Thanksgiving and Such

So, blogging from the iPad isn't working out so well. Here are some captionless photos of our great time in Chattanooga for Thanksgiving, the necessary car ride pics, last weekend's going to the Nutcracker extravaganza, and some from the airport from grandma and pop pop's departure. We've got some new haircuts to show off on here soon, as well as a pacifier-free Irene, who took the dentist's advice very seriously and hasn't touched a pacifier since she set foot outside the dentist's office.

Seven Years

   Kyle got me a new camera for our anniversary. I am still figuring out how to use it/blog with it. But hopefully it will induce a blogging renaissance on my part. Notice the scratch-free images (the last few with Irene raking with pop pop are with ol' scratchy). 

   My mom and dad took us all out for a huge breakfast downtown on our actual anniversary. It was almost as much a treat as it has been to have them making breakfast every morning here at the house this past month. Evangeline and Irene have developed serious dependencies on silver dollar pancakes. 

   I can't figure out how to caption all the pictures here, but you should catch on pretty quick.

Rare picture of us.

Spilled the beans

So we spilled the beans to the kids that we're going to be having another baby round these parts. They are thrilled. Evangeline really would like it to be a sister. Irene seems to want a brother.

This is her "what if it's a boy" face.

A boy?

 For our part, we really have no idea whether boys or girls are better.

We also made a trip to IKEA to find a new bed for the girls, since Evangeline is pretty much too big for her bed. We've had our eye on this bunk bed for a while.

Guess how much it costs!

 We had a farewell to the old beds tonight. It was surprisingly emotional. Irene doesn't seem to care though. She is more than happy to give her bed away.

One last night of  Irene's prohibited jumping on the bed.

Here is Evangeline's first night in her bed from August, 2010.

Irene is 3

Irene is now three years old.

 Due to Grandaddy's funeral, Irene's party was delayed a day.

It is a strange thing to delay your three year old's birthday party for the funeral of your eighty-nine year old grandfather.

 We ended up having a sort of impromptu party because we were also having Harvest Home at church, which meant that a bunch Irene's friends were going to be there. So, Ellee, in her typical miracle worker way, put together a party that looked like it had been planned for at least 4 weeks in advance. This is why children have mothers. If I'd have planned this thing it would have like one balloon and six pretzel sticks for the kids to eat. And plenty of beer for the adults. As it went, everyone had plenty of balloons, beer, cheese, and cake. And presents. And friends.

I swear she is almost a different kid now. 

She's actually interested in opening every single thing.

Here's some other stuff from the day.

Irene wanted to sit with Grandma on the big chairs at Chipotle.

In typical fashion, the Alaska grandparents showed up on Halloween.

I got stung by a bee but I'm better now.

Cricket

Well, we went against what seems to be conventional wisdom and got a new dog just a couple of days after Katie died. Her name is Cricket. She is a one-year-old Rat Terrier (we think so at least). She likes to chew on toys, and pee and poop on the dog mat. We're working on that. She loves her crack-of-dawn walks with Kyle. She also loves to play with Evangeline and Irene, and went so far as to dance in a circle holding hands with them the other day. Having a dog that is 1 is much different than a dog that is 13.

Smile!

Here are some more pictures. I finally got Ol' Scratchy (our camera) out and decided that having some pictures with scratched centers is better than nothing. Here are some pictures from a little trip we took to Homeland Creamery. It was fun but we saw surprisingly few cows. No one cared, though, because there was a hayride and ice cream at the end.

A beautiful "fall" day for the tour.

She fed this little calf a whole huge bottle of milk later.

A very attentive hayrider.

Evangeline and her friend Lily held hands for most of the hayride.

Where's the cows?

Ice Cream!

This ice cream really was good.

Irene, Carter, Lily, River, Evangeline and some other kids I don't know.

Oh, here are the bottles for the babies.

They got to "milk" (water) a "cow" (replica).

Irene wasn't fooled one bit.

Katie

We are so sad to say goodbye to our dear Katie.

She was hit by a car tonight and died.

She was buried in the garden.

Katie was really the perfect dog. Yeah, she peed on the carpet too much, but she never once bit the kids, even when baby Irene poked at her eyeballs. She didn't bark. She didn't really do much of anything but love us. She was just a little too good at getting underneath fences. This is certainly the end of an era.

Rest in peace little dog.

"Every valley shall be filled, 

and every mountain and hill shall be made low, 

and the crooked shall become straight, 

and the rough places shall become level ways, 

and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." 

Luke 3:5-6