Thanksgiving

I've been excited about Thanksgiving for months. It's hard not to get excited when my cute visiting teachers gave me this delicious goodie plate:

How adorable is that turkey cupcake? Even seeing the picture again makes me smile!

It just so happens my mom's birthday was on the same day! The coinciding celebrations just added to the festivities. We started out the day by serving her breakfast in bed. While we prepped for the big dinner, Brent headed off to a turkey bowl. I told him if he didn't either throw or catch a touchdown, to not even bother coming home as he would only bring shame upon our house. He was proud to report he scored FOUR touchdowns! One for each daughter. Awwwwwe!

This is my Pinterest-inspired turkey I dubbed "Thankful Pratt". 

The idea is for the girls to write down little things they are thankful for and then they get to "stuff" her. On Thanksgiving, we read all the slips of paper. This year there was really only one from Liesel which said she's grateful for sweet treats. Then there were just a bunch of papers where Ireland had practiced her letters. Hopefully this one will catch on in years to come.

We tried a couple of new things this year: First of all, I attempted a key lime trifle. It was a rather lovely dessert to have after a heavy meal and to be honest, I'm not crazy about pumpkin or pecan pie. We may have to do that again next year. I also wanted to make stock from the carcass and drippings and then use that for a turkey noodle soup. Oh my, that turned out really delicious and we will definitely do soup again. 

Above all, my favorite part of Thanksgiving weekend was playing Mexican Train. My parents brought their train and the big girls caught on lickety-split. 

Even Brigitta was a huge fan.

I wasn't emotionally prepared to be beaten by my 4-year-old in the second game. Her strategy was a pretty simple one: "feed the train" whenever possible. Isn't that train sweet? If memory serves, it was made by my grandfather. When you slide in a tile, the previous tile makes a satisfying clunk as it lands inside the train. The girls loved that train!

 With Brent off of work, I was able to spend some quality time with two of the most fantastic people in the world: my mom

 and my dad. 

 We had a lunch at Red Robin where they told me about all the cars they'd owned. I learned so much, I took notes on a napkin! Maybe I'll write that up as a post someday. In any case, it's a conversation we definitely need to finish (they've owned a lot of cars). I love how my parents tell stories. They riff off of each other and their comedic timing is unmatched.

Usually when there's a lot of anticipation for something, the real-life experience is almost always a let down. With our Thanksgiving, that was simply not the case. It was absolutely fantastic. 

Sydney's November POTD

Of course, the month I'm finally on the ball getting lots of different shots is the last month I do photos of the day. From here on out, Sydney will be included in the Tid Bits posts. But for this last gasp, here are some adorable photos I just have to share:

CrossFit Baby! I was mid workout when she just crawled up and grabbed onto the dumbbells. I had to stop my AMRAP to get this picture but I think it was totally worth it!

I'm sure this one looks familiar, but I can't get over the way she looks at me from her car seat and flashes that fabulous smile. Socks are a lost cause with this one--she just pulls them off, so she is perpetually bare foot.

Usually we just put Sydney's food on her tray, but for some reason we gave her a plate to eat off of. Sydney was excited to find she could see through the plate and she did this for the rest of dinner:

Baby and grandma in matching Red Sox gear. Totally unplanned.

Playing peekaboo. This might be one of my favorite pictures of all time. 

It will be a while until our living room is fully furnished but in the meantime, Sydney loves the open space to crawl around. She stopped for just a moment and I was able to snap a pic.

This video kills me. Sydney can click her tongue really, REALLY loud! As you can see, it's almost like she surprises herself.

I love how she stands, walks, spins, bounces and just sits in her bouncy that hangs from the office door frame.

Usually Brent takes the girls in for immunizations but we are new to the area and a first-time appointment had to be scheduled on a weekday during regular (and not extended) hours. I had lined up someone to watch Brigitta but that fell through at the last moment so she was there for Sydney's four shots. Sydney was eerily silent for the first one--delayed reaction-- and then came the choked sobbing. Brigitta clued in to what was going on and she charged right up to that nurse and demanded, "STOP!!! Just stop!" Both girls got chocolate milk before their naps that day.

School Photos

I'm often asked if the girls are twins, particularly Liesel and Ireland. Maybe it's because I'm their mother, but I see so many distinct differences! Liesel has a broader forehead and her hair is finer and a lighter shade of blonde. Ireland's eyes are a bit more round not to mention she's shorter than Liesel (owing to the two year age difference). But when I saw their school photos, I had to admit they could be mistaken for twins. 

Matching outfits for school pictures was something my Mom always did. There was the red year, the plaid year, the purple year, the turquoise year, the Hawkeye year (our first year in Iowa), etc.. When Mom laid out the school photos in our baby books, they looked so lovely and so coordinated. Hence was born my love of matching and coordinating outfits.

Don't they look so lovely and coordinated?

Let Her Eat Cake

 

Per family tradition, Sydney was given her own little chocolate cake to eat how she pleased. Initially she wasn't quite sure what to do until Brent cut it into smaller pieces. Then the light bulb went off.  She had a little bit of this:

 And a little bit of that:

 And a WHOLE LOT of everything else:

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Sydney is ONE!!!

This photo shoot is one for the record books folks! Well, in my humble opinion, anyway. Sydney was a tad feverish, which actually worked out, in that her cheeks look sweet and rosy. The dress I picked out for her really brought out her strawberry-blonde coloring. During the shoot she was animated and happy, so we have lots of beautiful photos. 

Love those dimples on her hands!

This was near the end of the shoot when the antics of the photographer had grown tiresome to Sydney. I jumped in and started tickling her and kissing her then ducking out of the way so the photographer could get the shot. She apparently decided to get a picture of Sydney with me in it. I'm glad she did, I'm really horrible about taking pictures of myself with the girls. 

The money shot. This expression is all Sydney.

Sydney Pippa is so very full of life and light. My mom recently noted Sydney and I have a special relationship and I have to agree. We're kind of war buddies. I was looking at my past posts on her and I don't know if I ever mentioned the symbol we chose for her.

We've designated a symbol for each of our girls: edelweiss for Liesel, shamrock for Ireland, forget-me-not for Brigitta and for Sydney we chose lily of the valley. I love the idea of something beautiful coming out of the dark (as in a valley). That's been Sydney's journey to us. Pippa Middleton also wore lily of the valley in her hair for the royal wedding and well, since Sydney's middle name is Pippa, that made it all the more significant. 

I'm excited to see more of her personality emerge in the coming year!

We love you dearly Sydney Pippa!!!