Guess Whooooo is One?!

Liberty Noel is ONE!!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed planning my first girl birthday party.  After flipping through a party magazine I came across owl and decided to go with that theme.

The date of her party was difficult to plan with it falling on Thanksgiving day this year.  But it was appropriate because we are so thankful for her.

We actually ended up having three celebrations.  The first one was with friends and actually a lot couldn't make it due to leaving town for Thanksgiving.  It was still a HOOT.  Hallister's best friend Jacob came and his brother David.  We enjoyed owl face graham crackers, owl nest cupcakes, and make owl puppets.

Liberty was so tired because it was during her normal nap time.  Then on top of that she broke out after having the cupcake.  We have found she is allergic to dairy, so far breaking out after having whole milk, cheese, and yogurt.  At her doctor appointment today we had an allergy test done so we will see what else she needs to avoid.  I am going to try weaning her with almond milk.

Our second celebration was also having Jonathan's parents over for Thanksgiving. 


Our third celebration was in Temple at my Grandma's with my Mom's side of the family.  It is always neat seeing the grand kids play together.

Unfortunately Liberty was fussy, but today at the doctor we found out her molars came in!  That is why she wasn't feeling good.  (So if you held her and she was crying, don't feel bad, it WASN'T YOU.)









For the Temple celebration my dear friend Ann that I met at UMHB made the cupcakes, oh so cute.....and delicious.  We are so thankful for everyone celebrating Liberty's life with us.

She now weighs 19 lbs 9 oz and is 28" tall.  She is starting to walk but seems real secretive about it.   If we ask her to she won't but if we look in on her from the other room she will just start walking.

We look forward to seeing her chase the boys!

Trick or Treat

This year we decided to let the kids have fun in costumes.  We went to a Fall Festival/Trunk or Treat at their school.  It's where each person lines up their cars and hands out candy from their trunks.  They also had games and an inflatable slide that the boys loved.  This was the Sunday before Halloween.

Hallister loved his fireman outfit.  Preston did not enjoy his lion costume, mainly because the "hair" on it was itchy.  Crackers and candy were used to entice him to be happy in it. Liberty did so well in her kitty costume and did not complain.

On the night of Halloween we walked down the street to a church having a Trunk or Treat.  On the way there Hallister walked up to our neighbors and said Trick or Treat.  They got more candy.  Jonathan has enjoyed it for his lunches.  :)

We have tossed around the idea of next year having Hallister be Woody, Preston Buzz Lightyear, and Liberty Jesse from Toy Story.  We shall see.....

Getaway

Last month Jonathan and I got to have a getaway weekend.  We try to do these 2-3 times a year.  Of course we love our kids, but we can't be good parents if we don't have a strong marriage, and it is important we get in that time of it being just us.  We don't want to not know each other when the kids move out....sniff sniff.  We are so thankful we have parents that live close by that can care for the kids.

Usually we plan out all the details of where we are going and staying, which is more in my comfort zone.  But what I like about Jonathan is that he brings spontaneity to our marriage.  It was quite fun leaving, with our main focus of just heading East, since we had not been that way before.  We looked up hotel deals on the way, booked one in Palestine and ended up there.  It was pretty secluded, surrounded by tall trees....very peaceful. We
 usually stay at LaQuinta's, but last time they messed up on our room so we decided to try Comfort Inn & Suites, and boy was it comfortable.  It looked pretty new, no mold in the bathroom, and  they had a very nice, fresh breakfast in the mornings.

We enjoyed sleeping in Saturday morning and just hanging out at the hotel until lunch.  We used a website called Urban Spoon to find out the best restaurants in Palestine.  We went to a Mexican restaurant that was recommended and tried Stuffed Avocadoes with Chicken.  Yummy!  We then rested the rest of the day, talked, watched a movie, talked some more, and played games.  It was wonderful.  We found an Italian restaurant that was recommended.  The supper was so delicious and we ended with Bananas Foster Pie!  We had never had it in pie form.  Wow.  If we lived closer we probably would have bought a whole one to take home.

Sunday we again enjoyed sleeping in, a yummy breakfast, and sitting in the quiet.  Slowly but surely we loaded up the car and headed back home.  We did miss the kids but it will be fun to see where we head next year for the next getaway.....