Happy Thanksgiving

A silly face from Lydia.

Titus looking over the edge of the wagon down at the farm.

Katelyn waving.

Titus smiling.

Titus walking back across the field back to the farm with the barn in view.

Mommy and Lydia going over the bridge down at the farm.

Titus enjoying playing on the tractor wagons on the farm.

The light coming through the old barn.

This is what 40 zoom (10 regular zoom x 4 digital zoom) looks like when looking up at the moon.

Looking out of a window on the bottom floor of the barn.

A view looking up at the old barn down at the farm.

Trying to crawl. She has actually taken a couple steps so far, but hasn't quite got the drill down yet.

Lydia laughing at her big sister.

Lydia enjoying watching her sister play with the pom-poms.

Titus playing outside.

Lydia grinning.

Katelyn posing on one of the many rock walls.

Titus helping Grampa trim the blueberry bushes.

Titus carried the branches away that Grampa cut off.

Titus and Katelyn helping Grammy in the kitchen.

What happened to our little baby girl?!

Katelyn helping Mom make some dough for the pies.

Titus and Daddy watching the KU basketball game on the internet.

Gotta have some football at Thanksgiving time.

Grammy reading a book to the kids

Pretty in pink.

Sitting on some balls out on the tennis court.

There's no fun like tractor fun!

Eating a little lunch while watching TV (on the couch no less!)

Playing with the toys at Grammy and Grampa's

Katelyn's first flute recital...

Here's a video of Katelyn's first flute recital. Each student played one song, and Katelyn played jingle bells. Most of the students were at least 8 and up and have been playing for a while, but with Katelyn only being 5 and only playing for a couple of months, she had a fairly basic piece to play. We knew it might be an adventure, as Katelyn is painfully shy being up in front of people. This is actually the third attempt you are seeing. The first attempt she walked up with Colleen and as soon as she got up front and realized all these eyes were on her, she melted and started burying her face in Colleen's lap and crying. So we let a few more kids perform and then she tried again. This time she at least got started, but after just starting and playing a couple of notes, she again got overwhelmed and had to stop. So they went back and sat down, but her teacher was very persistent, so after a few more kids went, she had Katelyn come back up a third time, and she finally made it through! I had told Colleen before hand that I didn't think she would make it through, knowing how I have to practically drag her up to the front of church for the children's message each week, but I was proud she eventually toughed it out. It's a good experience for her, even if she didn't hit every note like she often does at home practicing.

Trouble, she is a coming....

A new camera

We finally got around to upgrading our camera. Our Sony Powershot had served its purpose well, and while it still works, it was 6 years old and in camera years, that's pretty old. It was a 3MP 3 Zoom camera, and after getting a new camera from my folks for last Christmas that had to be returned because it didn't work, we finally got around to deciding on another one, after a lot of research and reading. Trying to decide on a camera is a little overwhelming in that there are so many features, options, brands and ratings, that no 2 people review the same camera exactly the same, it seems. Regardless, the majority of people we talked to and things we read seemed to rank Canon the highest, so we decided to go that route. We also decided that we wanted something with a higher zoom, which meant that the camera is slightly bigger than most of the standard digital cameras that are now on the market (although it is very similar in size to our old camera), but still small enough to easily fit in a pocket or bag. So we settled on the Canon Powershot SX120 IS, which is a 10MP 10 Zoom camera. We waited for it to go on sale at Best Buy, and when it was reduced $50 from its regular price last week, we decided to go ahead and get it. We're still learning with it, but so far we really like it, especially the zoom. It really provides some nice closeups.

As you'll see, Titus seems to have gotten the majority of the pictures this week, though most of them involved him playing in the leaves outside. He seemed to be content to play in the leaves all afternoon if we had let him.

Katelyn and Titus had their yearly checkups this morning. They were supposed to be done last month, but the doctor's office had to reschedule us. Both are healthy and doing well. Neither enjoyed their shots, but both enjoyed the pretzel sticks and stickers they received afterwards. Katelyn continues to grow like a weed. She is still in the 95th percentile for height, at 46 inches. The Dr. says that puts her at the average height of a 6 1/2 year old (she just turned 5). Her weight was in the 75 percentile, which both those percentiles are pretty consistent with where she has always been. As far as Titus, the boy is actually growing! He's still a little guy, but he's getting bigger. He's in the 25th percentile for height, and almost 50 percentile for weight. I realize those aren't that "impressive," but considering he's always been in the 5th percentile for height and 10th percentile for weight, they both represent some significant growth for him. Maybe there's still hope for the boy that his sisters won't tower over him (Lydia also is in the 95th percentile for height/length). As he currently stands, he's still a good 3-4 inches shorter than Katelyn was when she was 2.