Lok Family Thanksgiving 2008

Some of you might already know this about me, but Thanksgiving is hands down my favorite holiday. And this Thanksgiving was particulary exciting because 1) it was the first time we hosted a Thanksgiving family dinner at our house, and 2) Chloe's birthday (the 27th) happened to fall on Thanksgiving Day this year. I could hardly stand it! In fact, I ended up leaving work early the day before because I was so excited about the dishes I was going to prepare. So, I made a quick stop at New Season's to pick up a few last minute ingredients and then settled in at home to do some cooking. I thought I was so clever to keep Mary (Chloe's nanny) at the house for a few hours to entertain the little munchkin while I cooked, but Chloe just hovered at the kitchen gate the entire time curiously watching me in the kitchen. I cranked up the Christmas music and away I baked.

Here are some pics from the day...

This is the second year in a row that I made a pecan pie. It turned out delicious, but I do think this might be the easiest pie in the world to bake, so the fact that it turned out delicious probably has no relation to my ability to bake.

This was my first attempt at a pumpkin pie, and I was feeling confident enough to try it with fresh pumpkin rather than using the stuff in the can (however I did by the stuff in the can just in case). I think Pumpkin Pie is my favorite, and I must say that it turned out pretty yummy. Next year I might try making my own crust.

Here's a cute picture of Chloe getting some lap time with her Aunt Sarah.

And here is the end result...

While we did have a small amount of turkey drama, the dinner turned out great and Sarah and I had a great time preparing it. I am already looking forward to next year's Thanksgiving dinner!

A lovely weekend for the Lok family...

This weekend has probably been one of the best weekends we've had in quite some time. I don't mean to imply that our weekends normally aren't very fun, but this weekend we decided to toss our ever growing "To do" list and do exactly what we wanted. Here are some of this weekend's highlights...

Saturday:

• slept in until 8am
• went out for breakfast
• shopped at Jantzen Beach while Chloe napped in her stroller (unbelievable timing!)
• took an hourlong family nap in the afternoon
• Date Night - movie and dinner at Palimino (including cocktails)
• made it home just in time to tuck our little pumkin in for bed.

Sunday:

• slept in until 8am (two days in a row... can you hardly stand it?)
• worked on childproofing the lower level
• family stroll to a neighborhood coffee shop and splurged on a hot chocolate and eggnog latte
• Chloe took her afternoon nap on our walk back from the coffee shop
• moved Chloe's crib up to her nursery (Finally!!!)
• didn't feel like cooking so it was off to New Seasons for some dinner, along with some grocery shopping
• Chloe went to sleep after only 5 minutes of tears. Not bad for her first night in her new room
• downloaded some new music for Chloe

The picture doesn't really show it, but we finally "babyproofed" our living room table with the sharp edges, and Chloe doen't even seem interested in trying to pull the padding off.

Here's a pic of Chloe behind the new gate that blocks off the kitchen. To her it's just another toy to play with.

Chloe's 1st Halloween...

Better late than never! Here are some adorable pics (if I do say so myself) of Chloe as a little cow. I can't believe I was contemplating not getting a costume for Chloe's 1st Halloween. Thankfully, my best friend Nicole offered her daughter's 1st costume, which happened to be a cow. We had tons of trick-or-treaters, which was expected, and Chloe could hardly stand the excitement of a constant stream of kiddos in costumes walking up to our doorway. She would just stand at the window and point every time she saw someone coming. To make the day even better, my parents came over and spent the entire evening with us.

The Lok Family trip to NY...

After much anxiety and anticipation, we made our first trip to New York with baby in tow. The plane ride was probably our biggest source of anxiety, but the ride there turned out to be absolutely seemless. It was truly a "best case" scenario, which I suppose is why the plane ride back caught us so off guard.

We spent 5 days at Livia's home in Little Neck, Queens. Chloe was amazing the entire time. Not a single meltdown! Although she hadn't seen Grandma Livia in a few months, and this was her first time meeting Grandpa Bill, you never would have known. She was completely at ease and enjoyed getting to explore new surroundings and especially loved getting to eat Grandma Livia's fish congee. And of course she loved spending time with her Uncle Kevin.

For me, the best part of the trip was getting to spend 5 whole days with my husband and baby girl, with the loving, helping hands of Livia, Bill, and Kevin. I mean seriously... can it get any better than that? All in all it was a great trip and I am looking forward to the next one (hopefully in the Spring!).

Here are some pics from the trip:

Our peaceful plane ride to NY. Lovely!

Grandma Livia's fish congee...delicious!

Uncle Kevin gettin' some cuddle time before heading back to the grinding stone (aka - med school).

Chloe and sweet Eleanor... so this is what a sweet, quiet, peaceful baby looks like.

Chloe and Grandpa Bill.

Chloe and Grandma Livia in the cleanest house known to man.

The guilty look of a baby who peed on Grandma's carpet.

Chloe's 1st trip to the Pumpkin Patch...

We decided to take Chloe to the Pumpkin Patch on Sauvie Island to pick out some pumpkins for carving. Grandma Terri came along and we all had a great morning. The weather was a bit chilly but fortunately I had the good sense to bundle my baby up before we headed out. Chloe loved the pumpkins and we got some great pictures to prove it.

Evan found this really cool looking pumpking but wasn't sure if he wanted to buy it. By the time he made up his mind the pumpkin was gone:(

I don't think she quite understood what we were doing here.

So serious!

This is fast becoming Chloe's signature facial expression.

Chloe really seemed to like all the pumpkins around her.

Cute pic of Daddy & Baby.

Grandma Terri and Chloe.

Game Night...

Here's a cute picture of Chloe with her pink barrett. Some of my old friends from TKW were having a game night and we decided to bring Chloe along. She stayed up past her normal bedtime of 8pm and was out for the entire ride home. There was another itty bitty newborn baby at the gathering and it reminded me of when Chloe was that little. I can't believe how fast she is growing!

Trip to the Oregon Zoo...

Here are some pictures from our trip to the zoo. I think this must have been the last really sunny weekend in October. I don't think Chloe is quite old enough to really have fun at the Zoo, but she seemed to really enjoy the shuttle to and from the parking lot. We ended up sitting in the very back of the yellow school bus and the ride was quite bumpy.