It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

... at the Griswald's, err I mean, the Roberts' house. Clark and I spent the day Sunday putting up Christmas lights outside after a long two days of finishing up our landscaping. We're absolutely pooped but are proud to say we have the most "glowing" house on the street! It may be 80 degrees in Florida, but doggone we're gonna make it feel like Christmas if it kills us!

We had a nice Thanksgiving Day (our only real day of relaxation over the long holiday) and celebrated dinner down at Nana and Papa's house. Aunt Etta, Uncle Lee, and Uncle David all joined us! We had much to be thankful for this year, with Miss Hayley being at the top of the list of things we are thankful for. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, Hayley tried her first bit of butternut squash. We think that perhaps this maybe one of the foods she is thankful for! Of course we didn't get any type of face out of the experience, but she's started "smacking" everytime we feed her the squash! Below is a video of her "smacking!"

We'll be going to the Pediatrician tomorrow for Hayley's 6 month checkup. We're anxious to see how she's grown over the last month. Hayley is getting so close to crawling and gets stronger by the day. She's definitely rearing to go and we're both afraid she's going to be a little speed demon once she figures out how to move those arms and legs.

Home Improvement

It's been awhile since our last update as we have been a busy family. Hayley has been busy trying new veggies each week. With each new food we excitedly get the video camera out and the digital camera ready in the hope of capturing a unique reaction to a new taste. However, we're beginning to wonder if Hayley even has taste buds as she doesn't make any face one way or the other no matter what we give her. The good news is that so far she isn't picky. The only thing that seems to make her mad at mealtime is just not getting the food in her mouth fast enough! So I spent all afternoon today pureeing organic goodies for our little eater. Hayley now has a freezer stocked of cubes of butternut squash, peas, green beans, avocado, pears, and sweet potatoes. What more could a little girl ask for? Here's a recent picture of Hayley as Brian was trying to teach our little patriot that you stand with your hand over your heart for the national anthem. (Yep, she's going on 6 months and no real hair in sight!)

We've spent the past three weekends engaged in home improvement projects. Our first project began with the garage as we finally got around to installing some garage shelving and unpacking those final remaining boxes. We've spent the past two weekends working on the yard by rearranging and planting some additional plants, putting in a stone edge, and remulching. We still have quite a bit to do as we plan to edge around the Magnolia trees and add some colorful flowers as well as just cleaning up and putting some plastic edging around the entire perimeter of the house, but so far we are pleased with our accomplishments! Here are some of our before and after pictures:




We'll be spending Thanksgiving here and will be enjoying the day with Brian's family before getting back to work on the yard and getting our Christmas decorations up.

A Disenfranchised Voter

We've had many firsts already this week. On Monday, Hayley had her first experience with sweet potatoes which she seemed to take quite nicely too. So far she has had a few different cereals, avocado, and sweet potato, all of which she snarfs down quite eagerly but for some reason avocado still seems to draw the most funny faces out of her. There must be something about those avocados!

Our second first of the week occured today as we headed out to the polls for Hayley's first experience in grown up civic duty. Hayley was in prime voter position as she rode in front of me in the Baby Bjorn. As I picked up my ballot, she was quick to try to snatch it out of my hands. Apparently she thought it was HER ballot! I had to explain to her that she had to be a little bit older to vote. Nevertheless, she was bound and determined to make sure her opinion counted. (After all, she's had to suffer through the radio ads and commercials for the different political candidates like the rest of us for the past three months!) We sat down at the voting booth and she immediately began beating on the table and pointing (with slobbery fingers for extra emphasis) on the candidate she wanted. Fortunately, we have so far raised Hayley right and we shared the same mindset as far as who should win our vote.

As we handed over our ballot, she was quick to flirt with the man putting the ballots through the computer. Her efforts didn't go unrewarded and she walked away with a sticker to let everyone know she was a proud, politically active American!