McCorquodale ThanksMas Get-together

The "girl" cousins! Ahnya, Jocelyn, Madi (Scott & Nicki's) and Gabriella

Madi & Nicki, Katie & Jack (2years), and Auntie Becky

Auntie Nancy hugging and smooching on baby Ahnya

Madi, Gabriella and little Jack posing for a pic

Great-Grandma Ro with the older girls

On Saturday we celebrated our Thanksgiving AND Christmas together with Ryan's mother's side of the family, which would be the McCorquodales!!!!!!!!!!!! What a fun and eventful weekend of togetherness!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really was fun and seeing the children play and get together is always wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for a wonderful ThanksMas family!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Violin Lessons

Gabriella and Jocelyn practicing their violins together!!!!!!!

Jocelyn LOVES the violin! She is doing amazing and we're so proud of her!!!

Gabriella also LOVES her violin and she blows me away at how QUICK she picks up music!

The girls got their violins last week and have caught on remarkably well. All three of us are actually learning...YES momma is learning violin, too! It's the Suzuki Method. In theory one parent learns right along with the child and thus is able to practice daily and fully learn side by side. Brain researchers say that children need to be exposed and drenched in music by age 8 in order to fully grasp and be able to make the connections necessary for development. So all this work will benefit them down the road in more ways than one!

I'm so glad my girls love music as much as Ryan and I do. They really learn quickly and it's amazing to watch them. Although, right now it's real squeeky and hurtful to listen to at times. Ear plugs PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ear Piercing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a pic or Grandma Peg holding Ahnya in the chair while the gals put in the guns in her ears!

.................Click and it's done!!!!!!!!! Ahnya screamed for 13 seconds and then it was done!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, I did it! Baby Ahnya got her ears pierced last week.....and she cried her little heart out!!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor sweet chubba-bubba was not happy for 13 seconds after the ear guns went off in each ear! We had it done simotaniously-at the same time-which helped. But didn't ease the pain!

She's cute with them and hasn't touched or bothered with her ears since the day! So I think she's doing perfectly. Thank goodness she isn't scarred by the event!!!!!!!!!!

Holiday Photo Shoot

Thanksgiving with Grandpa Bob, Grandma Peg & Great Grandma Ro

On Saturday we spent the day at Grandpa Bob and Grandma Peggy's house. Together with Great-Grandma Ro we celebrated Thanksgiving and had a good time. The girls had a blast dressing up in Grandma Peg and Grandma Ro's dresses from long LONG ago! What a hoot!!!

Here's a pic (above) of Gabriella modeling one of Grandma Peg's lavendar bridesmaid dresses from years ago!

This is Jocelyn wearing Grandma Peg's actual wedding dress!! Yes, they played in it all day!

Grandpa Bob was nice enough to be the "groom" and take pictures and dance with the girls!

Little Ahnya wore Grandma Peg's wedding veil and didn't mind wearing it at all. Oh, and notice the baby bottle in her hand, too, yep she carried that around for about 2 hours!

Another pic of Grandpa with Gabriella. She's wearing Great-Grandma Ro's prom dress. It's actually a really "foxy" dress! Grandma was smok'in in that dress about 63 years ago!!!

Happy Baby Pics

I just realized I haven't downloaded any pictures in November. Where does the time go? Here's some fun pictures of Ahnya for her 14 month pics. Very cute and very busy baby! These pics capture Ahnya as she's just starting to walk, talk, and be crazy cute!

As of now Ahnya walks EVERYWHERE!!!!!!! Rarely crawls and talks her own language all the time. What a difference 2 weeks makes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She's up and down the stairs, fishing in the toilet, unrolling toilet paper, pulling everything out of momma's cupboards, drinking out of sippy cups, enjoying eating fruits and veggies, chasing her sisters, says: momma, da-ya (daddy), ice (eyes), ocks (socks and shoes), and is a very loud baby! She wakes at 7:00 a.m. and goes to sleep at 7:00 p.m. Sleeps through the night, just as she always has, and really has a beautiful temperment inside and out. Ahnya is a sweet and loving baby whose growing and changing before our eyes.

Also, it's been 6 months and 1 day since I first saw her in the orphanage. What a life time away that was. Enjoy the pics and the beautiful Minnesota fall weather!