happy thanksgiving

i love thanksgiving. we host every year for the family. it is usually about 17 people including kids. we had a super fun thanksgiving. i hope you all had a fun one too. i think things went very smoothly this year. i was a bit worried that i was out of practice having missed last year, but it worked out great.

i love how the table looked this year. i get really excited planning the menu and decorations every year. jen suggested using clementines for a centerpiece and they were so cute. now that thanksgiving is over we can eat the arrangement. i love that. i also made some flower arrangements using white and green roses. so pretty. i thought they might clash with the clementines, but they looked great. i am thinking i will do something similar for christmas. maybe using crab apples. miles did a great job refinishing a small table and chairs for the kids table. it was so cute. we served everything buffet style and that worked out so much better than family style like we have in the past. everyone got their food much faster and with less confusion as in "i didn't get the mashed potatoes, did they get passed this way?"

the turkey was done early as usual. every year i put it in 30 minutes later and it is still the first thing done. i will figure it out one of these days. i had so much fun. i am usually a freak with all the stress and commotion of cooking for so many people, but i think the champagne helped ease my tension. thank you to everyone for all their help and for enjoying this beautiful day with us. now, it's time to plan christmas.

one year old

happy birthday my dear baby dahlia. she is one today. we had a fun day. her aunt christina and cousin zena came over to help us celebrate. they brought their dog roxy. roxy had lots of fun running around the house. mason loves the puppy.

i really wanted to bake a cake for today, but i could just picture myself eating all of the leftovers and decided to buy tiny desserts instead. dahlia loved her little fruit tart. she ate all of the fruit. i was impressed.

we took her to her one year doctors visit two days ago and he told us we could start giving her whole milk. how crazy. we haven't tried it yet. i really want to ween her from breastfeeding, but i just couldn't start that on her birthday. we will start tomorrow. somehow i think it will be harder with her than mason. she seems more attached.

she is now 20 pounds 10 ounces, and 27 inches tall. that puts her at 25% for weight and 50% for height. she seems to be changing so much. she babbles all the time. i just love her adorable voice.

dahlia takes a step

dahlia took two steps in a row this week! my mother in law came over to visit and dahlia decided to show off for her. she has been taking one step here and there, but she took two steps and almost a third on thursday. i didn't get the two steps on film, but i did get one. here she is taking a step toward nora our housekeeper. dahlia is so close to walking. things are getting pretty exciting around here.

and this is what happens most of the time she tries to walk.

wagon rides

i took a break from cleaning today to give the kids wagon rides. this new toy is a huge hit with the little ones. thanks mom and dad.

birthday party for baby

we celebrated dahlia's first birthday this weekend. she really doesn't turn one until the 22nd, but we host thanksgiving and i just couldn't handle two big parties within one week. my house is still a mess from this one. i really should be cleaning instead of blogging, but oh well. the party was lots of fun. i think dahlia had a great time. i worked really hard to make some cute decorations for it so everything looked adorable. we lucked out and the weather was super nice. we had set up all the tables outside. there was a great turnout. there were about 50 people. she is so popular. it was so fun to see all our friends and family. of course i didn't get enough time to talk with everybody. that is just how it goes when you are the host. dahlia was a perfect star, laughing and charming all the guests. thanks to everybody who helped us celebrate.

party garland

i made this party garland for dahlia's birthday party. it turned out so cute. i cut out the fabric over the last two weeks. a little bit each day. there were lots of little tiny pieces all stacked in a box. then i just mixed them all up and sewed them together in one day. it was so fun to do. the pattern is from the purl bee party garland.

i also sewed a happy birthday sign. i did not use a pattern for this. this is my first sewing project that i improvised. the letters were hand stitched and rest was finished on the machine. i am hoping we can use it for many years.

little chairs

these cute little chairs used to belong to my sister and me when we were kids. we have been cleaning out grandmas house and found them. they now have a new home here with my kids.