In the Shop

Remember Addy's pink car?

She hasn't been driving it much lately. It's been in the shop getting some work done.

Ever since she started pulling up on things, she hasn't wanted to sit in her car. She would rather stand around it. We like to say she's "working on her car."

 The tag is, of course, her favorite part. 

(Why is my house always in such disarray in pictures? There's a plant that goes on that stand.)

 "Looks like you're due for a tune up."

That's her little grease monkey laying beside her.

Good as new!

Addy's First Thanksgiving

I realize that by now, everyone is probably completely over Thanksgiving and into full Christmas mode, but for scrapbooking purposes, I thought I would share some photos of our first Thanksgiving with sweet Adelyne. But first, a little glimpse of what we were up to this week:

Exploring the living room.
This is how she likes to roll: no pants, one sock.

Helping Mom with the dishes.

On Thanksgiving morning, Addy played with the grocery bags and Mom burnt the bacon.

That afternoon, we went over to Cousin Carter's house. He had been busy fixing up a fine Thanksgiving meal.

Cousin Carter and Aunt M, our gracious host. We're so thankful for them.

How did Addy become so photogenic? She didn't get it from her Mom.

After dinner, Addy and Carter decided to browse the Black Friday ads.

So thankful for that big smile!


Hope you all had a wonderful day!

A Thanksgiving Day Guest Post from Heather

Hello friends and Happy Turkey Day! 

I am super excited to be doing a little Thanksgiving Day post swap with one of my favorite bloggers, Heather from Finding Beauty in the Ordinary. Heather is a treasure, she's beautiful inside and out, loves her hubby and her servant's heart just blows me away. 

---------------------------

Hi Life in the 505 readers!

Happy Thanksgiving!
I'm so excited to be here today.
I just love Katie & her beautiful little family.

As today is Thanksgiving, I wanted to share about the one specific person that I am thankful for today--
my husband of 5 years, Joshua!

 

It's hard to find the words sometimes to express the love I feel for him.
It's humbling to know that God has given me this man to share forever with.
I'm thankful that Joshua chose me.
Despite my quirks, idiosyncrasies and flaws-- he loves me for me.
You can read more about our story, the highs & lows of the past 5 years, and read our testimony here.
We have been through job losses, moving out-of-state, money problems, death of loved ones, and so many other things together.
He has been a consistently loyal and unconditionally loving person in my life.



Today I'm thankful for the blessing of being married to my best friend.
For the opportunity to wake up next to my most favorite person in the world.
We're not perfect, and we have our flaws, but I'm so thankful to actually grow with him.
I'm thankful for the time we have to better ourselves & grow together with God's help.

Now, hope on over and check out her blog.

You can also find her here and here.

Coffee Talk: I'm Blank Because......

Today's post was inspired by Little Miss Momma and Casey Wiegand. I've seen versions of this post around the blogosphere and I thought it would be perfect for today.

Happy Turkey Day Eve friends! The day before a holiday is always so chill. Back when I was working, these were usually the days when you took longer lunches and spent a lot more time chatting over your coffee in the morning. Nothing really ever got done and I don't really seeing anything productive happening around here today either. Today would be the perfect day for a coffee date.

Since becoming a Mom, most of my coffee dates happen at home since Starbucks isn't exactly kid friendly. If you were to came over to my house for coffee, you would be greeted by Addy peaking around the couch to see who was here. Depending on the hour, she might wave her hands in excitement or start crying as soon as you come near her. Try not to take it personally.

You may or may not notice the random swatches of paint on our living room walls and I would explain that we are in the middle of choosing another paint color since we don't like the current one.

I would offer you tea or coffee and if you chose coffee, I would make it in my new french press and then go on to tell you how much I love it. Why does it make coffee taste so much better?

After allowing the coffee to brew for 4 minutes (the magic number!) we'd then move to the living room where we'd sip our coffee on the floor, because that is really the best place to have coffee, while Addy shows off her skills by crawling all over me and possibly you. 

 

We would talk about the upcoming holidays and depending on how well I know you, I might ask about your Christmas traditions or what your favorite Thanksgiving has been. And I might tell you that:

I am weird because..

I can't sleep with socks on
Clowns freak me out
I don't like pumpkin flavored things
Reba is one of my favorite shows
I love fill blank questionnaires or any kind of "get to know" you game

I am a bad friend because...
I hate talking on the phone
I tend to only answer emails and texts in my head
I am very easily distracted

I am a good friend because.....
I value friendship
I'm a good listener
Even if it's a couple of days later, I'm really good about responding to texts and emails
I'm always looking for an opportunity to help out

I am sad because...
Not all of my family will be at the same place for the holidays
Addy's growing up

I am happy because....
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and that means we get to decorate for Christmas is 2 days!
Matt has 4 days off of work
Addy is growing up
I have the best job in the world
Everyone in our house is healthy again

I am excited for....
Addy's first Thanksgiving
Christmas Trees
Playgroup
Pictures with Santa
Homemade Gifts
Holiday Cards

I might also tell you that 

my parents were in town for two days and having them here put me in the holiday spirit,

Addy has been eating and sleeping so much better this week and it makes this momma so happy,

Matt and I are addicted to Breaking Bad, which was all filmed here in the 505,

I am feeling encouraged by verses like this found in the Psalms:

"You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; My God turns darkness into light. With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God, I can scale a wall." 

Psalm 18: 28-29

But, enough about me. What's up with you?

P.S. I have an awesome guest blogger for you tomorrow!

 

One Holiday at a Time, Please!

(found via Pinterest, of course!)

In an effort to fight my "Winter Blues," I attempted to listen to Christmas music a week and a half early, but I couldn't do it! It just felt....wrong. This may be because I created a Michael Buble Holiday Pandora station. The jury is still out on whether or not I like him. I'll give the guy a second chance on November 25th.

I try not to be legalistic but when it comes to Christmas, rules are rules and I like to follow them. 

At the Danner house, Christmas decor doesn't go up until the day after Thanksgiving and we like to at least let our turkey digest before cranking up the holiday jams. But come Friday morning, you can probably find me singing along to Bing Crosby while decking the halls. That is if I can talk Matt into getting our tree that early. He likes to pretend he's a scrooge and every year he says we aren't having Christmas. But I know that deep down he's a lover of Christmas just like me. He actually surprised me with a tree for our first married Christmas. A true scrooge wouldn't do that.

This year Matt and I have decided to give homemade gifts to each other and a lot of our family members. I've already started on a few (I wouldn't consider this breaking the rules, just being really prepared). But since I have some devoted Life in the 505 readers in my family, I'll have to wait until after Christmas to share my creations. So if it seems a little quite around here for the next couple of weeks, it's because I'm busy playing Santa; making my list and checking it twice.

Happy One-More-Week-Until-Thanksgiving-Day Day!