Happy Thanksgiving!

Every Thanksgiving should start out with a good beauty routine.

Looks...delicious?

We were missing a handful of people...not so sure where we would have put them!

Steve and I love hosting Thanksgiving. We are so grateful for our family who helps cook and do the dishes. I think Uncle Matt has had the position of dish dryer for the past 4 years - which is no small task. The little kids hung out a lot, in fact Olivia thought that Grace and Frank were sleeping over. And then when that answer was no, she packed her backpack and was going to make a run for it with Grace. A good day, with a lot to be thankful for.

Sneak Peek

Nana and Papa came over to help us get things together tonight, most importantly to help with the stuffing. Olivia joined in, always willing to help.

Turkey

Olivia loves herself some arts and crafts, which is what we kept busy with the other night. The brown circle on the turkey? His belly button. Duh.

Independant Woman

Olivia dressed herself to go out to dinner. My favorite is that she used bows as accessories. Why not?

Work It

Olivia wanted to play "models" the other night - apparently the no make-up look is for babies, and when you're way past the baby stage, like 3, you need make-up. And a hair style.

Zing Zang Zoom

A very happy girl to be on the way to the circus.

These guys were one of our favorites - they made it look easy!

How cute! I've had a soft spot for them ever since reading Water for Elephants.

The tigers were crabby - we were glad for the fence.

Steve, Olivia and I went to the circus this weekend - we had such a great time. Olivia was mesmerized with all of the excitement. Steve and I both have not been since we were young and couldn't remember it being so cheesy. But I guess that's what it's all about. We weren't able to leave without buying cotton candy of course - which Liv ate a mouse sized bite out of, and then forgot about.

Dear Santa,

Please get me a mascara.

Love, Olivia

Erin's Birthday

Last Saturday we celebrated Erin's birthday - unfortunately without Grammie and KR, who were in Florida causing trouble. As per the norm, I seemed to miss all shots of the birthday girl and any other festivities other than the dumplings. Actually, Esme and Emmett, are more dumpling, and Olivia is more...string bean? But what fun we had! The photo above is when I think Esme swiped one of Grammie's lipsticks from the drawer. Sticky fingers...

She's Hilarious

Lately everything is "hilarious" to Olivia - especially her own jokes. But nothing is more so funny to her than Esme, or Ragamuffin as she so affectionately calls her.

Besties

Ready to see the fish!



What a look of longing on Liv's face. She so wants to swim with them.

Baby beluga in the deep blue sea...

Such a great view of Lake Michigan.

This was an area for kids where they got to put their hands in the water, and we even touched a real starfish!

Ruh-roh. We left the area immediately.

Even though this dolphin tank was empty, the allure of the beautiful blue was irresistable.

This was our view during lunch.

Liv suggested I take a picture of her on this bench, so I happily obliged.

Olivia and I went to the aquarium Saturday morning - which is a great time to go, because when we left at noon the lines were well out the door. We saw so many beautiful fish, graceful belugas and one cute sea lion. Oh, and turtles and penguins and sea otters and dolphins! But we kept going back to the belugas, Liv's favorite. What a special day with my special girl.