The Cutest 11 Month Olds on the Planet

Can I just keep her like this forever?  Please? 

Praise and Thanksgiving

What did this Mama give thanks for this year? 

 Subject #1.  My not so little, curious, musical, compassionate, smart as a whip, habit prone, shirt licking, sister loving, inquisitive, skinny, cautious, chill and so so happy dude.  An almost five year old blessing from above. 

Subject #2.  My little giggling, spitting, crawling, mess making, appetite driven, squealing, stubborn, snuggling, dancing, adventure seeking, cheeky princess.  Our almost one year old and newest reason to give thanks. 

Reason for Thanks #3:  This family I call my own.  Without that handsome devil in the dark blue shirt, this charmed life I live wouldn't be so charmed.  My Tim is the reason for my peace of mind, my joy, my heart beating in the rhythm it does, my sanity, my all.  I know it's all very nauseatingly cheesy, but I have to remind myself just how blessed I am that God lead this patient giant of a man into my life.  Parenting these two little gems is that much better with him by my side (even if we don't ever actually get to speak to each other while in their presence).   

There are a slew of additional items I give thanks for.  We have a shiny red box in our kitchen, filled with scraps of "thankful" papers.  They range from the following:  health, loving and supportive family, little friends who we hold so dear, boxed wine (not your parent's Franzia anymore), cozy blankets, amazing friendships that stand the test of time and grow each year, closets full of colorful clothing choices, green grass, flippy swings, heaven, gogurts, stable careers, Daddy's white mm3 car, Squirt's cheeks, chai latte, airplanes, digital photography, clean sheets, the dust buster....I could go on until I put you to sleep. 

We sure are blessed over here at Casa Vogel.  More so than we deserve by any measure of the imagination.  It's my prayer that our kids will grow up to appreciate all of these little treasures and give THANKS to our God above for smiling down on us and causing our cups to runneth over.  And over.  And over.   

 Dude's Thankful Tree from Pre-School.  He listed our neighbors dog who died a few months back as one of this thankful items.  And the sky.  Of course we should be thankful for the sky.  Where would we be without it? 

 Thanksgiving morning football with the co-op dudes.  Only one emergency injury this year. 

 Squirt's future neighborhood gal pals.  Aren't they precious?

 Dad gets his chase on. 

 One of those "little people" we're thankful for. 

 Mr. Chris fist bumps Dude for his valiant effort on the football field. By "valiant" I mean, his ability to run around and put all the cones on his noggin.

 Squirt cashed out in the stroller for much of the action, but woke up full of toothy smiles. 

 Moving over to the Syers for additional Thanksgiving fun.  Lando, yet another "little person" we hold dear.  There are a bunch of yummy shots of Squirt and her little boyfriend, but another post will be necessary for their pure cuteness value. 

 Our best bud, Bradster and Duder take our newest ATV purchase out for a very long spin.  I'll do another post on Tim's ATV obsession another day.  This one talks and lights up and runs over stuff quite effectively. 

 Cara's creative table centerpiece.  She's a crafty one!

 Wes decked out the basement for the day, which turned out fantastic.  Kept the dudes of the party quite entertained, young and old.

 Like I said, entertained.

 Noly and little bro, Heath, are expecting their newest bro any week now!

 The group left Wes and I up to our own devices to open this bottle.  We never said we were suave or coordinated. 

 Bruce and Barbie took on the turkey again this year.  Thank heavens for that.  This 32 year old has never even pretended to think about cooking a big bird. And I kinda hope I don't have to for another 32. 

 Lovely ladies of the hour. 

 Oh how we adore this family.  And all their charm and grace.  So much like my own breed. 

 The kids table - I can't believe I have a dude old enough to sit at a "kids table."  Doesn't mean he ate a darn thing (other than a roll) while sitting there, but he did sit there none-the-less. 

 Looks peaceful huh?  It wasn't.  We have all have kids who like to scream, demand, spit, scream some more, kick each other, bang on things....but that's what we're thankful for.

 And I wondered why I didn't feel so great that night.  Thank you God for food.  A ridiculous amount of food.

 Squirt's very first Thanksgiving dinner.  She took it all in, literally.  Anything we put on her tray.  At Dude's first Thanksgiving, I'm pretty sure he had formula and maybe a couple bites of a roll.  Do you see the "roll" trend? 

 The reason behind this lovely family gathering. 

 Wessums love his babies.  He does call her "buddy" and "dude" but that just comes with the territory of being surrounded by males. 

