Hi all, I haven’t been so good about posting lately. What have we been up to? We had a great thanksgiving weekend with Corey’s parents and grandparents (I will remind you they are 92 and still traveling), and siblings. I decided to take on the task of turkey, stuffing, and pumpkin pie to name a few. The turkey was a first for me and it actually turned out okay, surprisingly enough! I love thanksgiving, one because of the good food, and two because Corey and I have started a tradition of decorating our house for Christmas on Thanksgiving weekend. So up went the tree, mantle decor, Advent candles and stockings. Ezra got a new rocking horse (early Christmas present from grandparents in Colorado), which sits in front of the Christmas tree (twofold purpose: because there is no other place for it, and to block Ezra from eating the fake greenery :))- so everything is festive and fun.
The mom’s group I am leading at church has been such a wonderful group of friends and support. Several new babies have arrived and finally a boy this week for Ezra. There seem to be so many little girls at church! A few weeks before Thanksgiving we had a Thanksgiving dinner for the Homeless in our community. We decorated the fellowship hall and served up a traditional turkey dinner- 5 big birds! About 75 homeless folks showed up. Minhee, her kids and I put together all the grocery/gift bags of donations for every to take back to their “homes”. It took us about 3 hours to put together 60 bags because of the huge amount of donations. It was great! That night I got to sit and play the piano for the first hour of the dinner which was fun. I played only 4 songs (my repertoire is VERY limited) the whole hour. Well, most of it I made up, but I haven’t played for that amount of time in a long while.
Back to the light of my life: Ezra. 
He started crawling a couple weeks ago, has 4 teeth and more on the way down, is developing a little stranger anxiety but still goes to sunday school and moms group childcare no prob. He is such a happy baby, and can’t be more thankful. His personality is really starting to develop- definitely some stubbornness and persistence like his mother. Curiousity like his father. And the greatest little laugh. My favorite thing is to watch him light up when Corey walks through the door at night. I say “daddy’s home” in an excited voice, and he perks up, looking around for him. As soon as he sees daddy it’s pretty much certain that he’s going to grin or laugh, or wave his arms in excitement. Very heartwarming. I am also amazed at the amount of food this little child can put away. He’s really into eating whatever we are eating. Last night was his first round of taco soup- a must in our family because we eat it so often. He loved it so much. He really prefers “big people” food to pureed baby food so little by little we will keep introducing our favorite Hage foods (except for chips, french fries and icecream).
Business for Corey is finally starting to pick up. We can’t wait for the day when he can do wedding photography full-time. He has gotten a couple jobs for 2008 and we are hoping for more. It has been difficult to watch him know exactly what he wants to do, but because of the restraints of finances, not be able to pursue with all his time and energy. His pictures are beautiful. I am amazed at his talent. If you want to support him, tell your friends getting engaged and married about Hage Creative. He travels! Wives are allowed to give shameless plugs…
So clearly I need to write more often so these blogs aren’t so terribly long.
p.s. new pix on photo page
