Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This has been a busy year for sure, and November has been jam-packed with lots to be thankful for! Elle turned one on November 1st (I can hardly believe it!) and Christopher and I celebrated our fifth anniversary. The very next day, Christopher and I got on a plane and headed to NYC with friends Bryan and Ruth Ann, of Team Timmons, and Mike and Janna. Christopher, Brian and Mike ran the NYC Marathon on November 3rd. They did totally awesome and Ruth Ann, Janna and I had a great time making our way around the city to track them. We met the guys at about mile 16 and again around mile 25-ish. 

{christopher around mile 16}

{ruth ann and bryan around mile 16}

{mike around mile 16}

{the boys and their well-deserved medals}

While Christopher was taking all his steps in the marathon, Eleanor decided to take her first steps at Christopher's parents' house. That kind of figures, right? Luckily, Kathy managed to get it on video:

{p.s. She crawled for the first time at my parents' house. What up with that, girlfriend??}

I love how she recognizes that she fell and says "uh-oh" but then realizes that people are still proud of her so she claps for herself. 

While we weren't in the city long, we were able to do some other pretty cool things too. We did a little shopping, ate our traditional Shake Shack (the new one in Grand Central Station!) and got to go to the American Museum of Natural History. I hadn't been in such a long time and it was so awesome. I could have stayed in there forever. Christopher noted that he could have stayed in there for about 30 minutes less than we stayed in there. (We stayed in there for a little less than two hours.) 

We learned that things that are tiny now, used to be huge.  

{ginormous frog}

And things that are huge now, used to be tiny.

{miniature camels. why, yes, i would love a miniature camel!)

We obviously saw dinosaurs. 

And we saw an exhibit on the Hudson Valley which included Dutchess County Apples. Awesome! 

{christopher learning about dutchess county apples}

And my favorite has always been the rock and gem section.

{bling}

When we got back from New York, Eleanor started a new daycare. As some of you may or may not know, she started an absolutely wonderful daycare at The Children's Home on September 16th. On September 17th, they told us they were shutting down. (Reasonable, right?) I was heart-broken. We did decide to keep her there long enough for her to enjoy some of the nice things they had planned like school pictures and Halloween. 

{photo by: creative expressions photography}

{peacock}

Anyway, her last day of daycare #1 was on her birthday and then she started a new, also wonderful daycare the next week. I think she's doing really well and she has already brought home some art projects. About these art projects though... I am very confused by these pieces of art because they are not good...but they are better than she could do, so...who's the fill-in bad artist??? The only thing I can come up with is that perhaps they are holding her hand for her to make some of this stuff? I don't know. Either that or I have the next Georgia O'Keeffe on my hands. 

The weekend after her second-first week of daycare, we had a small birthday party with a few friends and family. She got to eat about as much cake as she wanted to and surprisingly she didn't make a pig out of herself. 

{yum}

My grandmother is even in town from Pennsylvania now and was able to come to Eleanor's party, which was awesome. Unfortunately Elle and I have been a little sick over the past week and a half so we have stayed away as to not get her sick. We're doing better now though and caught up over some pizza and Rummy. She almost always beats me. I get stuck holding all the high cards in my hand. 

Last week, I was talking to my friend, Ouida. She's a fantastic photographer. I asked if she would mind snapping a quick picture or two of us for a Christmas card. There's a really cool bridge at the Visitor's Center in Old Salem that makes for a great picture. (If you are wondering whether or not lots of other people also know about this bridge and also want their picture taken there as well, the answer is yes. Yes they do.) We met last weekend and she took so many nice pictures! I'm not going to share them all, but I suppose I could share a few. 

{aforementioned really cool bridge}

I'm super excited because it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! We are planning to go get our tree tomorrow. I can't wait. Last Christmas I missed my kind-of-annual Christmas tree blog post and it makes me sad. So get ready for this...

SUPER BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: 

This year I'm going to do #25daysofchristmasornaments on Instagram, starting on December 1st. One ornament every day for 25 days. If you're not on Instagram, get on Instagram. Instagram is awesome. Right Beth Ray?? I think my username is gingerlyn2 - follow along! I also encourage you to participate in #25daysofchristmasornaments. It will be so much fun. SO. MUCH. FUN. 

And lastly, Letter Tuesday has been a huge success! I'm a little disappointed that I have missed a few weeks along the way, but over the last 22 weeks, I have sent out 69 Letter Tuesdays. Additionally, I have received so many nice letters and postcards from amazing people! I count it a total success and I will keep going! Ouida and Lindsey have joined in as well, in their own Letter Tuesday traditions and I am SO excited about that.