Keeping up with the Joneses/Thanksgiving

The title to this post refers to my attempts to keep up with my neighbors' awesome Christmas decorations and my ability to make my blog as good, if not better, than Jess Telligman's blog  (haha)!  Sorry Jess for slacking in the blog dep't!!  

Our next door neighbors always have beautiful seasonal decorations and outdo us in every category imaginable.  I am so jealous of their HUGE wreath hanging about their garage windows.  The dad (an engineer) has some pulley system he uses along with a VERY tall ladder to get the wreath up.  It's secured by hooks he installed on the side of the house.   It's amazing.  The mom's bows on all of her wreathes are perfectly placed and look great every year.  Ugh.  Why does everything I do look like crap?.... at least I have a beautiful baby who looks perfect every day.

As for Thanksgiving, we stayed at home all day and enjoyed every minute of it.  I wish I could gather all my friends and family into one community and never have to travel again to visit someone.  Samantha and I are gearing up for another road trip to visit her Grandpa George and Grandma Karen.  Joseph will be on dog duty.  We'll then head down south to visit the other grandparents.  I hope to get to Charleston to visit my "long lost" friends after the New Year. 

Samantha bought her first Christmas tree and helped put up all the Christmas decorations.  Now that she weighs a whopping 11 lbs. she thinks she can do all of the things adults can do.   She is now wearing 3-6 month clothes.  Her hair is still growing like a weed.... Joseph says she uses up all her energy growing hair, rather than gaining weight.  Samantha is actually very healthy.  She is at the 3rd percentile for weight but is gaining weight steadily.