From Thansgiving Until Now

We spent Thanksgiving this year in Vermont. It was so nice to have a break from school. We traveled in perfect weather, too. Although we had to leave Vermont a day early to avoid snow on the way back. We were willing to do that because driving in the snow would have made our trip a few hours longer for sure. Not to mention that it would have been a lot scarier and more worrisome for Kelton's sake. Kelton is actually very good at riding in the car. He usually doesn't fuss much at all, but we weren't going to take our chances. We just have to stop for his feedings and change him when he needs it. Also, driving in the mornings is perfect because his feeding times are every 4 hours, whereas his evening snack and dinner are only 1.5 hours apart. For Thanksgiving we had yummy food that my mom prepared for us all, but I made a pumpkin pie that was very good! I used a Paula Dean recipe and of course it was good because of abundance of cream cheese that went into it. Here are some pictures.

We went on a walk, like we love to do. Walks are so wonderful because it gives Kelton a great entertainment while Cameron and I can talk and bond.

While we were in Vermont, Kelton turned 6 months. That's half a year! His first half birthday! He has grown way too fast. Sometimes it is hard to imagine him as a newborn baby, who cried through the night and took an hour to nurse. He is sitting up and drinking from a sippy cup. He travels across the room by rolling over and rotating himself around while on his belly. He is so easy to get to smile. Sometimes just one look from me makes him giggle his little chubby cheeks off. He eats a lot and likes everything that we give him. This makes me very pleased. I like very much the fact that he is not a picky eater. Just another reason why he is perfect! The biggest growth indicator for me is the fact that he sees when he looks. I don't really know how else to put it, but he just understands so much more now and I can see it in the way that he looks at things. I also love the fact that he is so talkative. It is one of my favorites when he talks in between spoonfuls when I feed him. He makes so many different noises and syllables. We had his 6 months appointment and he is in the 78th percentile for weight and 31st percentile for height. Just under 20 pounds and 26.5 inches long. The doctor commented on how Kelton is so good natured. He brings so much joy and happiness into our lives.

Here is my plumptious 6 month old who loves to stick his tongue out.

The past few months we have been thinking a lot about going to the temple. It is so much harder to do that here than it is in Utah. The closest temple to us is the Boston Temple which is just about 2 hours away. But we were able to go this month with help from the Hermansens. It is the first temple that I went to when I was a new member of the church, so it was nice to go back and now be able to go to different parts of the temple besides the baptismal font. It worked out perfect because Spencer and Julia were able to watch Kelton while we went through a session. We are so grateful to them for being so willing to help us out.
We also loved the suburb Boston area. It is so New Englandy there. Even more so than here in Portland. It probably just seems so because it's bigger so there is more of New England that was put there. But the drivers are a lot more aggressive there too. There was a point where we were just trapped by cars on both sides and couldn't turn right like we were supposed to. The cars just started going around us and wouldn't let us in. It was a little crazy. But pretty nonetheless.  

Christmas is coming! We are so excited for it this year. Something about being a parent that just makes it so much more exciting. I am excited for Kelton mostly. We have been doing a lot of shopping. Cameron has been very good at keeping my presents a secret. I am usually pretty good at guessing what he got me, but not this year. Or maybe I am. We will have to wait and see. This year we sent out our Christmas Cards early so that we wouldn't have to worry about them. And now I can say that we are all done with the preparations. Just a few more gifts to wrap and we will be all set.
This year we will be in New York City for Christmas with my sister's family. That is if the weather won't make it too dangerous for us to drive down there. 
And here is a little Christmas spirit from Portland:

 There was a gathering of Santas downtown Portland. We don't know what they were all doing, but it was fun to see such excitement about Christmas. And of course we took a picture.

Last week was Cameron's last week of school. I am proud to announce that he passed all of his classes with excellent scores. The first semester is behind us! To celebrate, we went out to eat at the Homestyle Buffet here in South Portland. We loved the steak and ate well that evening.

Some more Christmas spirit from the mall.

Kelton loved that straw.