Thanksgiving and First of Advent

Today, Friday Nov 27, Noelle, Derek and I cleaned the house and decorated for Christmas. Tomorrow we're having some of our Chicago friends who now live in Sweden over for a Thanksgiving meal (since it's an American holiday, we have to do it on the weekend instead...). On Sunday it's first of advent, so we had to get the Christmas stuff up today. Should be a fun weekend, and I will post pictures in a couple of days!

Just a couple of pictures

Sometimes I have to post a picture where nothing is really happening... here are two.

Basketball grip?

For a moment, Noelle held her bottle like a basketball, but I missed the opportunity to snap a picture of the perfect grip. We'll have to ask Grandpa, what he thinks of this?

Christmas is approaching!

Last weekend we went to our first Christmas fair of the season. Though we didn't buy anything, we had lots of fun visiting with Paula, Thomas and their beautiful little girl Selma! After the fair, the Gutmann's invited themselves over to our house. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that they invited themselves, I had actually done so, but in my current life where my memory is very very shortlived, I had forgotten it... oooops. But I am so glad, because we had so fun. I love having people over to hang out. Paula and I made dinner, while the boys looked after the girls. We discovered that Noelle will be a great big sister one day (or cousin, hint hint to our siblings out there). She sat next to Selma who is about 6 months old, and patted her head very very gentle...

Derek with hot, blonde mama! And cute blonde baby.
Noelle and Selma

Noelle and Selma (here again, Noelle reminds me of my brother).

Noelle eating cake!

I should have posted this video some time ago, but here it is. Noelle eating cake for the first time at her 1st birthday party! Her second cousin Sofia kept feeding her cookies too, so Noelle was happy as can be!

Rub the belly for good luck!

We had to get a picture of Noelle and her belly! She is a pretty slim baby, but she does have quite a gut... if you rub it, you receive good luck, just like if you'd rub Buddha's belly. Note that I have censored the picture. Derek is still pretty american and didn't feel comfortable with her posing naked... too bad since I have the cutes video of her running around naked. But now, none of you can see it :).

Noelle in the woods

Noelle is pushing the stroller here. And she is pretty fast. We found a two piece fall suit at a second hand store, which she can actually walk in, so she was happy! Loves the outdoors, our little one!

Noelle is trying to slide down towards the lake. Not to worry, we were right there, though in a semi-awkward position...

Noelle playing around with her lips. She is exploring her mouth and the sounds her voice can make more and more (this is an old thing though). She loves the echo, so if we go to a room where there is echo she shouts "ahhh, ahhh, ah, ahhhhhh, ah." She has also discovered that if he puts her head into a cup or pot or something her voice sounds funny too.

Pardon my "I haven't left the house, it's Saturday, leave me alone" look that I am posing with today. But the focus should be on Noelle regardless.

Hike in the woods

This weekend was the first weekend, in I don't know how many, when we had nothing going. Pretty nice for a change. Derek, Noelle and I went for a walk in the woods, Noelle tried sliding down into the lake, picking up sticks and trying to eat them... then she got really tired and Derek was so excited since she fell asleep in the Baby Björn which she hasn't done in such a long time. If scroll back to an earlier picture you can see the change in size...

Resting against pappa's chest. So cozy!
Exploring the lake...
Noelle being cute.
Noelle pushing her own stroller. She's a little too short though to reach the handle. But she found an alternative way of pushing - watch the video.