Open House

 We were at a meeting earlier this month that was held at a very large church - they had some really neat decorations in the children's area - including this "Pet Store".

 Esther checking out the "worm" and Anna chewing on Mommy's purse...

 Anna's been taking a few steps!

 We've also started feeding her a little solid food - she's not too sure about that rice cereal stuff!

 The tree is much prettier in person than in this picture - we think it's beautiful!

 We had an open house for people at church again - We gave them each a little prayer journal. Also, we finally hung a couple things on the wall in this house - our wedding picture, a wreath, and of course, stockings! (we had to hurry and hang them b/c Esther kept trying to put them on her feet!)

 The food :) Chips and salsa, ham sandwhiches, raspberry jello salad, pickles, chocolate mint brownies, raspberry chocolate bars, white chocolate loaf cake, strawberry tea punch, and bluberry coffee. Since this was the third one we've done and I simplified a few things, it was definitely less stressful. We had a nice turn out and had a great time!

 One of the church ladies caught Esther having fun with the nativity characters.

Aaron and Esther putting up the tree. Hope you all have a merry Christmas!

October

 There really only is one "place in TN where you go skiing" - we were able to go on a little trip, thanks to family and friends, to the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area. I'd never been there before (I think I'm the only one in the state who hasn't) and really enjoyed it!

 We went to a pancake restraunt one morning - Esther liked my chocolate chip peanut butter pancakes :)

 We could see the mountains from where we were staying - The hurricane had brought snow close to where we were and the high mountains had it, while the hills in front were still in their fall colors. It was beautiful! The pictures really don't give you the full effect...

 We went to the Sugarland visitor center - it was like a mini museum.

 Hiking with a stroller presents some challenges - maybe next time we'll try the wrap!

 Esther on our balcony -

 We walked around the downtown some and did a little shopping. You could spend days there!

 We hiked to the Cataract Falls.

 We didn't go in the Titanic museum, but stopped and looked around the gift shop and took pictures.

 More mountains -

 A creek -

Back home - there's a hickory nut tree in the backyard and we've had fun picking them up - they taste good, but are pretty hard to crack.

Happy Birthday Esther!

 Esther had her 2nd birthday this week - she's a "big girl" now :)  So much has happened since she was born it seems like at least 2 years ago - and it's hard to imagine there was ever a world without Esther - we didn't know what we were missing!

This picture is actually at an event we were invited too - I didn't know how she'd do with the pony, but she wasn't scared at all...

One of Esther's newest games is taking her doll "babies" with her everywhere - She's quite a good little mother and especially is good at laying them down for naps!

 Esther helped me make her birthday cake - actually, since we have had no lack of sugar lately, we made gingerbread - which I haven't made for a very long time....was a fun treat.

 Look twice - both of the girls are smiling at the same time! Now if only they were dressed up...

 The day Esther was born was quite chilly, her second birthday - farther south - was beautiful!

 When Aaron got home from work we had our own little "party" - we gave her our gift and the ones the Grandmas mailed.

 She figured out that she needed to blow, but couldn't blow hard enough :)

 Even I will concede that whipped cream is better than most frosting!

 Then last night we went up to Aaron's parents and celebrated again - she got this little wheelbarrow (to help Daddy work!) and promptly filled it up with everything she could find laying around.

 Still needed help to get those candles out! This time she got a real cake - with caramel frosting :)

I know that's a lot of pictures, but you only have one second birthday!

New Glasses

 Aaron put Anna in a rocking horse that someone gave Esther, and she thought it was pretty special!

 We did some cleaning on Monday and so I thought I'd better take pictures of the house right away :) Above is the front door.

 This is the dining room, which we're using for a living room. Since the house isn't ours and we'll only be in it a few months, we decided not to put up pictures and things.

 I love the size of the kitchen!

 Yes, that's Anna standing up over there -

 You can see the laundry room off to the side - the bedrooms and bathrooms are pretty normal and there's a few other rooms that are being used for storage.

 This is the patio off of the kitchen. We've seen deer and turkeys in our back yard!

 From the front porch -

 OK, this isn't the greatest picture of me, but now you know what I look like with glasses - when we moved here, I barely passed the eye test to get my dr. license, so we went ahead and decided to get them. I don't have to wear them all the time, but I'm really enjoying being able to see more!