Thanksgiving and Things

It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without the Turkey Bowl (or Justin has led me to believe). The only pictures I took at the Turkey Bowl were of Sarah. She fell asleep in my arms 10 minutes into the game so my hands were occupied. She loves football just like her dad--likes sleeping during it, that is. Doesn't she look so adorable? I love the coat over pajamas look. It's very big this year.

There was a time when Sarah would pose for pictures. Now she tries to evade me. This was the best I could do.

Sarah and a fraction of her cousins playing cards before dinner. Jaana, Jared, Allison, Kyra, Isabella and Sarah.

I think these pictures capture beautifully our love of food on Thanksgiving.

I've included this picture because Sarah LOVES this nesting doll. My mom has a few of them and Sarah goes straight for them whenever we go into the living room. She mostly likes to eat the baby (sorry for the bite marks, Mom) and she's all about putting little things inside bigger things.

Onto the other things. This is Sarah in her new "big girl" car seat. She's still a few pounds away from facing forward but being upright has opened up an entire new world for her. She can see trees, houses, trucks and stores instead of just ceiling and sky.

She's 13 months now. She has taken a few steps but still isn't all that interested in walking. She laughs when she stands on her own. I don't know if she gets that walking is where she'll be spending the rest of her life. I think she thinks it's just a game I try to get her to play. I still have high hopes of her running down the stairs to the Christmas tree and we've still got time.

She may not walk but her hair is long enough for pigtails! I've been looking forward to this milestone too.

I can't believe how much she's grown up in the past few months. She has gone from being shy and scared of strangers to walking up to people at church, sitting on their laps and eating their snacks. She still loves books but she likes "playing books" rather than me reading to her. She spreads them out, stacks them up, and turns pages.

The other day she crawled upstairs alone and when she while was crawling back down, she had her Winnie the Pooh book in her hands. She'd throw it down a few steps, crawl down to it and then throw it down a few more until she got it all the way down. Then she dragged it over to me and handed it to me. How do I not stop what I'm doing and read to her? So stinkin' cute. But it only lasted for a page and she was off to something else.