Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we went up to Stoney's mom's. She lives in a suburb of Chicago. Penny had a blast at a new house. She loved the stairs and would spend about half the day going up and down. She became a stair climbing machine. She also liked it cuz the bottom stair was a perfect seat. If she wasn't climbing the stairs, this is where she was resting.
Penny got to meet Uncle Kelson for the 1st time.
Brotherly love.
Since we were up in Illinois it was cold, so we got to have our 1st experience of coat meet car seat.
Penny also loved the piano, she was just the perfect height.
If Penny wasn't sitting on the stairs she was sitting here.
This was her book chair and she loved it.

Penny also helped with Thanksgiving dinner. She mostly played with the non-pie ingredients.

She wasn't into eating the apples tho, as you can tell from the apple piece on her chin.

Finally, the eating day had come and Penny missed it, cuz she was napping.

The food was delicious, as always. Ps...I made the table runner. We are so very grateful for our family and for all the blessings that we receive each and everyday

Family Pictures

At the beginning of the month a wonderful friend, Katie, whose talents and craftyness can be featured at http://hipposanddinosaurs.blogspot.com/ , was kind enough to take some family pictures. They turned out great and here are some for your enjoyment!

To see my ultimate favorites you will just have to wait until Christmas time!

Petit Jean State Park

Yesterday we spent the day with friends at Petit Jean Stake Park. We had a lot of fun and the views were beautiful. We decided to hike down the Cedar Falls trail. We borrowed a backpack from some awesome friends and Penny loved it. She thought she was hot stuff!

We are ready for a hike.

The beginning was really cool, walking between boulders and down rock steps.

There is suppose to be water below us, but alas it was pretty dry.

There were giant boulders everywhere, it was so cool.

We finally made it to the falls, it was more like a trickle but it was still pretty.

We ate lunch on our picinic boulder.

Penny explored in the dirt and loved it!!

She was not too happy it was time to leave.

Yes we did have to climb on those boulders to get out. The last 10 mins of our hike were really tiring, cuz there were a lot of stepping on stairs. But we survived and today my legs are sore! But I would definately do it again.

We found a campsite were we got dinner cooking and had fun hanging out. Penny helped set up and then she helped organize the leaves and pine neddles.

She even managed to save some.

We were glad we made the decision to go, we had a really fun day!

11 Months

I can't believe we are down to our final month. That is crazy!! Penny is full of personality. She is very determined and will do or get something she wants. She is definitely strong willed and mostly independent, but she does enjoy attention, who doesn't! She now says mama, dada, oh, bob, yellow, hey, buh (book). She pulls her baby doll out of the toy box and gives her loves, it is so cute. She gives kisses, hugs, high fives, waves bye-bye. She can click her tongue and tries to copy any trick you do with your tongue. She is starting to become a biter, so I am trying to head that off as quick as possible. Still not standing or walking, but maybe this month is her time. She was so into watching this game and I wasn't going to argue
She loves to new car seat.

She now loves suckers.

Stats: 25lbs 14oz, 29 1/2 inches