house! Cleaning and cooking and cleaning some more! What a huge help! I'm not sure who appreciated it more, Britton, Alexis, or I!

We had lot's of good times and one day even got daring enough to go to the beach at Meyer's Point and have some fun! What a GORGEOUS place! The water is clear and cool, but not too cold! And the cute little light house and all the sail boats just make it look so picturesque!

There is also a little playground there, so we all played for a couple of hours (till Ashton needed to eat) and then went home for some lunch and a much needed nap! Lexi went a couple more times with her Mormor and had a blast collecting shells and playing on the playground.