Giving Thanks

'Tis the season to give thanks for...

funny reindeer antlers that one long armed toddler grabbed at the store and jingled all the way home...Thanks for Thanksgiving dinner with family...Thanks for fireworks in Beaver Creek with Aunt Karen and Uncle Q...Thanks for giant Christmas Trees and huge flakes of snow...

Thanks for birthday celebrations with traditional cherry pie...Thanks for the beginning of Christmas...

Doesn't know his own strength

When he helps grandma unload the dishwasher,

he REALLY unloads the dishwasher.

Mountain Life

Escaping to the mountains before the ski areas open is a lovely thing. Vail opened today but Beaver Creek is still looking a bit bare and you can still snag a parking spot at City Market without any trouble. It's a nice time of year to be here. Sunset earlier this week from the front porch...

Mr. Man is using his height to his full advantage in his new digs. He's learned all the seats in the house he can get into/onto on his own. He has no problem getting down from any of them except the bench, it took a few practice tries to get that one down.

Gosh, is he really only 16 months?

Yesterday we bought a 10 trip punch card to the very nice local rec center and went for a swim. Today we drove west to Glenwood Springs (spotting several bald eagles along the way!) and had a soak in the hot springs there. I guess seeing all the lap swimmers both places inspired FFM who came out of my room this evening with my goggles pressed against his eyes. (This is especially interesting as he's only seen me wear them once, months ago, and he doesn't have any of his own yet.)

He thought it was the funniest thing of the evening, even better than my bout of hiccups.

Official Wedding Pics

For anyone who knows my brother, or who's nosy (OK, interested), here's a link to the official wedding pictures. We're not in many of them, but you might spot Travis, who was part of the wedding party, in a few. I was busy chasing FFM around a lot of the night...

http://www.willoart.com/quentinkaren/

Winter and Fall

Yesterday, FFM learned all about fall...

and made sure to point out all the planes that passed overhead.This morning we all woke up to winter! Good thing I had a snowsuit ready to go and Eric got rid of all the leaves yesterday afternoon. It was only a tiny bit of snow, but enough to make some good tracks in.In between the leaves and the snow there have been many trips on the famous red elephant. This was my elephant when I was about FFM's age. My grandma took me to Woolworth's and apparently I sat down on the elephant and wouldn't get off. Even when we were in the car (this was back before kids had to be in car seats, how did we ever survive?!?!). She's kept it all these years and all kinds of grandkids and great-grandkids have ridden it, but she's never let anyone take it, she's been saving it for FFM.I didn't know/remember this story, but I'll tell you one of my own. We went to a department store in Perth and FFM found a sale table that was covered with a table cloth. Peeking out from under the cloth was a little plastic scooter. He sat down on it and refused to get off. We ended up going home with that little scooter and it's in our backyard in Australia right now. Hmmm...something about the apple not falling far from the tree comes to mind :)

I had really good taste in elephants, she's even got fluffy eyelashes.

Some other news, FFM has his first, first cousin (I've got some cousins we call his cousins since they're close in age). Travis' sister had her baby on election day 11/4 and she's happy and healthy and we can't wait to meet her. It'll be a few months, they're in PA and believe it or not even though we managed to get all the way from Oz to CO it's just not in the cards to make it to PA this trip. Meet Audrey!

And last, but certainly not least, in my long list of catch ups, some wedding pictures from my brother and Karen's wedding. The ones during the day are at the rehearsal picnic. We had a BBQ at a park where there was a little train we could all ride. Then off to rehearse! The night photos were all taken by another guest and I have borrowed them. I was busy keeping FFM from jumping in the pool, tearing down the candles, eating the decorations.....seriously, he was really good.

Meggan Jacks

About a year ago we had a photographer in Phoenix, Meggan Jacks, take some family photos. We don't do 'professional' photos very often so we did a big splurge and found a really great one. We went back to see her again this year and she's posted our album online. It'll be available until Nov 21, after that these instructions won't get you anywhere. Until then, if you want to take a peek go ahead.

Click on the link:
http://www.megganjacks.com/index2.php

THEN, Go to previews

type: moore08 in the password space (that's a zero after our name)

This shoot was tough, FFM is getting so many molars right now he's perpetually crabby. The location was great, it's an arts center with so many different colors and texutres I could have played there all day!

What time is it again?

We're now in mountain time (Colorado) and will be here for about the next month. Whew. It's been a lot of traveling for these Moores lately and we're a bit pooped. I checked in with my overflowing inbox and discovered my return flight now includes a 15 hour layover in LA. I would lament the airlines and random flight changes but it doesn't do anyone any good.

Brother Q's wedding was super duper fantastic and it's great to finally have Karen officially part of the family. The trip from Phoenix to Denver was exciting, I've decided that the length of the flight isn't what makes flying alone hard, it's airports that have rental car shuttles that drop you off three lanes of traffic away from the skycaps and/or rental carts. How exactly am I supposed to get my carseat, two bags, two carryons, and one wiggly boy across that??? After that we were challenged by bag screening that was in a different place from ticketing and of course security. I broke my middle right finger while in Phoenix so I'm further hindered by a gimpy right hand. OK, my little pity party is all over now, we're here and I'm REALLY enjoying my glass of ice cold Colorado water...mmmmmm

Well, the computer says it's 1:48pm Wednesday, my watch says it's 9:48pm Tuesday, my body is pretty sure it's the wee hours of the morning since it only got about four hours of sleep last night. There will be photos soon, and more regular blog posts forthcoming!