We're thankful for...

Brynt and I are thankful for so many wonderful things this season, especially when we think of the struggles we were going through this time last year with holidays and traveling and a colicky baby. We both have some really exciting goals we accomplished:

Brynt ran his very first 5k at Dexter's Turkey Trot. There were over 1,000 people there and he placed 339th with his best time of 25 minutes. I was so proud to see him work toward and achieve this goal he had been wanting to accomplish for so long with such little effort. He's such a great motivation for Lily and I.

I was accepted into graduate school and could not be more excited to get back to my studies. I will be attending Eastern Michigan University starting this winter for my Masters in Reading in hopes of becoming a Reading Specialist.

Now onto the the thing we're most thankful for... LILY!

If you've read my previous entry, you know Thanksgiving was pretty crazy for us. We didn't take very many pictures, but of course I was able to scrounge up a few to share!

If you're an outsider, I'm sure you think this picture is quite lovely.
Lily sitting with her smiling Uncle Lukie. Those of you who know
better are aware Luke only smiles when he is doing something
mischievous and you are right in thinking that. I would like to
turn your attention to Lily's lingering cry-face as she was just
pinched quite hard by her loving Uncle Luke for the first time ever.
It took her a good 45-50 seconds to actually start crying because
she was so surprised it happened. She has recovered, however, and
has chosen to let that one slide. 

 We took our annual trip to Kentucky for Thanksgiving and were blessed to be able to spend a few extra days there. She exceeded our wildest expectations with her willingness to nap and play in a new, strange place. She loved being the center of attention by all her loving and doting family members and I think that helped immensely in her cooperation. Again, I didn't do a great job with pictures, but here are a few.

Her favorite part of the trip were the kitties and, even more, the kitty toys. The cats were good sports
and put up with her quite nicely. 

She was able to get in some good quality time with her uncles.

My favorite part of the trip was our visit to the Kentucky Horse Park. They have lights set up throughout the park you can drive through. And we're not talking just wrapped around trees and bushes. It's the figures of snowmen and Star Wars and the Twelve Days of Christmas. Lily was so excited to see all of the lights (and also pretty geeked she wasn't strapped into her carseat). Afterwards you go into the gift shop and she showed interest in horses for the first time. If you know me at all you understand how thrilled I was to see this development. Every time she saw a horse she would say "nah nah" for neigh. I couldn't resist picking her up a small plastic horse to help continue this interest.

Post-Thanksgiving always means it's officially Christmas time!
We had a hard time getting things together for Christmas last year
as Lily was quite a handful for us. This year, however, we were on the ball.
We went and picked up a real tree that they strapped to the top of
our car and everything. It was very exciting. 

Here's a little Christmas time sneak peak
just to keep you coming back next time.

I always have to write about the awesome things Lily can do because a lot of it can't be explained in pictures. She has really become a chatterbox, it seems like she's learning a new word every day. (Again, keep in mind I'm behind on my posts so it's currently December 14th). She can say Elmo (Emow), Bye bye see you later (bye bye and then something unintelligible), shoe (shoo) and puppy (pupeee). Her favorite new word has to be "no." I was trying to teach her yes and no so she could let me know if she wanted certain foods or not because I felt like we were wasting a lot. But alas, she only picked up the "no" and uses it frequently. While it can sometimes be frustrating when she says it to everything, it is helpful with food consumption and much better than hearing the whine. She can blow kisses and has even started giving normal kisses with her mouth closed which is equally as sweet and not nearly so messy.

Someday I will actually write a post in a timely manner so I don't have to think a month back to what she was doing because I know I'm missing so many things. It's hard to believe she can learn so much in a month and how easily I forget it! Perhaps next time...