Thanksgiving Dinner

This year we spent Thanksgiving dinner with our friends the Jarolimeks. It was an absolutely delicious meal and a whole lot of fun. Alma was happy the entire day, so much so that she never really took a nap. She enjoyed hanging out with her buddy Neil as well, at one point she even did him a favor and chewed on his fist for him. It was a great time! Dan, Brian, and Neil hanging out after a giant meal.

Alma hanging out in her buddy Neil's walker. She LOVED it.

A quick family photo. Notice the giant wet spot on Dan's shoulder - that is the norm around here now that Alma is teething.

Yummy - Brian and his delicious pumpkin pies.

Alma and baby Neil sitting at their first Thanksgiving dinner table. Alma looks awfully happy!

Alma's first solid food

Today was a big day in the Graves-Funke household - Alma ate her first solid food. It was just a bit of rice cereal but we thought we would give it a go. It didn't go extremely well, but her first solid food experience didn't go terribly poorly either. Alma and Daddy with her first box of cereal.

Mixing the cereal nice and runny so Alma can eat it.

Trying to get her to eat it through a bottle after the spoon didn't work out.

All pooped out after a big meal and a good snuggle.

Another Birthday

This year to celebrate my birthday Dan bought us tickets to see the Lion King and it was incredible. The costumes were amazing and the music was great. The best part were the young kids who played Nala and Simba, they were only eleven years old and unbelievably talented. After the show Dan had reservations at the Clinkerdagger complete with red roses on the table. Of course, this was on Saturday before my birthday, on my actual birthday Dan made me dinner and Alma gave me a card. Dan even put Alma's handprint on it for me - he was so sneaky about it I never knew. It was a good birthday.

Alma and her Elephant

Alma's favorite stuffed animal is her elephant - she really likes to chew on the trunk. Too cute!

She's Going Huntin'

We saw this trapper hat, and we couldn't resist. It should go well with the gun Uncle Matt keeps promising to buy her for her first birthday, and keep her ears warm in the meantime.

Carving Pumpkins

This year Dan and I made a whole night out of carving pumpkins - we even ordered a "pumpkin pizza" from Papa Murphy's for dinner. Alma got to wear her pumpkin onesie that GG bought for her, and of course, we took lots of pictures. Dan carved his pumpkin to look like a Dementor from Harry Potter. I carved mine to match the pumpkin face on Alma's outfit. Alma is saying "Hey you, Mommy, put the camera away!"

Three adorable pumpkins all in a row!

I really like this picture because Alma has such a sweet smile on her face.

I really wanted to put her IN a pumpkin, but alas I was too cheap to buy one big enough.

I am sure Dan looks forward to the day when he gets to carve a pumpkin for EVERY member of our family. . .

Homecoming Parade

This year Halloween happened to be on the same day as the U of I Homecoming game. We invited the Jarolimeks to join us for the Firehouse Pancake Feed and the Parade. We had a really great time, and I especially enjoyed baby Neil dressed up like a dinosaur. After the parade Gretta and I enjoyed mimosa's while Dan, Bryan, and Harper set up Dan's electric train set in the kitchen. Good times were had by all!

Alma's Costume

For Alma's first Halloween we thought and thought of costume ideas, but none of them seemed great. . . but then one day it hit me, we should dress Alma up as a snowboarder. So we did. We put her in some fleece pants with a beanie hat, and Dan made her very first snowboard (out of cardboard of course) and we tied it to her braces. It was awesome. We took her trick-or-treating at a few family members houses and Mom and Dad enjoyed eating the candy. All in all, her first Halloween was a great success.

Thanks Aunt Rissie

Before Alma was born my sister painted these awesome picture frames to go in Alma's jungle bedroom. Ever since, I have been thinking about what I wanted to put in them and the other day I had a great idea that I should take some pictures of Alma with all her Jungle animals. Dan and I posed her with her animals, and got some really cute shots. It turned out really well - Thanks Aunt Rissie!