Arnold - 4 Months

Hard to believe it has been 4 months! Arnold is growing quickly. He is such a sweet little guy. He has found his voice and enjoys using it. Lots of squeals and cooing. He likes to talk back to you. Many, many smiles with two sweet dimples. Found his feet and loves them - even managed to get one in his mouth yesterday.

Loves his daddy. Brad was in the den working on the TV this weekend and Arnold was on his play mat. Every time Brad would go out of Arnold's view, he would fuss. When Brad came back in his view, he would smile and talk to him.

No more rolling from back to front lately, but Arnold will tolerate being on his tummy and even pushes up some on his hands and elbows. He will roll from tummy to back.

Any time Arnold does something new, Emma Claire likes to run over to him, get in his face, and praise him profusely "we're so proud of you, Arnold", "that's so good, Arnold", "good job, buddy", "Brad, look at Arnold"!

Still sleeping in our room and not through the night. Thinking we will make the move to his crib as a New Year's Resolution, although the transition will be harder on me than him - he continues to grow and time moves forward all too quickly.

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Happy Turkey Day 2010

We had Thanksgiving Day this year at Elissa and Adrian's, since we did it at our place last year.

The tradition has become that everyone bring a "traditional" dish or two. I made mom's cheese grits (that never turn out as good as when she makes them), mom's broccoli casserole (same as the grits - just doesn't taste the same), green bean casserole and turkey. This was my first attempt at a turkey. I found a Southern Living recipe that I could follow, studied it for a few days, to make sure I wasn't missing anything and dove in on Thursday morning. All said and done - it turned out really well, much to my relief!

We went over to Elissa's early afternoon (after the big parade was over, of course) to help cook and for the kids to play. Emma Claire and Quinn are peas in a pod. They started playing before lunch at our house and moved the party over to Quinn's. They spent most of the day in dress up mode and didn't stop until it was time to leave after dinner.

Rick, Diane and Marjorie (with candied sweet potatoes, pumpkin and pecan pies in tow) joined us. We had a very happy Thanksgiving.

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Grandparents Day - Teensy Tots

Grandma Marjorie and "GranDee" joined us for Grandparents' Day at Arnold's Teensy Tots class at Calvary (Brad and Rick were both in New Orleans/Baton Rouge for Ole Miss/LSU). They were with us for this event for Emma Claire, too, a couple of years ago. How lucky Arnold and Emma Claire are to know Marjorie.

The topic was "Holiday Traditions". We talked about what traditions we had growing up and about how traditions are important. We also made a "memory box" for Arnold.

As a family, we are still establishing traditions of our own. One, thus far, has been making the annual drive South for Christmas. We celebrate Thanksgiving with the Kadues'. My happiest traditions growing up were: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, picking out the tree the day after Thanksgiving and decorating it the following Sunday, opening a "few" presents on Christmas Eve, moving the kitchen table to make room for Santa presents (3 chairs on my side and 3 on Greta's). It will be fun to see what develops for our family over the years.

The Bickersons: Concert tonight

The Bickersons: Concert tonight

This was my favorite choir piece... beautiful.

The Bickersons: Throw yourself into the spirit of Thanksgiving

The Bickersons: Throw yourself into the spirit of Thanksgiving

Very pregnant Amber and I (due on 12/22 with baby boy!) went to the concert. It was outstanding. I have to say, I am definitely a fan of Jeralyn Steele. Her voice sends chills all over. My personal favorite was her rendition of "This Little Light of Mine".

It was fun to see Whitney perform. When I pointed her out to Amber, she said that she was in her "top 3 guesses". Said she was looking at faces that could be runners :-).

A side note - Amber called me after we parted ways to our cars and said that there was this car that nearly hit her as she was leaving the parking ramp - she got a look at who it was. Garrison Keillor himself. Wouldn't that have been something.

Welcome Winter

It has been a few weeks now since we got our first big snow, but I have to post some pictures. Emma Claire was super excited. When she woke up to the snow, she told Brad she was "all done sleeping now" and that she wanted to "go ice skating in the snow". She was too excited to eat breakfast. We put on the snow gear over the PJs and out she and Brad went! Our first snowman of the year was born before 8am. I am quite sure we had the first snowman in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, he toppled over after a few hours (before I could get a picture of him). He sported a Master's baseball cap, a celery nose and grape eyes.

To see winter through a child's eyes... I was again reminded that my children are growing up Minnesotans. Winter and snow will be a way of life for them and are sure to produce lots of fun memories.

Snow Photos...

My Friend Bean

"Bean" came into the picture yesterday. She is Emma Claire and Tuna's friend/sister. Our dilemma this morning was how we were going to get the barrette to stay in Tuna's hair. (she is going to sunday school with us).