Gobble! Gobble!

We are having a wonderful Thanksgiving in Gales Ferry! Will be updating pictures soon!!!

Pool Chase

Isabelle has been enjoying her evening swims at the Holiday Inn pool. First, though, she likes to warm up with a run!



Isabelle turns 15 months on Saturday - also the date of Nana's BIG retirement party! Congratulations, Nana! We suspect that you'll be even busier in retirement than you are now - if that's possible!

Mom & Dad Report: We're doing well with no bottle going to bed (still having one around 4/5am), and are slowly easing our way into allowing her to fall asleep on her own. There's no more snuggling until sleep comes, but she likes knowing we're in the room even if we're just reading with a little book light on her couch. At dinner last night she picked up every different ingredient in her fish stew and asked what it was before popping it in her mouth. And this morning at breakfast she consistently added "please (peez)" everytime she asked for more pineapple. Giant legos and Thanksgiving books (how does that crazy doggy bake a pumpkin pie?) top the list of new activities this week. And my absolute number one recommendation: the Learning Tower Step Stool. With it, Isabelle is right up there in all the kitchen action where she wants to be!

Want to Know Her Name? Just Ask!

What She's Up To (and by she, we mean you!)

Some new stuff that our Little Gorilla is treating us to:
Lots of 360s when she's dancing... saying her name... pointing to the - and saying - mooooon... loving her new pink suede boots... knowing the colors yellow and blue... reading "Goodnight Bush" (a fantastic parody of "Goodnight Moon" that we now happily refer to as "Goodbye Bush")... walking inside the house from the car... carrying her Thomas The Train lunchbox or her orange, sequined pumpkin purse... squealing with laughter at Baby Isabelle on AppleTV... confusing cold and hot (everything is hot, including the freezer)... reorganizing the refrigerator... eating pickles... saying "cheers" as she bumps her blueberry juice to our wine... making kissing noises to call the kitty... sneaking bites of kitty food... going into the voting booth with Daddy (this dovetailed nicely with saying Obama)... hugging crying babies... helping Mommy cook... attempting to get herself dressed (she has mastered the head through the shirt, but that's where it ends)... loving the polar bears at the Central Park Zoo... raising her arms and waving them in the sky when we ask "How much do we love you?"

Isabelle & Wow! Cruisin' I-95

Grammi and Grampi took exceptional care of Wow! at Kitty Camp Brundage in Gales Ferry while we were in Wilmington. And the car rides before dropping him off and after picking him up were among Isabelle's most enjoyable times in the car seat! See for yourself:




We had a surprise run-in with Grampi at the Super Stop&Shop - we were all there buying whole milk for Isabelle! I'm 39-years-old, and Dad is still supplying the staples... next day when we left, Dennis found a twenty dollar bill on the driver's seat for gas. Thank you, Dad! Grammi made a delicious dinner - breaded chicken breast and roasted rosemary organic veggies that were drizzled with canola oil. It was just like the old days... Sunday night dinner downstairs in the family room, watching 60 Minutes and anticipating popcorn! All we needed was some of Dad's famous homemade iced-tea and Breyer's mint chocolate chip ice cream!

Trick or Treat!

Isabelle heard that Uncle Mike and Auntie Mo were building a haunted house in Delaware, and she wanted a road trip! Thanks to our Adventures in Potty Training, road trips aren't as easy as they once were, and we're seriously thinking about quitting our jobs in order to advocate for family bathrooms at highway exits across the United States.

For a kid, the Delaware Murphy set-up is like winning the lottery. Every bouncy, pushy, squishy, jumpy thing you can imagine can be found around every corner. Isabelle loved bouncing on the trampoline with cousins Trip, Maggie, Wilson and Quinny, and couldn't get enough of Auntie Mo's famous chili! This was Isabelle's first time trick-or-treating, and it didn't take long for her to catch on! By house number 3, she was walking up to the door on her own and reaching her lion paw deep into the candy bowl. Along the way, we learned that since we'd been trick-or-treating in the 70's and 80's, there are new lyrics to the "trick-or-treat, smell my feet" song: "Trick-or-treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat! If you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear!"

As you can see, the whole family got into the Wizard of Oz spirit! This is the first time in 10 years of marriage that Dennis and I have dressed up on Halloween. What fun!! We envision years and years of family-themed Halloweens! Those of you with older kids are probably thinking, "Ah, spoken like the parent of a one-year-old!"

Wow! joins the family

We gave Isabelle a new kitty in late October - Isabelle named him "Wow!"He's about 11weeks old now. Wow! is a Ragdoll breed, and he has an amazing personality. Ragdolls are known for being playful but passive when picked up... perfect for Isabelle! (Little Mik - our previous kitty - passed away over the summer. But he's the reason Isabelle's very first word was "ki-ee!")