Thanks Giving is Right Around the Corner

We had a female turkey visit us today.  He might turn into Thanks Giving dinner... Yum Yum.
I know it's a female because there is no beard feathers in the front. I learned about this because one of my good friends at work hunts turkeys.

First sighting. Her gobbling gave her away.

The kids check out Mrs. Turkey.

The turkey is a bit nervous about getting her picture taken.

It's Strutting Time

Zoo Day

For my last day of paternity leave, we all went to the zoo in Sacramento. It was lots of fun to go with all five of us. Anna slept most of the time but everyone else was nice and awake and we looked at all the animals.  We brought out lunch there too which was nice.  Enjoy the pictures!

It's Rachel and Joel

It's Rachel

It's Joel

You must be this tall to ride the roller coaster.

Rebekah matched the zebras.  Anna is hiding out in the stroller.

Scott likes giraffes so I was thinking about him.  I hope he sees this.

And this is the money shot!!! Not sure why, but she had a little smile just as I was getting out the camera and I got the shot.  Then the smile went away.

This was what we looked at while eating lunch.  Rachel even posed for me.

Joel still gets some Mommy time.

Anna slept almost the whole trip to the zoo.  She's good at sleeping.

2 Weeks Ago

I found some pictures that were 2 weeks old but they are fun so I'll share them.

She's so cute!  Don't you just want to take her home?  Don't you just want to watch her ALL DAY? (No guarantees that she will stay sleeping all day)

The crib seems so huge again doesn't it!

Anna is still in this picture.  But look how cute Joel is!

The ears on the hat are so cute.  It makes me wonder why all beanies don't have ears. They you all might want to look at pictures of me.

Rachel's Grand Parent's Birthday Party

Last night Grammy, Grandpa, Grandma, and Grandpa all came over to celebrate Rachel's sixth birthday.  According to Rachel, it took way to long to get to the present opening part.  The gifts from both sets of grand parents were hits.  But the real hit of the night (I thought) was the awesome birthday cake that Rebekah made for Rachel.

Please note that we got good smiles from Rachel in all of these pictures. Apparently the trick to get her to smile is to give her gifts and chocolate cake.

This is a chocolate princess castle cake with four turrets, two levels, and a peanut butter cream filling. It looked amazing!

Look! Rachel is smiling for a picture with her very cool cake!

Rachel got a very cool comforter and sheet set from Grandma and Grandpa Short. Here she is in front of the comforter.

Grammy and Grandpa got her a Lego Elves play set.  She has already built the dragon and has been working on building the castle.  Joel has played with the dragon for at least an hour already...  He may need his own dragon for Christmas.

Anna wanted her picture up here too.  It's hard to capture the essence of Anna right now since she squirms so much, but sometimes she looks awake and content at the same time.