Lots to be thankful for!

Not too much going on in our world but wanted to update before the holidays arrive. We had an early Thanksgiving lunch at Phoebe's daycare and Ryan came downtown to join us. Her teachers suggested we just come, eat and leave but Ryan said he wasn't coming downtown to see just me (Thanks, honey!) so we got Phoebe OUT of her routine to have a delightful lunch. She wasn't too interested in the food, not even dessert!



She preferred this.

After lunch, I attempted to bring Phoebe back to her room for naptime but she wanted nothing to do with them. I finally gave up and took her to Ryan and said since he wanted to see her, he could give her back. Ten minutes later, he walked out of the room saying he'd given up - he had to finally just leave her with one of the teachers screaming. Here's to hoping next year will be different!

Last weekend, since Uncle Steve finally rented his condo in Broad Ripple, we had to move him out. We spent last Saturday and part of Sunday packing him up. Well, I'll say one of us helped while the other entertained our 19-month old.

Here she is helping pack up the kitchen...

She CAN entertain herself for brief periods of time!

Finally, YiaYia, Phoebe and I headed to the Monon since it was literally out his back door. The walk started like this...anyone want to guess how it ended?

Phoebe got lots of laughs and a few dog kisses too!

And while we were busy strolling the trail, our strong boys were busy doing this...

We miss Uncle Steve (Phoebe can say "Unka Teve") and says it quite frequently. Can't wait to see him again at Christmas!

We got home Sunday night pretty tired so just had a frozen pizza for dinner and then I went out for Dairy Queen because who can resist a BOGO coupon when it comes to Blizzards? Well, I will for a long time because both Ryan and I came down with food poisoning after the game and ended up calling in the reserves (YiaYia, who took a personal day just for us). She also ended up taking Phoebe to our pediatrician because she'd not been sleeping well and was extremely fussy Sunday afternoon. Turns out she had ANOTHER double ear infection. They put her on a different antibiotic and we've had a good run of uninterrupted sleep since Monday. So here's hoping the flight to Georgia will be uneventful and pain-free!

We've continued to have lovely weather over the last few weekends here - although the forecast for the week after Thanksgiving sounds dreadfully cold...we're making the most of it outdoors.

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and find yourselves with many blessings and much to be thankful for!

Lovin' Indiana in the fall

Friday morning started out at YiaYia and Papou's so I could go to my annual eye exam. Then, Phoebe, YiaYia and I headed out to get 18 month pictures taken. I should say an attempt was made because the poor guy had one heck of a challenge with Phoebe Rae. She didn't warm up too well and we had a rough go of it - instead of 100 shots, we got 42 and only a handful were truly frame-worthy, but rest easy, Auntie Kate, 18 months now will be preserved forever... Here's a sneak peak:

After pictures, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to Anderson to visit with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma Newell. Again, it took Phoebe awhile to warm up, but she quickly made herself at home.

She found great joy exploring their house and had loads of fun climbing around Great Grandma's organ!

See? She did warm up and gave great hugs and kisses when it was time to go.

We had an incredibly unseasonably warm weekend here in Indiana so we decided to head south on Saturday and visit Brown County. My family used to take numerous trips in the spring, summer and fall and I can imagine that as Phoebe grows, the Wallis family will do the same. Since she fell asleep on the way down, we skipped the state park (no sense paying to go in if you can't get out and hike!) and went straight to Nashville. The place is NOT stroller-friendly, but the weather was so darn nice, it was just great to be outside and not in jackets!

I think if we'd been down a few weeks earlier, we'd have seen gorgeous foliage - instead, we just got to trek through the fallen leaves - which Phoebe probably enjoyed more anyhow!

In honor of Veterans' Day...when Phoebe is a bit older, we'll try to explain how much we owe to those that have served...we're so grateful.

Phoebe is quite the little singer. When she's not singing, she likes to be sung to (and mommy and daddy's repetoire is only so big). Forgive the voice (turn the volume down) and just enjoy her endless energy!

I think the sunshine did us ALL a wonder of good this weekend!

A LOT of finger-munching this weekend - so it's no surprise that her last two eye teeth on bottom have poked through. Hopefully it'll be awhile before the next set of molars decide to show themselves!

Sunday after church, we headed over to YiaYia and Papou's again because Uncle Steve was in town to move some stuff out of his condo - AND praise the Lord, he thinks he's got it rented - woohoo! Phoebe doesn't get to see Uncle Steve too often now that he's back in Chicago, but she is quick to love on him and he gets giggles out of her that no one else can!

Phoebe had great fun outside throwing sticks for Kali to fetch. That is, until Kali decided to just jump up and knock Phoebe down and take matters into her own hands, er, paws... Phoebe handled it all in stride - one day, she'll weigh more than Kali and then things will be a bit different...

Phoebe also enjoys a good round of "Ring Around the Rosie" and boy, does she like to sing it over and over and over...we do it lazily - sitting down and swaying back and forth and then crashing to the ground. She gets a kick out of it just the same and it allows the grandparents and the tired parents to enjoy her playful tackles. Even Great Grandma Newell did a few rounds from the couch when we were in Anderson on Friday! And sorry for the picture being sideways, I'm stumped on why it's loading this way...just wanted y'all to get a glimpse of what grown adults will do to entertain 18-month olds when they're related to them...

Hope everyone has a great week and stays healthy. We miss our family in Georgia bunches and bunches and are already super excited about spending time out there during Thanksgiving! Just make sure all the dogs are prepared - Phoebe has developed some fierce loving she likes to give to little dogs and I think they're all going to be in for it when we arrive!

October's End

Two weekends ago, Ryan headed to St. Louis with his buddy Rob to catch the Colts' game from the front row. They had a great time on the riverboat - probably enjoyed the buffet table almost as much as the craps tables!




Friday night we headed to church as we'd signed up to host a trunk at the Fall Fest's Trunk or Treat. Due to the weather, it was brought inside so we took over the choir room and made our door into a bug jungle - fitting since our little one was a lady bug...



Saturday we ran some errands. Phoebe is a big fan of horses and every time we're at Costco, she's got to get on these little rocking ones that gallop and neigh.

And we tried out the race car carts at Home Depot and she had a blast "driving." I think if they had these everywhere, shopping would be a more enjoyable experience for all!

And as some of you know, Ryan is not a fan of being home on Halloween so we headed to YiaYia and Papou's for dinner and to help out with their trick or treaters. Here's Phoebe after sharing YiaYia's cupcake. She's a frosting girl - wonder where she got that from!?

She still very much enjoys books and especially books with Elmo in them.

And she's really warming up to Kali - as long as Kali doesn't play with any of her toys!

Phoebe also got to enjoy a sucker for the very first time - a very wise person recommended I use a bib - I had no idea a dumdum could produce so much drool!

Sunday after church, Phoebe entertained herself in YiaYia's office.

And I just had to include this profile shot I took tonight before bedtime. Her belly was pretty full. We're still adjusting to the time change in the mornings, but I bet she'll be back to sleeping in in no time!