so thankful

The other night I walked into the house after some very chilly and admittedly stressful errands with the kids.  Lines were long, aisles were crowded, parking spots sparse, and I somehow made it back out to our van with an item in my car that I hadn't paid for, causing another trip back in.  But somehow I forgot about all of that when I walked inside to find:

sitting on the kitchen table with the screen open to my gmail account and some of my favorite music playing.  My first thought?  "What the HECK?"  I stood there staring until Drake came back inside with the kids.  He informed me that my dad had called while I was out and wanted to know if Drake thought we could benefit from having a second laptop.  The short answer is "absolutely."  Since Drake gave it the thumbs up, my dad went ahead with his intended purchase and brought over this new (well, refurbished, but new to us!) computer in the hopes that I could have a little more computer access, have music, etc when Drake is using the computer (which is almost all the time given his vocation right now).  With a husband in a doctoral program who also is creating a website as part of his duties as the webmaster for the state music therapy executive board, there is little time for my computer use.  And honestly I had just learned to live with that and would try to sneak on when time allowed.

But I've been living the high life these last few days and figured my first blog post on the new laptop should be directed right to my parents - thank you, thank you, thank you!  I so very much appreciate your thoughtfulness, your immense generosity, and your desire to serve me and our family and ease a little bit of the stress around here.  Heck, now I might even update our blog more than once a month!  Thank you again! 

some sweet photos

I know I've been slacking in the photos department...so here are a few gems to make up for lost time :)

 

I fall more and more in love with this child every day.  And really, I struggle to put into words the immense love, joy, and beauty that God has placed in my life in the form of this beautiful child. What a ridiculously unbelievable blessing.

Thanksgiving in Texas

As I mentioned in my previous post, our family spent Thanksgiving in Dallas this year.  We spent the entire week with family, and it was nice for us to get away for a while and have somewhat of a vacation.  Uncle Tom and Aunt Jeanne were great hosts, and Thomas loved them!  It was good to introduce Thomas to Drake's dad's side of the family, and we were thankful to see them on a few occasions throughout the week.  He even met his great grandma who couldn't get enough of "that little cutie poo" as she described him :).  Not only was Thomas an angel on both plane rides, but he even slept pretty decently in a new place with new smells, new people, and in an unfamiliar bed.  It's too bad he won't remember the trip, but enjoy some photos below! 

Playing with Uncle Tom...who knew plastic food containers could be so much fun?

Hanging out with Aunt Jeanne

Meeting Grandpa Mickey...same expression...

Twice!

Great Grandma Gerry, Thomas, and Drake

At the Dallas Turkey Trot...along with 50,000 others!

After the Turkey Trot

Clowning around with cousin Sara

Happy Thanksgiving!

Updates, Halloween, and Fall Fun

Well life has been hectic around here, but God has really blessed us in many ways too. Every weekend for the entirety of the Fall it seems have been filled with things to do, but we've been intentional about taking time for our family as well. And lately both Drake and I were pretty sick, but thankfully it didn't hit both of us at the same time...and Thomas managed to stay very healthy through it all!

We all just got the H1N1 vaccine too...we did a great deal of research, talked to lots of parents and doctors, etc., and we made an informed decision. It's a tricky parenting thing with these vaccines...there's no guarantee that our decision to have our family vaccinated was the "right" one. But in the end, it's the decision we made based on recommendations from health care professionals, our own research, and discussions between Drake and I about the pros and cons. So, what's done is done. And we hope and pray that we'll stay swine flu free!

Thomas had his first Halloween, and here are a few photos. Of course we didn't go out trick-or-treating (that will be more appealing next year when he can walk), but we did dress him up primarily to take pictures. We also went to a community event at the library. Neither Drake nor I are huge fans of Halloween, but we figured we should do our parental duty and dress up our son for the occasion.

The little calf...this was actually an outfit that someone gave us. It's not necessarily meant to be a costume, but I didn't really want to take Thomas out in cow print for anything other than Halloween! Next year we'll get a little more creative :)

Full body shot...

The ears on the hood were probably the best part of the get-up...so cute!

That same day, we also had our second annual Steed family Thanksgiving! Last year Drake and I wanted to start some of our family traditions...and since we often travel for the holidays, we both wanted to make sure to set aside time for our family to celebrate together. We realized that our November weekends are all scheduled out already, so Thanksgiving on Halloween was our only option! Great fun (and food) was had by all...including our dear friend Steph Thomas! It was a tremendous blessing to have her with us for all the festivities of the weekend, though I must admit that in some ways it makes me miss her even more! She introduced us to a great new wine, brought over a movie that was surprisingly quite excellent, provided snacks, showed off her intense pumpkin carving skills, spent quality time with Thomas, and indulged my obsession with a Bubble Wrap game.

The next day we went out for some fun in the fall - a park about a 2 minute drive from our house is full of trees, and this time of year that means one thing...leaves! With the camera in tow, we spent time crunching in the leaves and enjoying the cool fall weather. I'm always happy about opportunities for Thomas to wear his cute winter hat, so that was a nice perk too! Enjoy a few pictures below...

Thomas flying high with Daddy

Thomas and Mommy...poor T was so tired!

Sitting in some leaves

Happy family

Fall has been a great time for our family so far...stay tuned for more Steed family adventures!