Thanksgiving at our house was celebrated on Wednesday, since it was our off year. My brother and his wife celebrated with her family this year, and my kids and my sister's kids were with their dads this year. So Wednesday it was.
The family all arrived in the morning, and the playing and noise commenced.
New baby Ezra came, and Lydia got to hold him. She LOVED holding him, and cried when her turn was over.

We had a busy morning. Well, some of us did. I helped in the kitchen with the ladies.

Chris got the good job.

The kids ran around playing and making big messes and big noises.

Casey hid.

Dad napped. On accident.

Who knows what Cameron did.

As it got later, fingers started finding things to munch on while we waited for the turkey. Morgan got caught with a roll.

Dinner was nice. Strangely, I think my favorite dish this year was the fresh green beans.

We played a couple games, chatted, sang, and had a good time.

The next day, Thanksgiving for real, I went to play football with an LDS mid-singles group. There were kind of too many people playing, since another group at the park was invited to face-off against us. Not as fun as it could have been. And I did get shoved to the ground rather roughly by a man on the other team. I didn't even have the ball. I wasn't even near the ball. I guess I just got too close to him or something. Sheesh. Oh well. I met some people, so I don't regret going.

One small step for man, one giant leap for a baby

Lydia is so funny. There is a "game" she likes to play, that she'll do over and over. We have a sunken living room, so you step down to get to it. Lydia likes to climb up the step, inch out to the edge...

The step off.

She's trying to be a big person.
She usually falls down...

But she's happy about. Then she gets up and tries again. And again. Now she is to the point that she'll remain on her feet about 1/3 of the time.
I'm just glad she doesn't try this at the staircase.

How we exercise

This is how we exercise over here.  I lay down to do some crunches, and Lydia jumps aboard. That's okay, I enjoy the extra challenge, and the adorable face I see every rep.

 What I don't love, is when she tries to climb on me when I'm doing the plank. I try hold the plank position for a minute, (kind of like a man push-up, but I rest my weight on my forearms) which is really hard for me already, but when I have the added 24 lbs of Lydia, it's nigh impossible.

Sometimes I like to do some leg workouts like shown below. Morgan gets to participate with that too. It's fun for the kids, and muscle strengthening for me. 

By the way, Morgan was my photographer for these pictures. He tends to hold his hand right over the flash, so the pictures turn out a little funny, but he does a pretty good job.

Climber

 First, a picture of Morgan and me. He's my favorite male.

 Then. Lydia. She loves climbing. We have to make sure to scoot all the chairs in close to the table, otherwise she will get on them. In fact, Lydia is on the dining room table as I type, just chillin', and throwing things off. She climbs everything. Onto the coffee table, where she dances, onto the couch, into the toyboxes, but her favorite is the tabletops.

See how close to the edge she is? Yeah. And the garbage can was put up there temporarily so she couldn't get to it.
My silly, crazy, girl.

My little hooligan

Some of Lydia's favorite things to do:

Dig everything out of my purse, or the diaper bag.

And isn't that dress adorable? Once again, Other Mother's. And don't worry, the sweat pants don't go to church with her.

She also loves to play peek-a-boo.
Where is Lydia?

PEEK-A-BOO!

HAHA! Don't you love those faces? I crack up every time I see these pictures. She makes silly faces like this all the time, I'm just glad I caught it on camera.

One other thing Lydia loves to do is steal. She is a serious stinker. Morgan will be playing with some cars, Lydia will approach, cautiously, and when she is close, she snags a car with her lightning quick grabbers and then run away. It's not as though she wants to play with the cars, she just wants to be a meanie. It's still kind of funny now, but it won't be for long. Morgan is usually a good sport about it as he chases her to retrieve her toy, and she puts on her defensive screams.

Lydia is my crazy kid. Morgan wasn't so wild, so impatient, so loud, so adventurous, so I get to learn a different set of parenting skills. Boy do we love our Lydia.

Dolly

 Lydia has really started liking dolls and stuffed animals. She hugs them and cuddles them, and carries them around, and it's very adorable. Lydia owns three dolls. One, Morgan gave her when she was brought home from the hospital. That doll is soft all over, and has a button that lights up and plays music. The second doll was from her great grandparents. It isn't very big, has two braids, and eyes that open and close. The third doll Lydia got from her cousin Anna, when she turned one. The doll had been loved and used for a few years, I think, and when Lydia inherited it, it was scuffed and naked.
The third doll is Lydia's very very favorite.

Playing outside

It's about time I post again!
I have some pretty cute photos. See?

The kids still like to play outside, even when it's cold. See Lydia's coat? That was an Other Mother's purchase for under $10. I love that place.

Morgan's been getting braver. Here we have the ancient and tipsy swing set. Note the 2x4 propping it up. 

 And here we have evidence of Morgan's increasing boyness.

And a shot from underneath.

Lydia doesn't like to be left out of anything fun. She kept trying to climb the slide, but didn't get very far.

We didn't stay out very long, much to Lydie's chagrin. She is very vocal about her grievances, so the neighbors probably knew she wasn't getting her way when we went inside.

3rd Halloween

The real Halloween, we went Trick-or-Treating. We had a recommended neighborhood to go to, so we did. First Morgan and Lydia stopped at their Nelson Grandparent's house, and not only did they

get candy, but also some presents! 

We met Chris and Christine and their family in the neighborhood, and took the kids around. It was fun. Lydia was in the stroller, and soon wanted to eat all the candy she was getting. After awhile, I pacified her with a bottle of apple juice, which she drank for the remainder of the time. When I took her out of the stroller to put her in the car, I realized that she was absolutely SOAKED. Her diaper was very full. So we did a carseat diaper change. Her poor little legs were so cold. But she was happy and smiling, and not a complaint from her.

The most exciting thing though, was that Christine was in labor during the trick-or-treating. They were timing contractions while we collected candy. Christine had her baby the next morning, and they named him Ezra Taylor Martin. Love the name, love the baby.


Anyway, I took pictures after we went out, but here is my knight in shining armor.

 Love this.

 And my sweet lioness.

2nd Halloween

 On Saturday, we had a ward Fall Festival, or Harvest party, or something. We were encouraged to dress up. I decided I would just through on a plaid shirt and some jeans, top it off with a cowboy hat, and call myself a cowgirl. I didn't even have boots. Morgan didn't know about my plans, but when it came time to get ready to go, he told me he didn't want to be a knight, as he said before, but a cowboy. Well, okay then. So we were cowboys together.

 I love Morgan's face and stance below. Classic.

 And here's some of just my boy.

 Lydia was the lion again.

 Get this thing off!

 I just loved seeing her from behind.

I spent a lot of time trying to replicate this picture of Morgan.

Here are some of the results.

We had to get a family shot.

And...the family shot outtake.

The party was a lot of fun. In the end, I wasn't even bitter about not having a trunk-or-treat. :) There were lots of carnival type games for the kids, (wherein the could win candy) they had two bounce house things, a bonafide hayride, cakewalk, and dinner. It was even pretty nice outside, so we didn't have to wear any jackets over our costumes. Having it at 4:30 helped with that.