Thanksgiving Feast

We are so thankful for everything we have. Healthy Children, Loving Families, Great Friends, food, clothing and shelter. I am Thankful to have my mom, Grandparents, and sister from out of state here. 16 people all fit in Aunt Christine's house! The list goes on.
We had 2 turkeys (one deep fried), ham, lasagna, and all the sides. There was plenty of food to go around. A very successful Thanksgiving.


Riana waiting for the food to come. But we did move her to the highchair. She was so excited and still only ate 1 bite of mashed potatoes and later whipped cream.


This is one of the outfits her friend gave her. She asked if she could wear it today. How could I say no. We pick our battles. So thankful for my little Pocahontus.

Too Cold Parade

On Sunday we went to the Stamford Balloon Parade. They have the large balloons like the Macy's parade. This is our 2nd year going. We left the house at 10 am. The parade started at 12. It takes about 40 minutes to get there. We stopped for hot chocolate on the way. By the time we started to drink it, it was lukewarm. Sitting at the end of the parade route, we froze for at least and hour and a half. Did I mention the high for the day was 32 degrees!!! We came prepared but next year we will set a tempature minimum. I was happy that Jeff offered to stay home with Riana. My Aunt Christine came with us too. I was happy when she asked if we could leave a little before it was over. We were all cold enough. My mom was wearing 5 layers of shirts! (She is from Minnesota) Here are the pictures:

Mom and Trinity waiting for the parade to start.
Me and Shayla, you can tell it is us only by our eyeballs!

Family picture day

Every year we take a family photo at christmas. This has been a tradition for the last 6 years. It is one of the few times we get all of us in the picture. Once Riana was born, Walmart had a hard time fitting us all in the picture. Last year we went to JcPenny. We had to wait an hour and we even had an appointment. So this year I decided to try to take it myself. My mom had offered to take the picture but she was out for the evening and the sale on cards ended tomorrow. The Christmas cards have been ordered so I can check off one more thing on the never ending to-do-list. Here are the 3 girls. They let me snap away while Jeff was getting ready.
After a few shots I thought we were done. Almost all of us got changed. Then Jeff and I decide to try for a better one. We got redressed. I was using the self timer so noone was behind the camera to make the kids laugh or even smile. This is the best one I got:

Riana turns 2

I gave the camera to Shayla so I could get everything set. Riana was excited to have everyone sing to her. Trinity was once again mad that it was some else's birthday and not hers. She was sleeping before everyone came over. When I finally got her up she had Uncle Jimmy hold her while she tried to wake up. She was happy to have cake.
Trinity coming for the cake
Shayla's self portrait
My mom and the birthday Girl
Aunt Christine(Neen) and the Birthday Girl
Wow, A picture of me!
Uncle Jimmy
Nana (Jeff's grandmother)
Memem (Jeff's mom)
Jeff with no head. Shayla did a great job, otherwise.
This is the cake that my mom made for Riana.

Trick or Treat

On the front steps- Ready to go...The CareBear- Trinity (and new snugglebear)
The candy corn- Shayla
The Ladybug- Riana

Here are the girls on Halloween. This year I took them trick-or-treating. Riana wanted to walk most of the way so it took us 2 hours. When we got home I weighed the candy. Almost 11 pounds of teeth rotting fun! I am sure Jeff will eat alot of it too.

Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin Carving was a lot of work for me. Trinity thought she would help but quickly changed her mind. Riana- not a chance! Shayla helped somewhat. She cleaned it out but she got tired of it. Then came time to sort the seeds and I was on my own. They did get toasted and we all enjoyed them. Some of the seeds had started to grow while inside the pumpkins. Something that I had never seen before. Shayla's pumpkin went on to win a prize at the Derby Cultural Commision- Fright Night. (Not because her mom is a committee member) There were only 3 pumkins brought in and we had 3 prizes. Trin's decorated egg had won at Easter so I only brought Shayla's pumpkin. Here is Riana's thoughts:

A new SnuggleBear to Love

As some of you know... SnuggleBear went missing in June. Since then Trinity and I have missed it very much. My plans to put it in a box when she was done with it were gone. Trinity would get sad when she saw a picture of it. We were at my Grandparents last month and it was in one of the home videos. She started to cry. Uncle Jimmt found one on ebay! The difference is it's clothes. They are blue instead of pink. But it was THE SAME ONE. Now that we have the tag info we can ask the company if they have another one. The trouble is that it was made in 2000. So what did this little heartbroken girl think?
She told me she found it on the toliet.
Then she said she used her magic to give it fall clothes.
She said her cousin Inky gave it to her(no such person)
I told her Uncle Jimmy gave it to her.

Did I mention she has a vivid imagination? She is always coming up with stories. I am not sure if she knows for sure if it is the original or not. But it has filled the void just the same. I am going to make a dog tag for it so if it gets lost again...maybe someone will call.
Trinity sound a sleep with SnuggleBear II.