Thanks.

The Pilgrims and the Indians
had a pow-wow a long time ago.
The Pilgrims and the Indians
felt like havin' a party and so . . .
The Pilgrims and the Indians
cooked some turkey and Indian corn,
sat down and ate together
and that is how Thanksgiving was born!

(I tried to get Judge to wear those hats but whenever I put them on his head he would try to look up at them, so they'd fall off. He's really no fun to dress up. Oh well. Next year I'll have a little girl and we'll dress up all day long.)


Today I'm thankful for my dog friend, even if he won't wear hats. He's a great cuddler and always makes me smile.

I'm thankful for my sweet baby-to-be. I can't wait to see her and hold her and kiss her and play all day.

I'm thankful for my family near and far and my wonderful friends. I wish for teleportation or some other way to see everyone I love whenever I want.

I'm most, most thankful for my husband and everything he does to make my life so great. I have the best one out there and I wouldn't trade him for anything.

I'm pretty much just thankful for all of it.


Anyway, enough with that mushy stuff. I'm ready to eat and I have two bellies to fill!



Oh, here's the best picture I could get of Judge in a hat:

I did it . . .

Hormones.

You know your pregnancy hormones are out of control when:

You see expiration dates on cans or opening dates for movies and the first thing you think about is how old your child will be when that happens.

All you do is think about chocolate and suddenly you can taste it in your mouth.

You starting seeing your home as surfaces to sanitize and areas to baby proof.

You find yourself explaining to your husband the advantages of baby travel systems and all sorts of other strange contraptions you hadn't even heard of a few months ago.

Seeing a baby at the store erases all other thoughts from your mind.

You can't watch any sort of television show or movie about giving birth without sobbing, mostly because it's so beautiful but partly because you know you're going to be in some serious pain very soon.






and this one, that happened just a few minutes ago . . .

While listening to "Sleigh Ride" you get choked up when you realize that these really are "the things we'll remember all through our lives."

I mean, seriously. Check out how motherly I'm looking right this minute.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies.

You know those really yummy pumpkin cookies that you can buy at the Macey's bakery?

They're usually served with hot cocoa or apple cider after church functions, such as trips to Temple Square or the Festival of Trees.

Anyway, they scream holiday season and they're so tasty . . . and I found a recipe that duplicates them perfectly (with some modification). I made some on Halloween and they were so good that I immediately bought supplies to make more - double recipe. It also goes along with my recent string of cake mix cookie delight (Oreos, Oatmeal Creme Pies).

I found the original recipe on the Better Homes and Gardens website (see 28 Pumpkin Recipes) and decided to forgo the filling and just add chocolate chips instead.

Here it is:

1 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 package 2-layer spice cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or foil (if you use foil, grease it).
Mix pumpkin and butter until smooth. Add cake mix, eggs, and milk and mix until well combined. Add chocolate chips (although I'm normally a milk chocolate girl, I really think semisweet is the perfect compliment to the pumpkin spice flavor). Drop by heaping tablespoon onto the paper (or foil) about 3" apart and bake for about 15 minutes, or until light brown on the edges. Cool on wire rack. They have a tendency to stick together a little, so you might want put parchment paper between layers of cookies when storing them.


Yuuuuuum. Unfortunately I ate all the cookies before I could take any pictures, so here's one of Judge. I just found out that he's been taking trips to the video game store with my brother-in-law and that everyone there loves him.

I can't wait for this picture to be complete.

Judge likes to hide out under the high chair.
It's like he knows that, one day, food will magically rain down on him if he sits there.





P.S. - The baby countdown is now in the double digits.
Is it weird that I want to make a paper chain to have a physical reminder of how many days are left?

Falling, falling, falling.

No, not that song from the car commercial (or the Charlotte Russe playlist)*.

The leaves!

Last week:



Same trees, this week:




Hurricane Ida's leftovers also blew in this morning. All we can do is stay inside, make a fire in the fireplace and eat lots of warm chocolate chip cookies. Sounds good, huh?





*"That song" is 1901 by Phoenix, in case you're one of those people who will go crazy not knowing. I'm definitely one of those people. Thank you internet for helping me not be a wreck when I can't remember lyrics or the names of songs.

Does this baby make me look fat?

The other day, while I was at work, a teenage girl excitedly asked, "Ooooo, when are you due?!"

I smiled and said, "February" and she responded with "Oh."
She had a really disappointed look on her face.


I take that to mean that I look gigantic and she thought I was going to say, "OH, any day now! Look at me, ready to pop!"



Seriously, what else could she have meant by that "Oh"?



PS - That first pose is my Heidi Klum impression. Is she always pregnant and gorgeous or what?

Leaves - about a million pictures of them.

Here in Georgia, we get the real deal when it comes to fall -
I mean, a crazy snowstorm doesn't knock all the leaves off the trees by mid-October.
There's more time for colors to change
and leaves to fall
and for Judge to bark at the falling leaves.

He and I went exploring in the woods the other day and got a few pictures. He's still pretty bad at exploring. He walked behind me in the brambles so that I could receive the full sting of thorns and he could stay safe in my wake. He did hop around on some fallen trees and sniff some possible animal homes, so I guess he's making progress.

He still likes to tug on my arm as I'm taking pictures, though.

Anyway, here's autumn at our house:



This is a fire break behind our house. That's how many trees there are - you have to break them up so the whole state doesn't burn down at once.


Oh, and some really yummy chili when all the exploring is done.