Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We started our morning with cinnamon rolls for breakfast, as we do every year.  Since we spend a lot of time cooking on Thanksgiving, we like to keep breakfast simple yet special.  This was Brinleigh's very first cinnamon roll....... and she loved it!

 

We spent the afternoon with some of our close friends here in Sitka.  Kolt cooked a delicious turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  Our friends, Kate and Cooper brought over green bean casserole and a sweet potato casserole along with some rolls, and I baked a pumpkin pie and a cherry pie (Kolt's request).  I also made some cinnamon butter for the first time.  Everything was delicious!

 

 This Thanksgiving, I was excited about three things:

1.  Of course, eating all the delicious food

2.  Brinleigh's new Thanksgiving outfit along with some adorable little boots that I ordered for her.

3.  Brinleigh eating her very first Thanksgiving dinner.

 

Number one did not disappoint.  However, number two and three were a bust.  I have been obsessed with these little toddler moccasin type boots with tassels for Brinleigh. They actually have them in a women's size as well and I REALLY want a pair for myself.  In normal "Lexi fashion", I was planning on ordering both of our boots so we could match on Thanksgiving, however, Momma had to put her boots on hold.  Brinleigh's boots arrived the day before Thanksgiving, which I was very Thankful for, but of course, they didn't fit properly.  I ordered the next size up so she could wear them longer and they are very narrow shoes and we just couldn't get her fat little feet in them, so back to amazon they went.  The biggest disappointment however, was when I happily made Brinleigh her dinner plate, full of all the delicious Thanksgiving food.... and she wanted nothing to do with it.  I mean nothing!  She ate a few bites of the sweet potato casserole but not a bite of anything more.  Not even the rolls!  I was so sad that she didn't enjoy her first Thanksgiving meal.  But she does like pumpkin pie! (OH.... and marshmallows.)

   

Last Thanksgiving we were exhausted from taking care of a four month old baby, we didn't dress up and we looked like scrubs.  Not to mention that the month of November is "Movember" where Kolt takes it upon himself to participate in the "No-shave-November" tradition, so last year he had a stupid mustache on his face.  I was less than impressed with our first Thanksgiving family photo.  So this year I made it a point for us to not look like scrubs, shower and do something with ourselves, and take a decent family photo.  I even got Kolt to shave off his mustache!

  

I finished the evening with some online black Friday shopping and got all of Brinleigh's Christmas gifts taken care of.  This weekend ALL of the Christmas decor is going up, including the tree!

Catching Up

Brinleigh is learning so many new things and with every new talent she acquires, we realize just how big she is getting and how fast she is growing.  She has recently learned how to climb the stairs by herself, which is also funny to watch.  She has figured out how to step over things where before she would drop to her knees and crawl over things.  She can now blow kisses at us and she holds her hands out, palms up, to say "all done".  She is still wearing her 12 month clothes but will probably be moving into her 18 month clothes in the next month or two.  Kolt had to take her into the doctors office for something last week and she weighed 23lbs and is 29in tall.  She is getting a little more hair and it is blonde! AND curly!

She is still infatuated with Gunner, and any other dog she sees.  She even knows how to give him treats now.  He is still so good about laying still while she crawls all over him.  She especially likes to lay on him while watching tv.

She watches more tv these days and actually pays attention to the cartoons.  I prefer to only keep it on the Disney chanel though, which of course means that I now know who Henry Huglemonster is and I can sing all the lyrics to Doc McStuffins.  Yes, I am now one of those Moms.

Our Fall was short lived and lasted about two months, maybe less.  The snow capped mountains have informed us that Winter has officially started here in Alaska.  Today we woke up to a sheet of frost covering everything and the temps are in the low 40's during the day and high 30's at night.  We are also losing daylight at a more rapid pace and it's now dark by about 4:45ish.  So needless to say, our outdoor time is going to be limited for the next few months.  

Happy Halloween!

Last weekend we continued to enjoy Halloween festivities and Brinleigh got to wear her costume for the first time.  The Coast Guard had a children's Halloween party where the kids could run around, color, dance, and enjoy some snacks.  We took Brinleigh for a little bit but it seemed like it was more for older kids, not toddlers.  So on to the next one.  We went to one of the daycare's in town that was having a children's party.  That one had some games, face painting, and pictures.  Brinleigh didn't play any games because she is still too young to understand them but she did manage to conveniently walk right into a cake walk just as it was starting.  Surprisingly, she walked in the circle with everyone else while the music played (all by herself, I might add) and when the music stopped, they just so happened to pull the number she was standing on.  BOOM!!!! Chocolate cupcake right off the bat.

We also decorated our pumpkins this past weekend.  Brinleigh painted her mini pumpkin and Kolt and I decorated one of the big pumpkins with our plastic pumpkin parts.  Then Kolt carved the other big pumpkin.  The pumpkin painting didn't last long, five minutes actually.  Brinleigh didn't seem to enjoy it or really want anything to do with it.  She actually cried and I think it was because she doesn't like for her hands to be dirty, but I'm not 100% sure.  

At work we all decided to dress as Disney characters and I chose to be the Queen of Hearts.  Kolt had to work this evening and so I took Brinleigh Trick-or-Treating with my friend, Kate.  Every year, Sitka does a downtown trick-or-treating event where they close off the street and all of the businesses hand out candy.  So we headed downtown for a little bit between rain down pours and then came home for dinner.  The trick-or-treaters started making their way around the neighborhood so we handed out candy.  Then we bundled back up and headed out to trick-or-treat around the neighborhood.  Once we were done, we came back home to hand out more candy.

With Halloween over now, I will officially begin my Christmas shopping and Thanksgiving Feast planning.  Hope everyone had a great Halloween!