thankful to be grateful...

Hopefully you all had a wonderful and Happy Thanksgiving!  We did our best to eat copious amounts of Thanksgiving day food (on and before the day), napped, spent time with family and friends and counted our many blessings!  We are truly so grateful for all of God's blessings on our lives.  It is especially meaningful to remember back even 10 months ago to the arrival of our beautiful little girl - you changed our world, Adilyn and we are SO grateful for that! 

We were fortunate enough to celebrate Thanksgiving 3 times...here are a few shots of each day!

#1: playing with all of my second cousins at the Huddleston Family Thanksgiving

Oops - did I wake you up, Daddy?

#2: DUPI Thanksgiving - our 6th annual celebration hosted by Justin + Mary Uran!  SO much fun I didn't even get more pictures and we forgot to take a group picture this year! 

Here's Adi with her friends Riggins + Alli (not pictured: Lily + Ethan)..apparently the car rides lulled them all to sleep!

#3: Thanksgiving Day at Grandma + Grandpa Peltier's house

helping out in the kitchen while Dad made gravy

All of the fixins!

finding my seat at the table

Nothing says a Holiday like a post-meal nap with Daddy!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

changing up

Alright - couple more updates while we're at it for you to digest with your Turkey dinner tomorrow!

Remember this photo from a while back? Adilyn's debut as a 'baby model' for Halo Sleep Sacks?  Well, this was the result...

We're hoping it doesn't go to her head...

I think she was more interested in eating the paper than cashing it...

...or maybe not - heading to the bank!

Maybe it's too late and it's all gone to her head...? I don't think so :)

VERY difficult to get a 10 month picture with this little one! 

That smile makes it all worth it!

Here's what you've been up to lately, peanut: 

• ALL smiles
• Dancing to the beat (of anything you hear) - and you're not shy about it at all!
• Pulling yourself up on everything you can - even letting go for 10-15 seconds before you realize it and plop down onto your bottom again
• Shrieking less (which we all appreciate) - though they still come out from time to time; usually in public to humble Mommy
• Sleeping even more (10-12 hours/night)
• Signs of teeth coming to the surface (potentially causing the incremental sleep)
• Eating more 'real' foods - you've even tried some garlic mashed potatoes - plus some Cheerios and canned fruits
• Laughing when you hear us say "no, no" to something (usually turning the XBox on + off repeatedly)
•  "Waving" to everyone that will smile at you (mostly just sticking your left arm straight out in the air)
• CLAPPING - you LOVE clapping for any reason or no reason at all

You are a joyful, friendly, outgoing + very active little girl and we just LOVE every moment with you!

Love you baby girl!

FL: photo update

As promised - here are some pictures from Adi's first trip to Florida:: november 7-14, 2011.

all packed up & ready to go - this suitcase is WAY bigger than me!

just hanging out at the airport before our flight took off to sunny Orlando - waving at everyone passing by

after just over 3 hours on a plane, finally time to play with Grandpa D!

my first day lounging by the pool

not super happy about the sunglasses for the first time in the pool..

ahh. that's better!

alright, fun is over - getting sleepy!

Dad found me this "Toddler" size hat - little bit, but it did the job!

Dad tried to sneak in a couple of holes....

we just watched....

BEAUTIFUL sunsets - warm weather - overall great time with family!

cuddling with Teddy before bed.

day 3 in the pool - this time with Grandpa

we had so much fun together!

lifeguard on duty...

the whole fam went to Epcot!

first time in the "happiest place on earth" - and what a trooper!

waiting for the big 'kids' to get done with their ride...this one was a little too scary for Adilyn - much preferred the Mexico ride with Donald Duck & friends dancing around!

back to our roots...kind of (China) - Daddy thought this would be funny :)

how fitting - right outside of Paris, France...

reminded us of the beginning of our story :)

one tired girl after a LONG day touring Epcot!

Visiting Bok Tower in FL

in front of Bok Tower

great aunts + uncles plus Grandpa D

flower from Auntie Lola

day 4 in the pool - splish splashing, dipping my face in and maybe sneaking a taste...

finally outgrown my 3 month summer clothes! pointed our by Daddy and my belly peeking through!

We had SUCH a great time with family in sunny FL - it was just what we needed as a family and we are so thankful for the time we had there to make memories with Adilyn.

sunny with a chance of activity

We have been experiencing unusually warm (relatively) weather in MN lately - and NO shortage of events over the past few weeks.  After Adilyn's modeling debut a few weeks ago, Dan and I spent the week trying to wrap up unfinished business as we eagerly anticipated our upcoming vacation. 
Oh - here's a quick pic from Adilyn's first Halloween as a cowgirl! It was difficult to find a 'store' costume in her size that wasn't enclosed (and since she's actively crawling, I knew that wouldn't fly).

However, the Saturday before we left - Dan made me go to urgent care because I had been coughing for a couple of weeks and he as worried about me flying.  Turns out, I had bronchitis and the start of an ear infection - so I was armed with medication and we got all packed up.  Thankfully, we were able to get the whole family packed into one large suitcase and one small one (plus two full carry on bags).  I was pretty impressed by that considering we were traveling with our 10 month old (for the first time ever). 

Our flight to FL took off on Monday around 10am - overall, the travel itself was quite uneventful.  Adi was a champ - through the airports + on the airplane.  On the flight to Orlando, she ate and then slept for about 2 hours of the ~3 hour flight - I was SO thankful for that!  She was a bit more active on the flight home - but mostly just 'chatting'/waving/smiling and occassionally shrieking at the people around us. The only challenge we had on the way home was that Dan and I were not sitting next to each other - but we survived! 

Our time in FL was just what the Dr. ordered (at least for me).  This was our first vacation in about a year - and even though it was different (since we had Adi with) - it was great to get away.  I did my best to unplug + not check into work; which was really great to help me just unwind and step back from the stress of daily life.  We spent most of our time lounging around together as a family without an agenda - which was the best part. Didn't hurt that we were in 75-85 degree sunny weather! 

Now we're back to reality, as they say. :)

Pictures to come: More FL vacation + Adilyn's 10 Month Pictures