Update- Thanksgiving in Texas

So last November, while Todd was still gone for work, Elliana and I got to go visit Texas again to be with my family for an extended Thanksgiving holiday. Elli had a fabulous time once again and her and Kyle actually got on much better-- both being a little older made all the difference. Elli loves Kyle and could say his name better than anybody else's.

Here Elli and Kyle are playing the piano together. They were singing and just as happy as could be plunking away at the notes.

Elli missed her dad a lot and she seemed to gravitate towards the other very wonderful men figures that were around- especially Chris my brother-in-law. She had a great time one afternoon just hanging out with him watching football.

Before the rest of my family came in town for the holiday, Elli, mom, and I took went and spent a couple days visiting Midland. My cousin Missy with her daughter Clara was there visiting her parent's home and we all had a great time hanging out and catching up.

Missy and I are both pregnant so it made our little get together even more timely!

Sadly, we didn't get a lot of good pics of the girls playing, but trust me, they had a great time.

After a little over a week, the rest of the family came in town and then the real partying began! Actually, it was quite awesome that all the sisters were able to come down with their families. Todd was actually the only one missing-- sad.

Here is some of my favorite outside pics of all the kids pitching in to help Granddaddy rake the leaves. Even Elli loved to help.

Here the kids are all lined up and ready to jump together in the leaves.

Elli was a little confused at first, but she caught on really fast. All the kids got so dirty but they had a great time.

Throwing leaves is priceless fun! Grace is such a cutie (*below)!

Kyle and Zac-- the boy cousins-- are quite the pair! Such great smiles!

I just love these pics. Pure happiness!


Ashley and Zac were such great caretakers of Elli. She loved having them cater to her and they loved helping her!

Elli got to be great friends with her Granddaddy. She would give him big hugs when he left for work and would just hang out next to him a lot when he was home.

Here is Grace in the cutest shirt! Cheri actually did the turkey with the ribbons on the shirt-

So crafty my sister is!!

TURKEY DINNER!! YUM!!!

We spent one afternoon visiting the science spectrum and everybody had a great time-- even little Ryann-- the newest addition to the family via Steph and Dave!!

Grocery shopping, TV news casting, and playing veterinarian-- what could be more fun!





Here are just some fun pics from the week!

We got out this jumper for Ryann, but Elli utilized it quite frequently- swinging and jumping from side to side!

Roasting marshmellows-- yummy!


I taught all the kids how to open and eat a pomegranite- they all just loved it and everyone had red tongues and fingers after.

Fun pics at the mall all dressed up to see Santa!

After the mall, we had a race for the younger kids because the older kids and parents all did a 5K Turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning.

It was such a cute race. We started out with stretching inside to get ready, then outside for a run around the block. I ran with Elli (and we might have taken a short cut)! Gracie was the winner- and you can tell from her face just how determined she was to do her best. All the kids had such fun and so we made a big tadoo about it afterwards with real gold medals and a ceremony where each was flattered with compliments. Elli fell right in line the whole time, watching the other kids and doing exactly as they did. It was so cute to see.

Here is the last pic of this post-- of all the sisters together. I love my sisters so much and I am just so happy that I got to be with them for so long.