Happy Thanksgiving: Miscellaneous

Okay, just one more Thanksgiving post for the blog, mostly because I know my in-laws will enjoy the pictures.

Rodney spent a good deal of the break cracking black walnuts. It was a hands busy task that didn't require a vast amount of concentration, promoting conversation. And we ended up with several bags of black walnuts, harvested from our trees!

 The Thanksgiving meal was scrumptious (of course). It was a lovely break to not have to plan or cook the meal.

Charlie's brother, Jimmy, joined us for the festivities. My girls were happy to adopt him as their uncle too!

Happy Thanksgiving: portraits

 My nephew is incredibly photogenic and comfortable with the camera. It's so easy to capture good pictures of him!

Ellie wanted to sit by her cousin on the other side of this photo, but I couldn't resist cropping just these three out for their own stand alone picture. 

And Rodney snapped a good one of me and Hannah.

And I created a photo of just Grandma and Tabitha, who looks mighty cute!

Love this one of Ellie. She and her brother have such beautiful, expressive eyes.

Kinda blurry...but had to include this one too - both were very sleepy...

...and who knows what is going on in this ones brain. Funny girl!

my gift for the grandparents :)

I love these photos of the grandparents with their grandkids. We are so incredibly blessed with a wonderful family, and my children are blessed to be so deeply and unconditionally loved!

Happy Thanksgiving: the cousins

The cousins really enjoyed playing together this Thanksgiving, and of all of the holidays up to this point, it was one of the "easier" holidays. There was minimal squabbling over toys and no sickness sharing as in previous holidays :) I'm praying that it is a sign that they're growing up!  Hooray! 

I really love taking pictures, so there's a lot! And I tried to choose the best of the bunch to share with you all :)

Thanksgiving pictures: Day and Harms family pictures

stripes and pigtail

...and one more of Miss T because she's just so cute! She has the most kissable cheeks!

6 months

This cute girl is six months old! She is still as sweet and snuggly as can be, super social and sitting! We started solids this week and my mama hunch is that she'll take to this transition fairly quickly. Instead of pursing her lips shut and turning her head away, she smacked her lips and opened her mouth in interest and anticipation. She is nowhere near crawling, mostly because she hates being on her tummy. Ironically, she does roll to her tummy, usually in her crib and then protests, rather loudly, until she is rescued. She still has yet to learn how to roll from her tummy to her back, very typical for a Harms baby:)

She celebrated her first Thanksgiving with little drama, thankfully! She slept fairly well on our way to Rochester. It was very unlike our trip to Omaha, when we stopped at a Walmart to buy various pacifiers in hopes to break the excessive crying.

She is still not sleeping through the night, and I'm hoping the new additions in her diet will help her sleep for longer stretches at night. She weighed in at 19lb5oz at her last visit to the doctor. I am so thankful that she is a healthy little girl.

 

My favorite season

Fall is my favorite season. Perhaps it was the early years living in Washington State or the formative years in high school that I lived in Belgium that have taught me to love grey days. It sprinkled off and on today. The wind whistled through the trees. The girls and I enjoyed the crunch of leaves under our feet and the sound of the water slowly moving in the creek. We found deer prints on the bank of the "river" and tossed hedgeballs into the water just to make a big splash. The girls got their feet wet. I enjoyed the last of the warmer weather before the onset of cold and couldn't resist heading inside to capture these memories on my camera. I am so thankful for these slow days, enjoying the gift of God's glory displayed in His creation.

Tabitha tasting her first leaves (picture taken last weekend!)

Daddy throwing his girls into the pile! Fun!

some cheese

My tired littlest one stayed awake to enjoy the wind and the drops of rain too. Her eyes were a brilliant blue today and her hair looked red against the backdrop of the brown leaves. It is her half birthday today. Happy 6 months, little one!

And I even let Abigail snap a couple pictures of me and Tabitha too.

 ...with our lovely compost bin as a backdrop :)