Here Comes A New Shelmet

As we usually do, we spent this Thanksgiving up at my parent's house. They typically have 20 - 30 people over and this year was no exception. It was Zoe's first Thanksgiving, so we wanted to make sure that she got a chance to eat all of the staples of the holiday like turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry. The cranberry never quite made it to her mouth, but the rest she seemed to enjoy, especially the roll. After the meal, we tried as best as we could to get all of the cousins together for some pictures. Some turned out better than others. It is quite a feat to get three babies to sit in the same chair and have them all look the same direction, let alone smile for the camera. Being that it is Thanksgiving, it is only fair that I say what I give thanks for. I give thanks for Cheryl, who is a wonderful mother and the best partner I could have ever have; I give thanks for Zoe, who is a far better baby than I ever dreamed I would have; and I give thanks for all of the

Yesterday Zoe turned 8 months old. I feel like a broken record, but seriously, where does the time go? She has gotten so much bigger, she can sit up like a champ and she army crawls like nobodies business. I can't wait to see what the next month will bring. As you'll notice from the pictures, she no longer needs any kind of support when she is seated in her chair. She's getting so big, even though she's still so little. You can find these pictures and more in Zoe's set on Flickr.

So, as mentioned previously, our Halloween costumes came from Zoe's favorite song I'm a Nut. Well, as promised, we did a little filming, I did some editing, and we now have a music video to accompany the outfits. Words don't really do it justice, so I'll let it speak for itself.

This past Saturday the finals for the bocce league that Cheryl joined were held in Gold Star Park. Sadly her team the Golden Rollers did not move ahead in their bracket, but that didn't stop Zoe from having a good time. She was able to watch the game from the shoulders of her very dapper daddy. On Sunday I took the family downtown to go to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. While we were out in Seattle Cheryl mentioned that she had not seen any big dinosaur bones. Since I know that Zoe hadn't seen any either, I figured this would be a great opportunity to go to the Academy. Here are a few pictures: As you can plainly see, Zoe is at the height of fashion in her pink track suit. Of course, if you check out Zoe's set on Flickr you will find these pictures, plus more.

On Thursday my mom came down to have dinner with us. I was excited to show her just how well Zoe is eating. I didn't realize that Zoe was going to develop a severe case of the raspberries. Luckily, we were able to capture this on the video camera. This is great because typically as soon as we start recording her, whatever it was we were trying to get on film, she immediately stops doing. I offer you, Zoe and her raspberries. I would have to say that my favorite part is in the second video. My mom tells Zoe that she needs a bath and she yells and tells her what she thinks of that idea. Such a sweet, little lady.

When Zoe was born, Barack Obama was the president. Today the country is voting to determine who will be president for the next four years. It will still be a long time before Zoe gets to cast her own vote, but when Cheryl got home today, the two of them went around the corner to our voting center and did their civic duty. Cheryl took a couple of pictures. The girls are asleep now, and the race is still too close to call, but I assume when we get up tomorrow (hopefully not in the middle of the night) we'll know who who won. I hope everyone got out to vote today! As you can see by her sticker, Zoe did.