Thankgiving Day 2006
We got to help Auntie Judi and Uncle Jim’s cristen their new home. What a treat!
Who was all there? Besides Uncle Jim, Auntie Judi and their son CJ (and dog Madison), Eleana (a graduate student at Warner) and her husband, Jarod, Bee and her mother, Marie, Raffaella and her two sons, Luca and Madeu and the three of us!
We had turkey and tofu, tons of vegetables, and many different kinds of deserts! You played with everyone there!
You, Daddy & I made:
*2 cranberry cakes
*2 apple pies, and
*13 creme brulee deserts for Thanksgiving!! Whew!!
And then we had a little non-cooking fun:
Auntie Amy made this hat for you last year for Christmas. She must have KNOWN you would be cold eating yogurt almost a year later. She’s so smart!!!
And you are too precious for words!
Your first experience with snow as a toddler – very strange and wonderful indeed.
Check it out!!
You didn’t use to like yogurt- in fact, you seemed to hate it. But little by little, you became more interested in what I was enjoying so much. I snuck a couple little tastes in your mouth during cartoons, and before I knew it, you were hooked. 🙂
Now you eat it most mornings – all by yourself!! You are so fun, Peanut!
A trade off –
You went over to Marlie’s on Saturday to play while Daddy and I watched the sad Michigan – Ohio State game….
Getting ready…
At Marlie’s…
Then Marlie came to our house on Sunday while Marlie’s mom ran a bunch of errands.
What a treat for all of us!!
Getting Ready!!
At School…
And book reading with Uncle Jim!
What could be better!!
When you and I got home from daycare, we just could NOT go inside. It was so warm out, and the sky was breathtakingly beautiful… a richer cobalt blue than I have ever seen! And part of the sky was still cloudy from the rains we had all day, so our neighbor tells us there were many sightings of two BIG rainbows in the sky. We decided to play outside, and it didn’t take you long before you found the pile of leaves and the puddles!!! You found them and the giggles started!
After a little while of playing in the puddles, Aunt Judi and Uncle Jim arrived for our playdate!! You invited them into your world immediately… collecting rocks, playing with the sticks, and then JUMPING and RUNNING through the puddles. Auntie Judi JUMPED RIGHT IN!!!! Isn’t she the BEST?!?!?!? We all giggled and giggled and giggled. It is a moment I will treasure forEVER.
Did you notice Auntie Judi jumped right in?
After dinner was well-earned bath time…
and then some books!
And of course, TICKLE TIME!!
Thanks for being such WONDERFUL Friends and Family to us, Judi and Jim. We love you dearly!!
today is a very sad day and a very happy day.
Your great grandma Elloise passed away last night in her sleep.
This is a picture of the three of us last labor day (September, 2005).
Your Uncle Mark wrote this about her:
Elloise Segebarth (one of my three special Godparents) passed away this morning after 92 years of amazing life in which she touched so many kids. She was a very special lady who taught elementary school for almost 50 years – including starting me off from Kindergarten through 2nd grade!! She lived across the street from us in Lowden, IA and had me reading some before I was even in Kindergarten. I remember one time when (at school) I asked if I could make a swamp in a sink for a plastic alligator I had. I don’t think I must have been very clear because after clogging up the sink with a first class bog made of lots of dirt, grass and sticks, I got a first class reprimand! She was an amazing lady who had a profound impact on my life. It may be awhile in our way of counting, but some day we’ll be celebrating a new and better life together!!
Though you share no blood, you inhereted SO many of her best qualities! Her spirit, her energy, her sweetness, her awareness of others. Grandma Elloise helpd my Mama raise me from when I was born until I was 7! She taught grades K-4 in a two-room country schoolhouse with your Grandpa (Grandpa taught grades 5-8 and was the principal). She taught me to read, she showed me that I was loved, she made me feel safe, she taught me how to laugh, she inspired my creativity, she taught me how to get along with others, and one of the things she did BEST – she role-modeled what it meant to be a strong, spirited woman in a world that often wanted to silence women. These things, and so much more, formed me… and helped me become the person God is making me into today. And likewise, I hope I am supporting the development of these characteristics in you – You and I inherited much from Elloise Ida Williamina Segebarth. We are truly blessed.
today you helped me vote (you pushed one of the buttons and helped me pull the lever).
It’s so important, Peanut. I know someimes it’s easy to feel like “what’s the point?” I’m only one person… one voice. But if we don’t get involved to make the world a better place in every way we can, it’s not likely we will see the change we care about.
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Can you believe it? The democrats took back Congress!! And we have our first woman speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi! And the secretary of defense, Rumsfeld, stepped down! There is reason to hope, Baby Girl!