Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with our family. Granmanette and Grandpa Michael spent the week with us. We enjoyed their company very much. They spent lots of time with the boys, playing, driving trucks, doing puzzles, reading books, and watching the antics of both Jacoby and Morgan. Morgan has come a long way with crawling over the past week, so now he's quite speedy and goes just about anywhere he wants and leaves a minor path of destruction behind him. We went on walks and enjoyed our beautiful Colorado weather. And we even ventured down to the Aquarium for an outing. Jacoby much prefers the zoo over the Aquarium--he wasn't thrilled about the dark tunnels and the simulated flash flood/thunderstorm. But he did enjoy watching the big fish and turtles. We then took Granmanette on the free mall bus ride downtown from Union Station up to Civic Center Park (where we attended the Obama rally with Jacoby a while back). Uncle Jared arrived on Turkey Day, so we celebrated on Friday with a very nice dinner and a walk around the lake. We have much to be thankful for this year, and it was a blessing to spend the holiday with family once again.

Jacoby went with Justin to drop Uncle Jared off at the airport today. He reported back on all of the airplanes he got to see. Morgan and I caught up on a few things around the house. And I went and saw New Moon with a friend. We had a good time seeing the movie and catching up with each other. We put up our Christmas tree this evening--we'll see how long it lasts with our two little mobile monsters.

Justin is finished with his quarter and has a few more Greek classes to teach before they take their final exam. It's nice to spend time with him and not have the pressure of school hanging over our heads. Tomorrow is my fifth anniversary at work! I can't believe its been that long already...and I really can't believe we've been in Colorado 5.5 years too!

Thankful for Jacoby

Thankful for Morgan

Thankful for Our Family

Turkey Time

So much to look forward to this week! Grandma & Grandpa Barber are visiting, Uncle Jared visits, celebrating Turkey Day. We're excited about spending some time together with family and counting our many, many blessings. My confession of the week is that I'm not actually cooking Turkey dinner. Actually, if I was really going to confess I would add that I haven't cooked Turkey dinner on my own in a long time because my wonderful mom-in-law does a fabulous job when they're here with us. However, this year we've ordered a yummy dinner from the caterer I use at work. I'm only feeling a little guilty about this. But there's only so much this super-mom can handle with working full-time and being a full-time mommy too. So, not too much guilt and we'll see how it goes.

Morgan and Jacoby have had a good week. Jacoby's paper chain has helped him count down to the upcoming festivities. Morgan is officially crawling and is embracing the role of "trouble-finder". He's also sprouting his first tooth. I'm always amazed at the things these two boys decide to do together to amuse themselves. On the way home from school this week they decided to hold hands in the backseat of the car! And when they held hands they just laughed and laughed! Jacoby is perfecting his fireman routine. We've now added a ladder to the firetruck and he wears his red rubber boots. Last night I was taken to the hospital after he rescued me. You could tell he wasn't sure what was supposed to happen after he dropped me off. (: He's in a really fun stage of toddler-hood right now. He continues to enjoy helping me cook, and we put up our map last weekend so he could see where all of our family members live. Quote of the week: "Don't tease me right now, Mommy!"

I was in Portland on Monday for a trip for work. It was so fun to visit--I really miss the Northwest. All of my meetings went well, and I spent some time downtown where I happened upon a really cool toy store.

Justin is just days from being finished with the quarter--hooray! He'll continue to teach into December, but the pressure will be off. Winter quarter won't be quite so crazy, but he will be studying for one of his comprehensive exams taking place in the spring. And then he'll enter the dissertation phase--finally!

In case I don't get another post in before the holiday, we hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving!

Our Family Map

Checking out the recycling bin

Making Tatertot Casserole