thanksgiving 2009

this was the first year in many that we were not "forced" to eat two delicious meals in one day. now, I'm never one to turn down yummy food, but I also do not like having to cut back on eating at one place to save room for the next. we spent all of thanksgiving day at kyle's dad's house. miles was spoiled with some new tractors and an adorable john deere stocking hat. we dined on a feast of ham and potatoes and all the fixings you could desire. miles helped me whip up the green bean casserole on thursday morning...he felt the need to taste test it before giving final approval to present to the holiday table.there was a spread of desserts and we all vegged out on the couch afterward. couldn't have been more relaxing :) we then spent the next day...black friday...celebrating with my side of the family. [on a side note: kyle was the only one who woke up before the sun to run around town gathering the best possible retail deals known to man. he successfully saved us oodles of dollars, but definitely required a nap later in the day :)] the food was delectable and plentiful. nothing beats the smell of turkey roasting in the oven. I will admit though, that I particularly liked the turkey from the fryer this year...yum!

of course the holidays are not complete without a line-up of four legged friends
(tessie, sadie, beemer, and tinker)

casey was allowed to oversee the carving station - she seemed heartbroken and confused every time a scrap hit the trash can. (I'm not eating that for what reason????)

we spent time catching up with my cousin jerry from milwaukee. he has a bit of an obsession for our family's famous green jello salad. this year I was assigned to bring it and I delivered a hefty amount. we may all be eating it until christmas! we also tried our hand at some new games. I have to give credit to the person who came up with farkle. it's a fun one!

miles gobbled up his fair share of food and kept everyone entertained with his silly antics and ever-growing vocabulary. his drug of choice these days is either signing time or five little monkeys. "lucky" for us all are available on youtube.com- at least he is passing this obsession on to his cousin, josiah :)
we have much to be thankful for this year - most of all our health, our incredible friends and our ever-growing family. we are especially grateful to be able to spend the holidays with all of them! here are a few more photos from the day:

miles with uncle brian

pretty little nykkole (she got the memo to wear stripes too!)
josiah was all about burning calories...that makes one of us!

oh what a year will do!

p.s. beth and I did not, I repeat...did NOT plan on the matching sweaters. they are not even the same brand. so I guess it must be true: great minds think alike :)

dog walker

kyle & I both admit that our dogs are severely neglected when it comes to walks. I think we may have found a solution.

then again...maybe not?

no no

each and every night kyle & I go in to check on our sleeping monkey - not necessarily at the same time - but we like to make sure he's all tucked in and covered up. I just went in to make sure he wasn't cold (a possibility with short pj's on) and tinker followed me in there. I turned the hallway lights on dim and found the little guy passed out on his back lying on his two blankets. typical. he stirred a little when I gently pulled them out from under him. as I was about to cover him back up, tinker decided he needed to shake out some sort of itch. cue jingling collar. I figured he wouldn't move a muscle - we all know how much this kid LOVES his slumber. well he didn't wake up - just b-a-r-e-l-y opened one eye, said "no no" and passed out again. does this mean we say "NO" to our dogs too much? highly likely.

tinker

just a little background: tinker had heat stroke a couple of summers ago. he was running and playing at my mom & dad's on a very hot day when he collapsed and couldn't control his body. he was panting uncontrollably and drooling all over the place. we rushed to the emergency vet and by the time we got there he seemed to be back to his old self. thankfully, the nurse took his temp, told us to monitor him, and didn't charge us a penny. a godsend given the fact that it costs $99 just to walk in the door! a few months ago he had another "spell" in the middle of the night. we thought he had overheated under the covers and I found him lying on the ground unable to stand up. we were close to panicking, but he recovered after cooling him off with some water. fast forward to last night. we went for a walk after dinner. we were about a block away when tinker pulled over to go to the bathroom. right after he was done, he took two steps and collapsed. he was writhing around and his eyes were fixed. he kept spasming. I scooped him up and we were rushing home. about two houses away he started writhing again. I laid him in our yard, ran in for some water, and he seemed to come to after a few minutes. it was scary. we really thought he wasn't going to make it. after a phone call with the vet, he seems to think it's probably seizures. we will be taking a urine sample in and having his blood drawn to try to find out what's going on. in the meantime...we will watch him carefully and pray it doesn't happen again!

puppy kisses

miles has figured out that tessie gives LOTS of kisses. in reality, it's her coping mechanism for when she gets a little scared...but we won't tell miles that. we try to limit the kisses on/in the mouth (ew) - but it's become somewhat difficult now that he purposefully seeks her out for a smooch. he tries to sneak one from tinker, but tink is much too cool for that. no thanks.

the following pictures may contain a dog licking a baby...you've been warned.

playing catch up...

I have been less than stellar in keeping the blog up-to-date. therefore I've decided to post a bunch of pictures of mr. miles in an attempt to redeem myself. sorry in advance for the picture overload.

can I touch your computer auntie beth? pretty please??

getting a ride from uncle clayt
helping daddy fix computers
come here tinker & tessie! I have your toy!!
ready for an airplane ride
ooh!
look at my EIGHT teeth!
giggling at olivia & papa
reaching on tip-toes
olivia hung out with us a lot over spring break - she even slept over one night!
daddy is so silly...that's MY cell phone!
stack 'em up and knock 'em down!
new trick: opening things with my teeth...
...need I say more!
tasting daddy's "turf-n-turf" sandwich. don't ask.
daddy's home!
we've decided that getting dressed is torture
that must not have been SO bad after all!
getting braver and more balanced every day...watch out!
watching daddy go to work

stuck on you

after miles decided that his favorite room in the house is the kitchen, we decided to get him something to play with while hanging out in there. something OTHER than the dog toys and dishes. [see below]

that would be the dogs' bell they ring to go outside
the dogs' basket full of goodies
jackpot!
here you go tinker
let me try one...

behold the leap frog fridge magnet sets! what a magnificent creation. he is completely entertained by simply ripping them off and chewing on them.
he seems to have a special place in his heart for the melissa & doug wooden letters we picked up on our trip to lark toys a couple of months ago.

the baby legs fell down...instant legwarmers...where is my xanadu tape?

what's this? (notice the wooden magnet in his mouth)
SWEET!! the new fridge farm set is a big hit too!