Giving Thanks

Hey Yall! I had a delay in posting because my Blogger is acting goofy but I'm hoping this is going to come out okay. Since my last post we celebrated Thanksgiving. This year our Thanksgiving was spent with family but was held at my sister-in-law Kim's parent's home. John's mom recently had shoulder surgery so she wasn't up for the gang and I would have enjoyed having it but our house is a little cramped for so many people. It was nice because I only had to think about making 1 dish which was a yummy Apple Walnut Salad with homemade cranberry dressing. It turned out yummy and I've made it a few times since to eat here at home (we didn't get enough on turkey day).
This was Eddie's 2nd Thanksgiving & it's hard to believe that last year he was just shy of 3 months old! I'll have to say that he had alot more fun this year interacting with his cousins & the rest of the family.

My Top 10 of Things I'm Most Thankful For this Year:
1. Growing into Motherhood more & more each day
2. A Healthy Boy.
3. A Supportive Husband who gives me encouragement
4. A Loving/Faithful God who loves us
5. Work to provide all of our comforts
6. Family & Friends
7. Eddie's cute smile
8. Being able to stay at home with Eddie
9. The wonderful neighbor who gave us his awesome swingset/fort for Eddie!
10. The upcoming Christmas holiday that I get to spend with all my family here in FL.

Entire Fall Photo Shoot

Lots of Visitors = Loads of Fun!

This past week was a busy one in the Reinhold household. Early in the week John's college buddy, Scott & his wife Erika, came for a visit from California. Another friend, Jon, also came to spend a couple of days. Our time with them was fun with fellowship, food, the beach, the shooting range, surf & 2 trips to the zoo (for us)...John was thrilled to see his old friends! As usual, Eddie warmed right up to them in a hurry. It always amazes me how he doesn't seem to ever meet a stranger.

Grandma & Grandpa Reinhold came over a time or two to watch Eddie while the "adults" went out for dinner. Eddie's always thrilled because he gets to go crazy playing his drums & making lots of noise.

Then, our week rounded off with a quick weekend visit from Grandpa Baker. We went to the beach and enjoyed good weather & family.

Happy Fall

Our great friends Sam & Silvia took time out for a photo shoot of us this past weekend. We're so thankful to them and to have some really nice pictures of our sweet fellow. They took over 300 pictures and it was very hard to narrow down my favorites but here are some of them.

Costume Ideas

When trying to decide what we should dress Eddie up as for Halloween this year he stepped right into this one. Couldn't resist & wanted to share. Trick or Treat!

Monkeys & Crocs & Giraffes, OH MY!

One of Eddie's Birthday gifts from his Grandpa Baker was a years zoo pass. We finally had our first opportunity to take Eddie to the Brevard Zoo this past weekend. When we entered the front gates a lady laughingly commented that Eddie had a smile on his face from ear to ear. He was so happy to see all of the kids running around when we entered. This pretty much set the mood for the afternoon, he was all smiles and very happy to see all of the animals come to life that he's only seen from the pages of his storybooks. Some of our favorites were the monkeys (of course), the huge crocadile, the otter, the friendly birds & our top pic has to be the giraffe who was super friendly. At one point he nearly licked Eddie's face; this is just Eddie's style (up close & personal)! We had a great time and we are exicited to be able to visit as much as we want throughout this year.

The friendly bird

hangin' with the giraffe

Lord, I pray this is the closest he ever wants to get to a crocadile. No crocadile hunters in our family!!

October Fun

I've always loved this time of year. However, it's not quite the same living down here in Florida; no pretty fall foliage, no nip in the air. I do everything I can to reinvent the autumn season I so loved up in Indiana for so many years. I decorate the house for fall, I get the pumpkins, light candles with scents like cinnamon or apple cider and make recipes that scream cooler weather, all the while outside it's still hot, humid and palm trees galore. Who am I fooling? Anyway, this is all Eddie knows for now. I look forward to taking him north someday so he can jump in the leaves and experience the season that I love so much. I wanted to share some pictures with you. There will be more to come as we're testing out a few cameras.