Newhard/Peters' Thanksgiving 2012

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Carmel, IN with the Newhard clan.  Everybody meets at Lee and Sally's house on the Saturday after Thanksgiving to eat as much of Andrew's famous mashed potatoes as they can.  Well, there is other stuff too of course, a delicious turkey, sweet potato pie, stuffing, all of the favorites, but rumor has it that if Andrew's mashed potatoes aren't there, it isn't Thanksgiving.   

My wonderful husband is amazing in the kitchen and definitely manly enough to wear his mother's apron.

Henry made a new friend, Elizabeth.  She is the daughter of Andrew's cousin Laura.  Laura couldn't make the trip, but we were lucky enough that Elizabeth's grandparents brought her so we could meet her and find out what a wonderful little girl she is.  Henry and her had quite a connection.

These are the second cousins, from left to right: Christine, Kyle, Henry, Ella, Christopher and Elizabeth.  It is always fun to watch this group play together.

Terry is the wife of Andrew's cousin, Mike.  Henry was so content with Terry he didn't want to leave her and she didn't want to let him go, but eventually he was passed along.

Henry loved Christopher (and his brother Kyle, pictured later) and nearly fell asleep on him at one point.  Christopher is an eighth grader who is just awesome.  We didn't talk all that much, but just watching him play with his little cousins I can tell that he is a caring kid.  I also noticed that he was playing games on his electronic notebook, or whatever it was, and it wasn't a shooting game or anything like that, but a problem solving puzzle type game.  How often do you see that with an eighth grade boy?  

Ella, Chuck and Henry were watching some after Thanksgiving Saturday football.  Ella is a first grader who says what is on her mind. 

Christine, Ella's big sister, did a great job with Henry.  He is getting sleepy at this point, but that didn't phase her one bit.  Christine is a fifth grader who wants to be a veterinarian and already knows some of the scientific names for animals.  Pretty sure this girl is going places.

Henry is getting a little cranky here, but we really wanted to get a picture of him with Great Aunt Bonnie, Sally's mom's sister.  Great Aunt Bonnie did not feel like she should hold Henry so, Aunt Becky is helping out.

Mike (Andrew's cousin, Terry's husband, Kyle and Christopher's dad) is pictured here with Henry.  Now the funny thing about this picture is that it took about six shots to get it right.  No, not because of Henry, but because I couldn't catch Mike with his eyes open.  Thanks for stickin with me until I got a good one Mike!

Kyle is the oldest of the second cousins.  He is a senior this year and just an amazing young man.  First of all, he was great with Henry.  He just sat and rocked him for the longest time.  He speaks Japanese, wants to go into International Business, went to Boys State this past summer and is very patient with the younger cousins.  I asked Terry (his mom) what she did to get two such amazing kids (Kyle and Christopher) and she said regular beatings.  Well, okay, if that's what works. :-)

Aunt Sue, Sally's younger sister, was playing peek-a-boo with Henry.  I didn't get a picture of the moment he really enjoyed this game, so by this point he was kind of over it. 

This is a picture of four out of the five siblings with their Aunt Bonnie.  Left to right: Mike, Sally, Jim, Aunt Bonnie, Sue.  

The day we got together just happened to be Jim's 70th birthday.  So, to go along with all the other yummy food, we had birthday cake.  What's a birthday without party hats?  Great idea to bring the hats, Elizabeth! Happy Birthday, Jim! 

By the end of the day we were all exhausted.  Andrew had been cooking and cleaning all day, Henry was passed from one person to the next and we were all in food comas.  Another great Thanksgiving!

And Christmas begins...

We just couldn't help ourselves.  Christmas started early at Grandma and Granddad's house this year.  The tree went up, the lights were plugged in and decorations went on.  What else could we do but give Henry his presents?  He was so cute (that goes without saying) exploring the tree and trying to get into his presents.

 He received this cute hat (below) from Aunt Becky (Andrew's sister) from Charmed Knits, inspired by Harry Potter.  The character Dobby likes to wear things on his head that are a little different, like a tea cozy, that's where the design for this hat came from.

He raked it in from Aunt Becky, with a Purdue shirt, stocking, Christmas memory book and his hat. Wow!  Thanks, Aunt Becky!

 Grandma and Granddad bought him this beautiful book, The Little Airplane and a Baby's First Christmas ornament.  He is so loved!

Christmas Blessings!

In Loving Memory

 

On Friday, November 9th, I lost someone very special to me. My Grandma, Kathleen, peacefully passed in her sleep in Hot Springs, AR.  Although she was battling dimentia and was not eating as much as she used to it was still a shock that her passing happened so quickly. It still hasn't really sunk in.  I miss her everyday knowing that I will never get to see her again. 

