Thanksgiving, part 3

This is the last one, we promise! Is it obvious how much we enjoyed having Juniper as an active participant in our Thanksgiving holiday?

Happy Thanksgiving from Sally Honeycutt on Vimeo.

Thanksgiving, part 2

The day before Thanksgiving, Violet and Juniper helped measure out and mix the dry ingredients for pie crusts. Thanksgiving morning, Sally, Aaron, and Juniper made apple pie.



Flour everywhere!



Violet studiously and seriously moved the flour mix back and forth between cup and bowl for about half an hour. Kayla helped to clean up everything that Violet spilled.



Juniper was a good mixer, when she didn't get distracted by her desire to eat the flour-sugar-salt mixture.



Rolling out the dough. (Thanks, Sunanda and Richa for the chapati roller, which doubles nicely as a child-size rolling pin!)



Juniper enjoys her first Thanksgiving dinner. (Yeah, she was here for Thanksgiving last year, but she didn't eat any of the food and certainly didn't have any awareness of what was going on.)

Thanksgiving, part 1

Last weekend, we went to Nature's Harmony Farm to pick up our Thanksgiving turkey.


Juniper had a fantastic time running around the fields and seeing all the animals.



The only downside of the day was that she didn't understand why she couldn't touch all of the animals. A particularly pathetic moment was when I carried her away from the pigs, while she desperately squirmed and tried to run back to them, sobbing, "I NEED TO SOFT THE PIGS! I NEED TO SOFT THE PIGS!!!"



But she did get to soft a peacock, a baby chick, and a couple of farm dogs.



We saw cows...



...and, of course, turkeys. The toms were all showing off and trying to impress the visitors. Birds like this are obviously the inspiration for the ubiquitous image of the Thanksgiving turkey.



The toms weren't the only ones with personality.



We feel really lucky that there's a local farm where we can buy free-range, heritage turkeys, a rare thing in a country where almost all meat is produced on factory farms. It also made for a really delicious Thanksgiving meal!

Mama's girl

Yup, she's adorable. But before you think it's just another cute picture of Juniper, take a close look at the colors and the rounded photo edges. 1970's. This is Sally at 15 months. For comparison, here are a few photos of Juniper at that age.

Toddler Love

In case we haven't gushed enough about Juniper and Violet's friendship, here are some absurdly adorable photos of the two of them loving on one another.



Note Violet's interesting alternative to conventional footwear. Shoes are the one thing the girls just can't share, so when we left Violet's shoes in her parents' car, Aaron had to get creative. She's wearing a pair of Juniper's sock, covered with a pair of men's athletic socks.




When Juniper fell down and bonked herself, Violet came up to her, gave her a kiss, and told her, "It's ok, Junper."

Juniper discovers black-eyed peas

This video is from early September, but Juniper continues to enjoy black-eyed peas whenever they are served. We're lucky that she is such an adventuresome and enthusiastic eater! I sometimes fear that our very vocal delight in Juniper's approach to food will somehow condemn us to a second child that's as picky as I (Sally) once was, but for now we're enjoying our very omnivorous family.

Black-eyed peas from Sally Honeycutt on Vimeo.

Juniper chows down on rice, apples, raisins, and BLACK-EYED PEAS! (If you look closely, you may notice that there aren't many black-eyed peas left, since she was studiously picking them out and eating them first.)

Towel Dress

Halloween Sunflowers

We continue to benefit from hand-me-downs from Violet's cousins. These sunflowers are the perfect toddler costume. It's a fleece hoodie--warm, easy, and adorable. Just pair with brown pants and you're all done.


Both girls were having a great time on the tire swing...



...but Violet had more tolerance for spinning than Juniper.

Why?

J: I want some more peas.
A: If you finish those peas, we'll give you some more.
J: Why?
A: Because we're nice to you.
J: Why?
A: Because we love you.
J: Why?
A: Because you're our daughter.
J: Why?
(pause)
J: Because I'm a cutie-patootie.


Completely unrelated, but this morning Juniper came up with a great, complex, and grammatically correct sentence:

"I want to take my shoes off so I can put on my robot socks."