thanksgiving & nora musings

I'm a bit embarrassed to admit that I fully realize I've done very little Nora updates over the past couple of months... oops. This is supposed to be our family blog...I know. So for all of you who have been waiting patiently for a Nora update you'll see plenty of our little pumpkin below :)

First let me start with a Thanksgiving update. If you didn't get a chance to read my pre-

Thanksgiving prep post on Scottsdale Moms Blog be sure to do so. And today I posted a "My DOs and DON'Ts of Thanksgiving" post on SMB as well so be sure to read that too. We sure learned a thing or two about hosting (and we're even more thankful to those who have hosted us in the past - thanks mom, grandma Eileen & Mary and aunt Jane)!

Our Thanksgiving day was fabulous... just what the doctor ordered. Lots of family time (just the three of us), delicious food and great family and friends to share in the holiday.

We started the day at the Fountain Hills Thanksgiving Day Parade (the only Tday parade in AZ mind you). Everything about this parade was so wonderful - the horses, Veterans riding on old cars, Boy Scout Troups, HS Marching Bands, Fire Trucks, etc. It actually made me forget about living in such a large metro area and made me think I was in a small midwest town.

After the parade we headed home to start preparing for the evening's festivities. We spent the day cleaning, prepping, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, sampling, cleaning... you get the point. With so many things to prepare let's just say our dishwasher ran at least 3x that day. :)

All in all everything was a great success. Here's a pic of our table all ready for our guests to arrive. Note: Our table decor was very simple - candles, sunflowers, gold chargers and napkins tied with twine and thyme (now - that's a tongue twister - say that a couple times).

Now a little about Nora....

- Since starting to run and only taking one nap I spend most of the day running after this girl.

- She's more adventurous than most 16 month olds and is a fearless little girl - which is good and bad.

- She still LOVES dogs. The minute we walk outside it's as if she assumes there will be dogs around because the first thing out of her mouth is "woof."

- This girl is going to be a chatty-cathy. She's learning words (and signs) every day and when she's not saying those words she's talking in some language only God understands.

- I discovered the trick to keeping shoes on this girl - boots! We loves these boots. They're cute, warm AND most importantly - not easy for little girls to take off.

- She's suddenly very interested in babies. I wonder why (wink, wink). If you missed it - see this post.

- We're all enjoying this early Christmas gift from Nana. If you're looking for a Kid's Nativity Set be sure to check this one out.

And lastly we'll leave you with a video of Nora (and me) singing "O Christmas Tree" - just to put you in the Christmas spirit (excuse the singing please) :)