Christmas Croup !!!

Naps and bedtime are our only moments of peace.

It's as if we've adopted a little dog for the holiday week.

You can hear a higher pitched "bark" sandwiched by whimpers and whining during most waking hours in our home. If you've never heard the "barking" cough of croup, it can be quite the shock!!! I think we can safely say CoCo has mastered the EXACT sound a doggy makes!

Anyway, we hope there will be some more festive photos to come.

Until then, may I suggest the above position before settling in for a long winter's nap!!!

Cookie Decorating!

There were 8 adults at Rach's last eve to decorate cookies. What a blast!

There were so many fun cookies at the end of the night. Some were beautiful & artistic, others went with the "husky theme" and still a few looked more like a toddler's handiwork !!!

(and those we ate)

Anyway, below are my personal favorites!!!

Cute, eh? This was Keith's first attempt at decorating! Isn't she Fabulous?!

Laughed out loud!

Up to NO GOOD, I'm sure!

Opa & Oma !

Opa and Oma are visiting, so we've had all kinds of entertainment! We've been baking & Oma helped us finish the Christmas decorating... the tree is a little bare as CoCo thinks all ornaments are a "ball". Opa installed a new kitchen faucet for us... my personal favorite Christmas gift thus far! :)

I believe CoCo loves all the holiday dancing best!

She has the charisma to encourage everyone from sitting to standing! AND before we realize it, we're all dancing to the Christmas music!

"... the most wonderful time of the year!"

Backyard is Finished!

Now we have to rake the front!

Visitors for the Holiday !!!

Everyone got involved in the Thanksgiving meal. Below, Grandma passes on a favorite family recipe... cranberry relish! Yummy!

T-Rex kept us all in line.

The day after Thanksgiving was lovely!!! So, we took advantage of the weather and took some family photos and let the kids run through the leaves and play in the park.

A Large & Tasty Breakfast Treat!

Giving Thanks !!!

168 beats per minute at 13 weeks!

Happy Thanksgiving !!!

Catching Up!

We haven't had internet for a few weeks, so I just wanted to say...

Happy Halloween!!

CoCo has been quite the "helper" as we've been unpacking into our new home.

Carving Tradition !!!

For the past 6+ years, we have carved pumpkins at our friends home. It's a great evening to gather, eat and carve pumpkins. In the past few years, Ben thinks of something "scary" and carves it into the pumpkin. For instance, last year he carved the falling stock market.

This year, Ben designed a scary pumpkin for CoCo. The far left pumpkin was made especially for her.

Yep! She screams, runs and tries to hide every time I turn on the vacuum!

Autumn Vacation !!!

We had a wonderful trip to visit Opa and Oma as you'll see in the entries below.

The weather could not have been more perfect, so we enjoyed almost every meal outside on my parents patio... somehow that just made everything taste twice as good!

By far, CoCo's favorite part of the trip was Oma's garden. She explored it day after day. She also got samples from Opa's tomato and zucchini plants.

One evening, we went for a walk through some local vineyards. We sampled grapes, walked above the village and enjoyed the hazy sunset.

Dinner at sunset... what I miss most about Germany!

A Day in France !

We visited the Alsace area in France. Our timing was perfect as it is "wine country" and the grapes were ripe and ready for harvest. Mmm... we had a fabulous day visiting two villages in the area and the scenery along the way was unbelievable!

FANTASTIC door bell, eh?!

Note: bottom right, a lady watering her many beautiful flowers!

Grapes getting tossed into the grape press. I can still smell that sweet grape scent!

I could have taken a photo of almost EVERY sign in the village. They are all so unique! However, this has to be one of my favorites! I love the little characters!

Mmm... French Cuisine! We need not say more!

Friendly greeter outside one of the wineries!

One of my favorite reasons to visit France! OH SO GOOD!

CoCo is thrilled after her first taste of Crepes!

All the window displays were so detailed!

London !!!

Ben and I spent an extended weekend in London! Very Fun!

Westminster Abbey

Street Performers...

A highlight was meeting up with Travis (great family friend from home) and attending a football match between Queens Park Rangers and Barnsley. My personal favorite part of the match was half time. They featured a down's syndrome soccer team. I just LOVED these kids! They were each given a chance to dribble to the goal and attempt to score on the goalie. Of course, they were all quite successful at scoring and none played more to the crowd than this mate below! The crowd went WILD when he pulled his shirt over his head after scoring! What a character!

... and of course, the actual match!

Later we all went to dinner in Notting Hill.

A window in the tower of London.

London was Great! We had a short visit, but the weather, sights, friends and time together was just fabulous!