 

Grandma was an amazing person.  She alwasy had a smile and words of encouragement.  She gave me my love for good music like Frank Sinatra, Lou Rawls and Barbra Streisand.  I have so many memories of driving around, singing along to cassette tapes of big band music.  She taught me how to play "In the Mood" and "Sophisticated Swing" on the piano.  She encouraged me to continue playing the piano when I wanted to quit.  I'm so glad she did, because it has become my emotional outlet for so many things. 

Grandma never met a stranger.  I love the story about her going down an elevator and offering half of her sandwich to a complete stranger.  Who knows why?  She was always a giver and even though I feel we had a very special bond, she really made everyone feel that way, like they were special. 

 

Andrew and I loved our time visiting her and Grandpa, Myron, in Hot Springs We would go dancing, play cards and just sit around and chat.  I'm so thankful that we were able to go down this summer and introduce her to Henry.  

 

I could go on and on about this amazing woman, but I wouldn't know when to stop.  She was a bright spot in anyone's day and I know that Heaven is brighter with her there.  I love you Grandma. 



Five Months Old

Henry is five months old today.  Of course, like everyone says, time is going by so fast, but on the other hand, I don't remember life without him.  I can't believe that I get to keep this little person and learn with him and go through life with him.  

Henry is already quite well traveled.  He has been to Oklahoma City; Kansas City; Hot Springs, AR; Beaver Lake; Carmel, IN(he has driven and flown there); and Louisville, KY.  He is such a great little traveler and always just seems to be along for the ride.  

In the past month he has become so much more alert and his awake times are a lot of fun.  He loves to take it all in, watching movements and anything with color.  He already loves to read books and usually sits and takes in the illustrations.  He is at the stage where if he can grab onto something, it is going directly in his mouth.  He isn't teething yet, but I think we are getting close.  

He laughs when we bring our hands up like we are going to tickle him.  The laughs make my heart melt.  He talks nonstop in the mornings, I'm assuming he is telling me his dream.  I love it when he talks and coos, I can't wait to know what is going on in that mind of his.  He has so much personality now.  He is an easy going kid unless he is hungry (like his mama) or tired (like his mama), then, watch out.  His hair continues to grow red, not sure where that came from, but the more hair he gets, the more he looks like a little boy instead of an infant.  I love to listen to his sighs of contentment over the baby monitor, so peaceful.  I've pictured more of his accomplishments below.

He is rolling over.

He sits in his Bumbo and "helps" Mommy cook dinner.

He loves to sit in his high chair and play with his toys.  By play, I mean put everything into his mouth.

He's learning Yoga, this is "happy baby" pose.

Every stage has been fun and trying all at the same time.  I can't wait to see his fantastic personality bloom, but I don't want these days to end either.  C'est la vie.

Henry's First Halloween

Although Henry didn't have a clue what was going on, I had to take him Trick or Treating.  I convinced Andrew to give up a flying lesson so that we could experience this as a family.  We went out around 6:30 because I didn't want Henry to get too cold and we were going to hand out candy ourselves.  As unbelievable as it is, not many people are ready for Trick or Treaters at 6:30, but our neighbors were good sports.  The other challenge was that no one had their light on, so one neighbor wasn't even planning on giving out candy.  We told him we just wanted to say hi and that Henry couldn't eat the candy anyway.  It was so much fun going around, even though it was just the five houses closest to us.  We got to show off our little Charlie Brown and get some yummy treats in the process.  Yay!  When you have a kid you get to do all the fun kid stuff you've always wanted to do, but before you had a kid people just thought you were weird.  

These are some of the pictures we took of the evening.

 Andrew took a picture of the pumpkin he carved for Henry the weekend before.  The front is a glider, but the back has clouds and when you put it in front of a solid surface it makes a really cool image of the sky.

I'm getting Henry ready for his big trip to the neighbors.  I used my black eyeliner to put Charlie Brown's little strands of hair on his forehead.

Ready to go!

We stopped at our neighbors' house to the west first, but she wasn't there.  We had to get a picture of the first house though.  Later on we went back and she loaded us up on candy.

The neighbor kid a few doors down gave us our first bit of candy.  He was dressed as a dead kid, charming, right?

Steffany, our neighbor to the east wanted a little sugar from Henry before she gave up the good stuff.  We got cool candy that turned our tongues different colors.  Our candy couldn't compete. 

I can't get enough of my little Charlie Brown.  As you can tell, he's just as excited as I am.

Before we finished up for the night we took some photos of Charlie Brown in his Bumbo with the pumpkin.  It was such a beautiful evening.

He's so smart, he figured out that there is a bunch of good stuff in that bag, but then we realized he just wanted to put the bag in his mouth (like everything else these days).  Next year will be a whole different story.