Happy Thanksgiving

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Newest Habby

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Dress Up

Since there were days over the summer that we were advised to stay inside, we had lots of dress-up dates. On this recorded session, I took pictures of the masterpieces and someone wanted to reciprocate by taking my pictures. We had tons of laughs and I was proud of her, there is 3 year old talent there, watch out world!

New Hobby

Some of you may not know that I have now added baking to my list of hobbies (lots more affordable than photography). So for a year now I have been making cookies for a hair salon every Monday. This is so their customers can have some fresh yummy treats. Also I have been experimenting and providing desserts for our Thursday Home group for a couple years now. So my Kitchen Aid has a workout at least twice a week (thanks mom). Unfortunately I haven't been working out as much and needless to say, somethings have changed. What is pictured above is a Martha Stewart show delight (thanks again Mom) that was easy and so yummy called Brookies (love my two hobbies together, pictures and treats)! They were AWESOME but I learned the hard way they need to cook longer than they say (at least in my oven) Try some you won't be disappointed!

Brookie and more delicious recipes, smart cooking tips, and video demonstrations on marthastewart.com

Nuts about Baseball

The one Saturday in July that we had nothing scheduled, I bought tickets to Alyse's first "pro" baseball game. This is the first year for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, who are the double A team for the Giants. We are so glad to have baseball back in Richmond, so much easier to get to and affordable! GO NUTS!

My first Baseball game!

The mascot Nutzy, whom we had to watch everywhere he went!

Highlight of the night, high five from the Chick-fil-a Cow!

Everyone enjoyed the game, even uff uff

Dad caught a T-shirt during the game

loved the clapping! Let's Go Squirrels! They ended up winning the game!

Heres to Number 3

I love the day we celebrate Alyse's adoption (July 6th, it is also YaYa's birthday). It continually reminds me of my adoption into God's family and how blessed we are. I am still in awe of how God graciously granted us the chance to become parents. It was the third time we had a phone conference with the judge in Alaska, in which our request was granted. So here is to the three's!

Traditions Continue

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Berry Pickin Time

It was fun taking Alyse on her first berry picking adventure. Maybe I went strawberry picking as a kid (I can't remember), I had never been as an "adult" (if you could call me one) until a couple weeks ago. It was really hard resisting the temptation to take them all in but we did enjoy one or two while we were working hard. What did we do with all the

strawberries? Well thanks for asking, some went whole into the freezer, others were mashed and placed into a deep freeze and for the first time ever I managed to make some Jelly! Wow, had I known it was that easy to make it, I wouldn't have been such a wimp to try it sooner.

even "kitty" got into the picking

Thanks dad for the fun!

Barkley

Due to circumstances not in our control we had to say goodbye to our family dog. I was reminded that it is good for little ones to experience all parts of life. It was hard but we have made it through. So now the newest dog in our family requires no food, no late night outings to the outhouse nor does it shed, what a big difference. Thanks to PaPa and MeMe we now are now owners of a fuzzy big doggie named Barkley!

Visit from PaPa

PaPa Dressel came down the Monday after Easter for a day. He had some meetings in DC so we drove him up and had lunch on the mall. It was Alyse's first time in DC to see sights and not an airport.

Easter

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Big Girl Hair Cut and Photo Shoot

trying to be very still

It has been a while since we went and got our first "professional" haircut by Monica. Monica's hair studio opened up a year ago in the photo studio, what a blessing! So after our haircut we had 2 yr old pics taken (even though we were closer to 2 1/2). It was tons of fun :) Thanks to my co-worker Louise she was able to capture some pictures since Alyse wouldn't sit on the booster.

Our Big Girl!!!

Holidays a month later

The holidays have come and gone and it's been a month, guess I am a little behind, eh. After the feet of snow we enjoyed a wonderful white Christmas at home. It was a true blessing being able to be home and not go anywhere. Don't get me wrong we LOVE our families

it was just nice to have a holiday with our little family. It was a joy to talk to Alyse about Jesus Birthday and everywhere we saw the manger she would get excited and say "ahhh, baby Jesus is sleepin in the hay". Baby Jesus had many kisses and hugs! She loved learning Christmas Carols "Hark the Heard Angels sing" and "Away in the manger" were

quickly learned and sang over and over. It was a fun Christmas because of the excitement of understanding the meaning. Along with Jesus birthday we did talk about Santa and that opened a crazy can of worms! Thanks to skype we were able to spend moments with the family!

The day after Christmas we ventured up to PA for Christmas with the Habeckers. Alyse really enjoys her cousins and couldn't stop talking about going to YaYa and PaPa's house. We also attended YaYa's family reunion which was held in a fire house. This meant many trips to see the trucks and not much eating. Our families and friends overwhelmed us with many fun great gifts this holiday and we have many thanks to everyone!