Train Table

Christmas came a little early for Preston this year. Grandad Denton gave him a super cool train table that he plays with constantly. As you can see from the photos he is very carefully setting up each train and moving them along the track. I just love watching his true boy enthusiasm for trains. Thank you Grandad. You have given us even more hours of fun and creativity.

Post Thanksgiving hang out

On Friday morning, the DalbeyTrio woke up to a cold November morning. We headed out early (8am) not because we were trying to be those deal buster shoppers, but because we were looking to buy those 'Preston' shoes we talked about in an earlier post. I took a quick picture of our house with the snow (all 1/4 inches) and the freshly dropped yellow leaves from our ginkgo tree. We found the shoes in the next size up for a slight discount. Not bad.

After a nice breakfast wtih Grandad, Aunt Tracey and Uncle John at the Original Pancake House, we headed over to Grammie and Papa's house for Thanksgiving - part 2. We had a lovely meal and spending time together. Preston, who was very thankful to see all his friends, did not take a nap and so we decided to do some more 'artistic' activities. We spent some time playing with play-doh - big hit. I think we need to add some finger paint very soon.

After a nice dinner of leftovers, we hung out together before Preston headed to bed. Here is a picture of daddy reading to Preston before bedtime.
Thank you to both the Dalbey and Denton families for a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving

The Dalbey Trio had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We headed over to the Denton family house for some yummy food and time to relax. We also had our annual table question 'what are you thankful for'? For Steven, he said that he was thankful for family and supportive friends. Preston said he was thankful for food and friends. I am thankful for my new job and my family. I love this tradition of talking about what we are thankful for around the dinner table. I think it helps remind us of all we have to be thankful for vs. what we want or may not have.

Like many, we were pleasantly surprised by the bit of snow we received today in STL. I have lived in St. Louis my entire life and cannot remember a time when it snowed on Thanksgiving. Does this mean we will have a White Christmas? I hope so. Here is a photo of the snow we received today.

Speaking of Christmas, Preston received one of his gifts a little early this year. Grandad Denton knows how much Preston loves trains and gave him this wonderful train table this year. Preston loves the table and plays with his trains on it every chance he gets. More photos to come.

I hope we can take some family photos tomorrow!

Friends

This is a picture of Preston and his two friends, Peter and Quincy. They spend time together every Monday and Thursday at the Church in their Mom's day out program, Peeps. They have known each other since they were about 2 months old. They love each other so much and love to play with one another. I think this is super sweet. Whenever I ask Preston who he is going to play with at Peeps he will say with enthusiasm, 'Peter and Quincy'. I hope this little boys continue to be very good friends for a long time.

Doll House

I found something in my basement yesterday. I found the doll house that my Grandma Koslow let me play with when I was a little girl and gave to me a few years ago. Now, I cannot remember who made this doll house (it was either my Grandma or my Great Grandma) but the point is that I found this little treasure I had packed away and now have it out and ready for Peyton to play with when she is ready. I also noticed that this house is a great way to help prepare Preston for life with a little baby sister. We spent a good 20 minutes talking about the baby this morning as we played with the house. Now, here is a picture of the house:

Here is a picture of Preston playing with the house:

Here is a picture of the back of the house - very cool.

Here is Preston's way of cleaning up the hosue - not too bad.

Here is the little baby that goes with the house - very sweet.

Catching up

I have been really busy the past week and neglecting our family blog has been the result. For those of you who know me well know that I don't usually let my blog go a couple days without an update. Let me assure everyone that the Dalbey family is just fine...just busy and adjusting to some changes in our normal routine. So, what have we been doing the past week? Well, I went to Target one day for some groceries and found out that Preston was mesmorized by this toy:
This is the Apple Alphabet toy. Preston sat in the cart and played with the toy for about 15 minutes. Here is a picture.

I think we will add this toy to Preston's Christmas wish list. Besides our normal weekly work schedule, we had a busy weekend with our Church Art Show opening on Friday Night. I was unable to submit some of my work in the show this year, but still enjoyed going to the show and visiting with friends. If you would like to come by the Church and see some of the fabulous art, check out www.centralpres.com/arts/ for more details.

Today was super fun. When I picked up Preston after work today he proceeded to give himself a milk beard in the car on the way home. This picture doesn't really show the full extent of the milk beard but I assure you that Preston thought this was super funny.
Baby Peyton is also doing well. She is growing and moving a lot each day. We are slowly starting to plan for her arrival. I hope to take a picture of the baby belly very soon.

FREE stuff in STL

I just love St. Louis because there are so many FREE places to go. Yesterday, Steven and I took Preston to the Science Center to explore and play for a couple hours. He just loved looking out the windows on the bridge, 'building the arch', and trying out many of their explore stations. We think he is still a bit young to really understand everything there, but the experience was great and we really enjoyed our family time together. Here are a couple pictures we took downstairs by the dinosaurs.

Peyton's First Gift

I received Peyton's first give this afternoon in the mail. It is a lovely Vera Bradley backpack that I purchased with a gift card. Here is a picture of the backpack:

I am growing more excited each day and this backpack will be such a helpful item in carrying all of her important items. Baby is due March 22nd.