 I was with Wes on this one.  Turn your back and ignore the total dorkiness taking place.

A baby dance party.  We're not lacking for babies - or adults to play with them for that matter.

THANKS to our fabulous friends for hosting a crazy blessed day of fun and love.  We miss our fams on days like these and are so glad to have a place to call home. Hope all your readers out there had a fantastic Thanksgiving as well. 

The video below isn't what most people would call "totally appropriate" but it sums us up in a rather consise nutshell.  Ignore my obnoxious commentary - it's just what I do.  And regret after hearing myself talk later.       

Thursday Afternoon Viewing

I have to share this video of my little darling dancer, screamer, drooler and mess maker.  She is now walking behind the featured toy, pushing it across the kitchen.  As she does with the laundry basket.  Unassisted walking will be here all too soon:(  How is this happening to our little babe already?

And I must add that I'm lovin how awesome the video quality is on our new camera.  So much better than the water proof little crapper we used to use!

Squirt & Dude's "New Brown Mommy"

Every so often I feel the need to "reinvent" myself.  Rather than go to school, learn a new language or actually better my inner being, I get my hair colored and chopped off.  I haven't done this is oh, 4 years, so it was time.  God created me to be a brunette, although the palette he gifted me with looks a bit like poop.  So I chose a brunette that I could feel kinda okay about.   

 I do realize that my normally darling daughter looks like a total snaggletooth in this shot, but it's a true representation of where she's at in her tooth phase of life.

Dude woke up the morning after my transformation, looked at me, giggled and said, "You look like my NEW brown mommy!"  He giggle some more, told everyone he saw to look at his new Mommy and then ended the day with this...."Mom, next day when you go to dat cutter lady, can you please tell her to bring back my yellow Mommy?"  Kids tell it like it is.  At least the adults in my life have been kind enough to pretend they like it.  I do appreciate that.

 Squirt is much darlinger in this shot, although could I squint my eyes any tighter? 

 Poor Squirt....her brother insists on squeezing her head multiple times per day.  I don't know what it is that encourages him to grab her poor skull, but she's a real tropper about it. 

 She's now walking around furniture - I couldn't resist documenting this little sweater outfit. 

Oh this face.  It just kills me. 

10 Months

Our pretty girl is only 2 months away from being an official toddler.  I can still call her a baby and get away with it.  Kinda.  I was just reminiscing with some girlfriends last night about what life was like for our family of 3 one year ago.  We were eager and crazy anxious about the arrival of this little teeny one who we prayed like never before would become a part of our family.  And now she crawls around this house like she owns the place.  Well, she kinda does.  She owns our hearts too, including her big brother's.

Our little squirt is a happy, blubbering, crawling, climbing, messy eating, spitting, squealing, laughing, mess making, ray of sunshine. She'll be walking any week now, which is such a far cry from her big brother. He wasn't even crawling at this stage. Makes life more interesting, for sure. Sometimes Tim and I just look at each other and throw our hands up - this go getter of a baby is a whole different experience for us. Baby proofing has taken on new meanings over here at Casa Vogel. What's the latest with her 10 month self?

She's giving wet, open mouth, kisses, saying "bye bye," "mama" and "dada." She's eating just about anything you put on her tray, climbing up stairs (as of yesterday), sleeping about 2.5 hours during the day and going 7:30-6:30 at night. I'm happy to announce that she's no longer afraid of the dust buster as shes gotten used to me using it after EVERY meal. She loves opening and closing doors, eating paper products and climbing all over her brother and whatever he's doing. Bottom line, Squirt is a treasure and we're so grateful that she's ours.
 

A Super Smiley Weekend

Our Nana came and went, way too fast.  We're still feelin' rather sad about the absence of our sweet Nana.  She fills our house with excitement and smiles and knows exactly how to meet our kids every need.  And then some.  We were spoiled with attention and love, just like the prior weekend with Grandma V.  The weather wasn't balmy, so we spent most of our time inside, but that didn't seem to matter.  The fun factor was still high.  We're blessed to have a Nana who is quick to hop on a plane to see us.  Thanks for a fabulous weekend Mom.  We miss you, kind of a lot. 

Tim's not crazy about his bed head in this shot, but how sweet are these two?  They're totally in love with each other.

 

And Nana's totally in love with our sweet cheeks. 

We all took Dude to a "Hip Hop Dance" class on Saturday.  He had a blast, but there wasn't any actual dancing involved.  Just stretching and running around like only a 4 year can do.