Thanksgiving Break

Turkey time has come and gone, as we have polished off the rest of the leftovers, I have finally gotten around to updating our blog! Ryan was off the entire week of Thanksgiving and he (along w/ Dean, Patrick, Gizmo, and I) got to spend some time with Dean's parents as they visited us for the week.

This first picture was taken the night before Dale and Cheryl went home. In it, only Patrick and Precious (Dale & Cheryl's dog) were 100% healthy.

What may have been cause for the illness was a day to Milwaukee Zoo. It was a sunny, but brisk 40 degree day. Many animals were removed for the winter months, but we still saw several in both indoor and outdoor exhibits. This monkey (yep, he's real!) reminded me of the one in the Lion King.

These peacocks walked about freely throughout the zoo. This one is just 2 feet away from Ryan and I as we walked. Their feathers were beautifully colored.

These camels appeared to be huge, even laying down!

I tried to capture a shot of these lion cubs playing, they were born a couple of weeks after Patrick.

We saw many more animals and I took several more pictures, but these came out the clearest.

Dean and I attended Ryan's parent/teacher conference on day. Nana and Papa Dale were on babysitting duty. I wonder how many times this book ("Curious George and the Pizza Party") was read this week by one of us?

Nana doing Patrick's favorite thing - holding him.

Lately it's been a challenge to take Ryan to a restaurant. The crowds/noise/potential for the birthday song to be sung are all stressful to him. Fortunately we can visit one of our favorite places without worry. Johnny's Chophouse is low-key, plays Sinatra music which Ryan loves, they have Popcorn Chicken on the menu, and there's no worry of any birthday songs getting sung here. We had a fabulous meal (Patrick is still eating in this picture) and dessert is about to be served. Of the 3 choices, Ryan loved Nana's Lava Cake. Thanks for sharing!

Because we won't get together at Christmas, we did our gift exchange this week. Here's Nana opening her Chico's giftcards.

Dean's not the only happy Packer fan in the family.

The foil pan I bought to cook our turkey in cracked on Thursday as it was cooking, leaking Turkey water into our oven, creating a ton of smoke and delaying dinner time by 2 hours. Santa found it appropriate to leave me a roasting pan, so this won't happen again. My friend, and former co-worker, Joanne, joined us for Thanksgiving dinner. She was a real trooper to wait out until dinner time through the smoke-filled house! In the end, everything was delicious.

Here's Dean opening his pyramid clock.

Now we can physically show Ryan where Las Vegas is in relation to Illinois thanks to this magnetic USA puzzle he got.

Papa Dale watches on as Daddy helps Patrick open up his coin series.

Patrick hopes all of you had a good Thanksgiving. He's thankful that he didn't get sick, and hopes Nana and Papa Dale are feeling better!

Patrick's First Cereal Meal

It's been a long time waiting, but now that he's 4 months old, Patrick has been given the green light on cereal! We attempted it the first time this weekend, here's a photo story of how it went.




Wahhhhh, I'm hungry! Why did these people put me in this seat? I eat either sitting on the black couch or in the rocking chair. Wahhhhhhh, feed me! Feed me NOW!!!




Oooh, what was that they gave me? It was kind of tasty. I would like some more please.

This is some goooood stuff. It sure beats that milky stuff I've been eating that last 4 months. I'll definitely open wide for this!

Ugggh. I am stuffed. A meal fit for a king. That was delicious, I hope I get it again sometime soon.