The Santa Encounter

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, we can officially emerse ourselves fully into the Christmas season. And the holiday can only be completed with a visit to see Santa. He was making appearances at the Bass Pro Shops at Gillette Stadium. The BPS has a lot of seasonal stuff going on for kids. A make-your-own ornament craft table, different games, holiday elves roaming around, model trains galore. They had a Bass Pass option, where you receive a ticket to come back for Santa at a given time, and are then guaranteed in within a half hour. It worked out pretty well.

We checked in to get our pass, then walked around to kill a half hour. If you have never been to the BPS, it's quite a scene. I'm not a hunter/fisherman - but I still love it. Lots of life-sized stuffed animals to see - pheasant, beaver, moose, wolves, a bear, squirrels - all in a setting to reflect their natural habitat. They also have large ponds with live trout and other fish to see. Pretty cool. We got Sadie with the bear - she didn't know what to think of it.

I'd liken the store to a outdoorsman's Macy's. They sell everything - down to china sets with a leaf/twig border and for the young hunting female, a pink camouflage bed set. A sight to see. We also strolled through the kid section and had Sadie model a Daniel Boone raccoon-tail hat.

Finally it was time to see the Big Guy. We know how Sadie reacts to men with beards (sorry Grandpa) so we opted to all be in the photo for her comfort - and mostly to avoid a scene. Next year she'll fly solo. He was a sweet Santa, wished us a Happy Christmas...and sent us on our merry way.

Tiny Turkey

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Grandma Lohr's side of the family in Pepperell. Sadie found out that she fits perfectly into a turkey roasting pan - she looks just as delicious too!

Sadie spent the majority of the afternoon unloading Auntie Jan's giant basket of newspapers waiting to be recycled. It was endless entertainment. Hopefully she was taking note of the best Black Friday shopping deals. She better get her mother something good for Christmas.

Wild West

Friday afternoon Sadie and I embarked on a journey down the Pike to visit Western Mass. We made a very brief stop to see the Breguet family. They haven't seen Sadie since she was just a few weeks old. With three kids running around their house, there was a lot of action. Sadie's favorite past time is people watching, particulary kids. Here she is with the youngest Breguet, Joseph (20 months). They were trying to get him to "pet the baby" - and he'd come close but wouldn't commit.

By the time we settled in at Grandma & Pepere's house, it was time for dinner, a bath and bed...but not before some play time with the kitties. Bentley (the runt brother of our very own James) didn't mind a little tail pulling. Must be something with that particular litter.

Bathtime in the sink was a new feature. And lots of flash bulbs. Our model on yet another photo shoot - however quickly becoming sleepy.

We woke up bright and early today to visit with Sadie's great grandfather, who lives at the Holyoke Soldier's Home. Those who seem him on a regular basis were astounded at his alertness and wonderment with Sadie. He's sadly at a stage where he doesn't remember much - but he sure knows Sadie's family.

Here Kitty Kitty!

As anticipated, Sadie has discovered her love for felines! We have 3 cats - James, Dexter & Emmett - so there are a lot of fluffy tails to chase around. When the cats are on the screened-in porch, it's a little like a zoo. They can examine eachother with the saftey of thick glass in between.

Dexter & Emmett are on the skittish side so it'll be years before they let Sadie come close, but James on the otherhand is a rag doll. He's always been the most mellow, easy going cat when it came to being man-handled.

Sadie is absolutely delighted that she can love him up. We are trying to teach her "gentle" petting, but it's still very rough. James is such a good sport. She grabs his fat (yes, he's quite large and overweight) and sits on him - and he happily takes it.

If you look close at this last picture, you'll see that both Sadie and James are drooling. Two of a kind!

Perfect 10

Yesterday Sadie celebrated her 10 month birthday and the photo ops to go along with each month is proving to become increasingly difficult. As you've seen she loves to eat the paper. I was planning to be clever this time around, but after a late day at work, stopping at the pediatrician for a flu shot, making dinner and cleaning up a catnip mess (the piggies busted into our stash during the day) - we ran out of time. So this is it - and she's still darn cute:

Sadie has a new fascination with the dishwasher. She's amazed how the door comes up and down and the dishes come in and out. She loves to help load it up! And it's about time we got some help around the house - if only we could teach her how to use a shovel come January.