Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! Derek (one of John's best friends from high school), his wife Kelli and their boys Louis and Jamey came up from Raleigh to spend the holiday with us. Louis is 3 months younger than John Grayson, so the boys always have a great time playing together. Surprisingly, Delia and Jamey (Derek and Kelli's 17 month old son) played well together too. Delia even shared her doll stroller with him!

MaMa and Pop came over for Thanksgiving dinner, but unlike years past, John decided to take responsibility for the turkey. John did an INCREDIBLE job! He smoked the turkey on the grill, and it was delicious! There was tons of yummy food and everyone was stuffed by the end of the meal. John Grayson announced that "I love Thanksgiving!" and I think that was caused by his full belly :-)

Here are a few pictures from our fun, food-filled weekend:

Before Thanksgiving dinner, we took the kids to the park. The little ones had a blast on the swings!

Delia loved the teeter-totter

John Grayson had so much fun playing at the park with his buddies!

Spinning until you fall down!

Jamey wanted to join in on the dizzy fun too!

John was so proud of his turkey!

Louis listened intently to John Grayson's blessing

22 Months Old!

It's hard to believe that Delia is almost 2 years old. In some ways, I still feel like she's my baby, but in many other ways, she reminds us that she is becoming a big girl. Actually, if you ask her, then Delia will tell you that she is not a big girl, nor is she a baby. JGray is a big kid and she is definitely not a baby, so she likes it when we call her a little girl (although I'm sure that will soon change).

At 22 months, Delia is:

• FULL of personality. Docile, quiet and demure are not words that we will ever associate with Delia. She is a fiesty, fearless, chatty, loving, happy, and spunky little girl.
  
• LOVES her brother. And we've finally figured out what she's going to call beloved big brother. Drum roll please......"Bobby!!!!" Why? Because since she was born, I've always referred to JGray as "Big Brother." I'd ask her, "Where is Big Brother?" Initially she called him "Ba Ba" but that has evolved into "Bobby." She runs around the house, yelling for him. "Bobby, Bobby, Bobby!!!!" The best part is that JGray answers to it :-) I don't know if the nickname will stick, but for now, it's precious.
• Is very, very close to having all of her teeth. Finally! We're still waiting on her eye teeth to push through all the way, but you can see them. Having top teeth has made a tremendous difference in her speech because now we can understand what she's saying.
• Yes, we finally have a talker (and one that we can understand)! It's amazing what top teeth can do. Delia has always been chatty, but now we can figure out what she's saying. She's started repeating phrases if we ask her too, which is awesome. She's also started putting some her own basic sentences together. Some of our favorite unprompted phrases are: "Mommy, where you going?" and "I love you" and "Go bye-bye." She has a great repertoire of single words too, including dog, cat, cookie, drink, shoes, coat, bow, sleep, ball, swing, and Mommy's favorites, please, thank you and excuse you (she says that when she means 'excuse me').
• Loves to play. She has a doll stroller that she loves to put her stuffed animals and dolls into and push around the playroom and kitchen. She also loves to play pretend with her Little People. She can throw and kick a ball too (one of the many pluses to having a big brother). Unlike a lot of little girls, Delia loves to play outside and doesn't mind getting dirty. She has a pair of Hello Kitty galoshes that she loves to wear (she'd wear them everyday if we let her). They're a little too big, but it keeps her from running too fast :-)

I cannot wait to see how much Delia enjoys Christmas this year. She's such an enthusiastic little girl, so I think she's going to love decorating the tree and unwrapping presents. Great practice for her birthday in January!

Here are a few pictures of Delia at 22 months:

She's growing up so fast!

Delia loves to play on the teeter-totter at the playground!

