Here she is!

So I finally got around to scanning in our ultra sound pictures. Here she was at 10 weeks.
And here she was at 20- what a cutie.

Merry Christmas!

We bought our Christmas tree early this year. Somehow we have created a tradition of naming our trees, and this year's edition is Shaq. It's the first time we've had a tree this big, so we will probably need to buy a few more ornaments.

Speaking of bigger things- here I am at 25 weeks. My tummy has really grown- I had another doctor's appointment yesterday and I had gained 9 pounds in 5 weeks! Whoops, I'm really not sure what happened. Oh well, I just hope it doesn't happen again. She still kicks a lot which is wonderful. I bought some clothes for her this week which was so fun. I'm trying to not think too much about what we need until Christmas is over, but I know time will go by so fast and she will be with us before we know it.

Friendly Competition

So this year marked the 2nd Annual Thorpe Family Gingerbread Competition. Last year was kind of a trial run, so this year we all had a better idea of what we were up against. The competition was pretty fierce. Actually, we had a great time and ate a lot of candy (we bought way to much- like $60 too much.)
Dad's creation started out as Lake Sammamish with speed boats on it. Then it turned into a guy in a bath tub and ended up being the Lake Samamish Monster. Definite points on creativity.
Mom did kind of a mosaic thing that was a Poinsettia with a candle in the middle. It was really pretty and cool- she probably had the best use of candy.
Kara and Josh made a Monopoly board. It was awesome- Kara even made the "go to jail" guy out of taffy or something. Their's had the most details and they were the last ones working- way to endure to the end!
Megan made a cop car- how fitting. She had the best use of real-life experience.
We were all giving Selina ideas right and left, but she came up with this little beauty all on her own. That's her singing on a stage (with purple hair) with back up singers. All those gummy bears are her fans. It was pretty clever.
I don't think Al had much of a plan, but it turned into a pretty cute little robot. He also helped Spence with some details on his. Al was a team player.
I was pretty adventurous this year and tried for a Southern-style steam boat. After all the major construction I got kind of pooped out on the decorating, but it turned out pretty cute.
Last but certainly not least was Spencer's creation. If I had to pick an overall winner it would be him for sure.

If you haven't seen the movie Hot Rod, this may not make much sense to you. But that is the famous moped bus jump. His scene was complete with grandstands, buses, the am radio station and Rod Kimball's quiet place. Also note the inscription on the ramp as well as the fire works. Way to go Spence- stay sweet!

Happy Turkey Day!

So the Sunday before Thanksgiving we woke up to an interesting sound. I actually thought it was puppies, so I looked out the window and saw 7 or 8 wild turkeys roaming around our parking lot! They gobbled and everything. I thought of them as I ate my Thanksgiving dinner- yum.


Thanksgiving was fun- Josh, Kara and Megan came up from Utah for the weekend. My parents were getting ready to move, so unfortunately we had to do some packing and stuff. Almen got a little carried away.
We went to Bellevue Botanical Gardens. If you are ever in the area around Christmas time, it's worth it. Actually it's free, so it's really worth it. They do up the whole place in Christmas lights but they make everything look like flowers and plants. It was really cool.



Our next stop was Snowflake Lane. Right in down town Bellevue they set up snowflake lights and decorations and stuff. Then every night at 7:00pm they have a bunch of toy soldier drummers. They pipe in music and the kids walk down the street and drum a long. It 'snows' and they hand out candy. We have gone the last few years and it's a fun way to start off the Christmas season.