Mat in action

If you haven't all ready and you have time, you should watch this video below.  It's about a project that Mat is working on with his chapter in The Nature Conservancy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEFSw6qXYw4&feature=youtu.be

And if you watch carefully, you might see someone you recognize around the 3 1/2 minute mark.  The picture before that is also picture that Mat took.  :-)

Trying to hide

Shoot!

You found me.

Filing assistant

My happy filing assistant!

Mmm...banana bread

Brie loves banana bread. 

Well, really, she loves food.  (We think she eats more than some adults.)

Except she really dislikes for bananas.  She only likes them in banana bread.  I've tried to disguise them in oatmeal and she won't swallow it and makes it fall out of her mouth. 

Our Thanksgiving - 2011

We were fortunate enough to be invited to Mat's co-worker's family Thanksgiving dinner.  I say that because, otherwise, we probably would not have gone to the effort to cook the big meal for just the three of us.  It was a delicious dinner and we enjoyed the company.  The next day we enjoyed burning off a few of the calories at the Letchworth State Park and checked out 3 huge waterfalls on the Genessee River.

The fam

CCC bridge over the Genessee River

Brie wanting to hold the dog leash

There was so much water going over the waterfalls, I can only imagine how powerful it must be in the spring with the snow meltoff.  Mat and I want to go back and explore even more of the park.  We are finding all these cool state parks that NY has and it's pretty fantastic!

Things I'm thankful for in 2011:

1.   Mat has a job and he enjoys the work he is doing.
2.   My health, Mat's health, and Brie's health.
3.   Family and friends near and far.
4.   The beautiful area we live and places we take advantage of to try to get our nature fix.

A walking Brie

Brie...still drooling.

Watching Maddy pick up a stick.

Beach walking

Tantrum at the beach.  "I do not want to walk any farther."

Riding the squirrel.

Brie has begun walking.  You can check out video of her walking here.  Maddy likes to be part of the fun as well.  It's crazy how much she has grown and how adorable Mat and I think she is! 

A weekend with friends

This past weekend we enjoyed spending time with friends.  Yay!  The guys fished off the dock out back even though it was a bit windy and chilly.  We also went for a nice, albeit windy walk at Black Pond.  While we thought it was windy, the guys going kite sailing thought it wasn't windy enough.  It was cool to see them out there taking advantage of the sun and the wind.

If you haven't already, check out the video of Brie walking.  She's now wanting to walk all of the time, but she hasn't wanted to let go of our hands.

Here's the link:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/amie/6341773145/

Checking out the view

Breakfast Time

Brie is beginning to show an interest in feeding herself.  She uses the right side of the spoon and food sometimes make it into her mouth!

Rash-y-ness

Wowsers. Only 9 a.m. and I'm exhausted. Brie got up at 4:30 - she still hasn't adjusted to the time change.  But she's down for a nap.  yay!  Around 4:30 p.m. yesterday she started developing a rash, didn't know if it was an allergic reaction to some food or a reaction to the mmr and varicella shots last week.  Called our doctor's office and the doctor on call said to give her some benadryl.  So we tracked some down and gave her some around 6:30 p.m. and she went to sleep a little after 7.  We checked on her before we went to bed  and when she woke up her rash seemed a lot better. But after being awake an hour or so it reappeared.  So we are thinking it must be a slight reaction to the varicella shot.  It's a bumpy looking rash and doesn't really seem to bother her and she doesn't have a fever, so as long as it doesn't get worse, we'll just watch her.

Have any other moms who gave their baby the varicella immunization have this issue?  Or is Brie just lucky?

Is it really November?

Here it is the beginning of November and when I talk with mom and see facebook posts of family/friends in Colorado it sounds like they are already getting snow and colder weather.  While we are still getting out and enjoying some awesome fall weather.  We'll see how it goes in January/February, but right now, can't really say that it's too extreme up here.

Brie's 1st Halloween

Brie and I went to a story time at our local library where they had a special guest read "scary" Halloween stories.  It was a lot of fun.  Note the nice new mural painted on the wall.  I heard one of the local EMTs or volunteer firemen painted it.  I didn't catch his name, but he's definitely got some talent.

The above two photos are actually on Halloween as we got ready to go trick-or-treating.  Brie's friend goes to pre-k and they had a Halloween party so she'd all ready had a bit of sugar and we had a hard time keeping up with her.  She was just non-stop movement!  But Brie had a blast being out walking around with a group of people and going up to the doors trick-or-treating.  Luckily, she's all ready forgotten that she had all that candy.