Halloween

Both John Grayson and Delia were very excited for Halloween this year. JGray considered himself a pro and told Delia all about walking from house to house getting candy. Delia totally picked up on it and we even taught her to say "trick treat" and "thank you" before the big night. It's amazing what you can teach a 21 month old when candy is involved :-)

John Grayson really wanted to be a fireman for Halloween and since Delia's best animal sound is a dog (she pants with her tongue out, just like Dusty), she went as a dalmatian. We weren't sure if she'd like her costume or not, but she LOVED it. As a matter of fact, she still likes to wear it, weeks after Halloween.

MaMa and Pop decided to skip handing out candy at their house and came over to see the kids instead. It was a huge help---Pop stayed at our house and handed out candy, while John, MaMa and I walked around with the kids. To say John Grayson and Delia had fun is an understatement! They went up to each house by themselves, and JGray was a wonderful big brother. He held Delia's hand and made sure she used her manners. The kids pooped out after about 30 minutes so we came home and checked out their impressive loot.

Because of our squirrel problem (those pesky creatures always eat our pumpkins), we waited until the last minute to carve our jack-o-lanterns this year.

JGray really enjoyed carving pumpkins. Delia, did not want to get her hands "gucky" (her word for yucky).

John Grayson and Delia with their jack-o-lanterns. JGray wanted a scary one and John carved a laughing pumpkin (with crazy teeth--just like her) for Delia.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the kids (because it shows their personalities so well). JGray is telling a silly joke and Delia is laughing hysterically.

John Grayson, the fireman, and Delia, the dalmatian. Aren't they adorable?!

Delia loved everything about Halloween.

John Grayson wasn't so thrilled about all of the pictures. He was ready for candy!

Delia broke into the candy early.

MaMa, Pop and the kids.

Family photo (it's pretty obvious that the kids were ready to go trick or treating, isn't it?!)

Best big brother in the world

Fall Fun

Sorry for the delay in writing a blog posting, but we've had a very busy fall! I'm rarely out of town, but I was gone for three weekends in October alone. Thank goodness things have finally calmed down and we're able to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Apple Picking
We went apple picking at Carter Mountain again this year. It's quickly become a family tradition, and one that everyone loves. We headed to Charlottesville to pick apples with MaMa and Pop, and this year Oli, Justin and Elsa joined us too! Delia loved walking up and down the rows of apple trees, picking apples and eating a few. Since she's our fearless monkey, she loved it when John held her up as high as he could and she reached to pick apples. John Grayson was a fantastic picker this year and filled more bags than we could carry.

Delia loved climbing on the pumpkins before we headed up the mountain

JGray wanted to pose like a scarecrow in front of the scarecrow

JGray and his Aunt Oli

The first apple of the day

Apple picking is great because you can eat while you're picking!

Delia had to try an apple too!

Daddy and JGray

Delia is absolutely fearless and loved reaching high into the trees to pick apples!

JGray picked a lot of apples and carried the bag for a little while, but it was really heavy!

Daddy and Delia

JGray and Pop

Delia and Mommy

Delia and Elsa. These two loved playing together. We are in so much trouble when they get older!

Pumpkin Patch
This year we once again headed to Ashland Berry Farm to get our pumpkins. Well, let me clarify. For the second year in a row, we went to a different place, but because it was a weekday afternoon, there was no tractor ride. The tractor ride is the highlight of the pumpkin picking experience for the Schmitt kids, so we drove to a larger farm with a guaranteed tractor ride. Next year, we'll start at the big farm. John and JGray spent a lot of time selecting the "perfect" pumpkin. Delia, on the other hand, just wanted to march through the rows of pumpkins.

Delia insisted on wearing a skirt and bow to pick pumpkins. It was fine until she stepped in a giant mud puddle. We had to wash off her pretty sparkle shoes in a fountain before we went home.

Pumpkin picking is serious business.

After multiple attempts, this is the best picture we could take of both kids with their pumpkins.

While we were waiting for the tractor ride back to the parking lot, John Grayson told us that he needed to go for a run. He ran all the way down this path, and of course, Delia had to tag along too!