10 months

Back when we went to a field as the sun was setting to take photos of Edwin at 10 months. Yes, we took a lot of photos.

The Christmas Tree Hunt

We weren't sure where to get our Christmas tree this year since our friends with a Christmas tree farm weren't selling them anymore. We found out that there were still some trees on their property and even though they weren't there, they said we could go pick out a tree, so that is just what we did.

 Miles being super helpful

Big boys both got turns chopping down the tree. Edwin and I cuddled to stay warm and watched them.

 

TIMBERRRRR

We cut it a little high on the stump because it was taller than our ceilings so then the boys had fun cutting the remaining part of the stump so no one tripped on it!

And then we had our Christmas tree, the first week of December. And there really was something enjoyable about being the only ones on the farm.

Thanksgiving

I don't even remember much of what we did for Thanksgiving. It was nice having Max home for a couple days, but other than that I just know we went to My red Grandma's house on Thanksgiving Day and Max's Uncle Jay's house the day after! I even just looked back in my calendar to see if I'm missing anything and I hadn't written anything down...Wow, Edwin's first year of life has put me in a whirlwind...hopefully I'll get caught up soon so I can write about his first birthday before he is two....Anyway, The only proof we have of family time is the awesomely awkward pictures of my crazy family that were taken at my grandma's house. Thank you Elizabeth for humoring us. And why say anymore...here you go!
  

 The vain part of me wants to point out that I was ten pounds heavier than I am now and getting closer to my pre-baby weight! NBD Also... Edwin has grown out of all these clothes!

 "Kiss mommy right there!"

 Oh, and I just reviewed my phone pictures and it reminded me of a couple more things we did during Thanksgiving weekend...We bought a new mattress...which is like sleeping on a firm fluffy cloud.  We finished painting Edwin's room (formerly Max's office) and moved Edwin into his own room...and he slept through the night the first night in his room. Just picture this...we finally had our 8 month old out of our room, he slept through the night and we slept on a brand new amazing mattress after years of an awful one! Amazing! Max also did some black Friday shopping and did pretty much all of the Christmas shopping. Oh and Max's uncle had a new spaceship massage chair that Max sent me up to enjoy while he watched the kids and visited family...so that was nice! Oh and we took care of our friends' chickens and gathered their eggs. That was super fun. There we go some memories documented!

Sidekick

My Charles is a clown! Which actually makes him a great photography assistant when kids are involved. Especially when that kid is someone that already loves Charlie. So one Saturday morning I had a day with Charlie and he came to help me with a family photo shoot. He was super helpful at times....and he disappeared with my supplies at other times. Either way it was fun for us. We got to the garden a little early and scoped out some good photos spots...this garden just keeps surprising me with the beauty it's capable of! It's like there is a new surprise every time we go...like these fiery red leaves! And good thing I practiced some photos on Charlie because most of them ended up blurry...had to get those ones out of the way! hah!

 We thought this was a really big leaf....

...until we found these ones!

 

So we went around the garden scoping out the best photo spots. And Charlie was more than willing to pose for me!

 

Super official

And just because I know you are wondering...here is one photo from the shoot.

 After a crisp and sun shiny morning, Charlie enjoyed his payment of hot chocolate!

Time Out For Women

At the beginning of November I got to have a fun overnighter with some wonderful friends. There is an annual conference that comes to town called Time Out For Women. It is two days of uplifting and enjoyable speakers. I had never gone before but I had heard great things. Then one of my friends mentioned getting a group together to stay the night in a hotel downtown and I was all ears...an over nighter without the kids sounded great. (We don't even live far from downtown, where the conference was) My dear friend Heather had access to a free night at the Hilton down town so some of us went there! And it was divine. The conference was filled with incredible music and speakers and it sure was enjoyable to not chase kids...or put them to bed.

 And these are the pictures that were taken...haha! When it was over, none of us wanted to go home...so we went out to dinner. Max had taken the boys to visit his brother and parents over the weekend...let me rephrase that....My incredible husband, alone,  took all 3 of our boys on a 3 hour road trip/overnighter to visit his family and to be in attendance at an old family friend's baptism. So I came home to an empty house and it was lonely but I felt so grateful for an amazing weekend with wonderful women. My favorite speaker was the mother of Emily Parker who was killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting. She spoke of Love and forgiveness and finding light and miracles in her life and continuing her daughters legacy of kindness.