Thanksgiving

No pictures but lots of memories. My mom, Grammy, joined us for 5 days over the Thanksgiving Holiday. She easily adapted to our crazy life, starting off with picking the kids up early from day care and dragging them to the clinic to get their annual shots. Eight shots between the three kids, however Ava ended up with 5 of them. On Wednesday, I convinced my mom that she would have plenty of time to visit with the kids over the next few days and that we should drop them off at daycare and have a grown-up day. We took a road trip up to the quaint town (and birth place of Admiral Nimitz) of Fredericksburg, TX to pick up some fudge, Christmas wine, and do some window shopping and lunch. I had a really nice time away from work and the kids. I think my mom enjoyed it as well. Thursday was full of feasting. Ryan's stepmother, Gerlyn, hosted the whole family again at her place. I have to say that I have gotten off easy the past few years. I have not made a turkey, ham, pie, or other holiday dish since moving to Texas. The kids kept my mom entertained with "watch this," "come see this," "please, help with this," "read this," "come play," and so on and so forth. We were stuffed and exhausted by the end of the day. For the first time ever, I awoke at 2am on Friday morning to partake in a Black Friday Deal. Leaving the rest of the family in bed, I put on a couple of layers of warm clothes to stand in line at the H-E-B Plus (similar to Walmart) for the next couple of hours. Other than a cold front coming through and it being 44 degrees, it wasn't too bad. I met some nice people, didn't get trampled, got a great deal on a X-mas present for the kids, and was back in bed by 4:30am. After sleeping in for a few extra hours, I rejoined the world of the living and went with my mom and the girls to see the movie Tangled. It was a cute flick, but I was more impressed that Ava sat still for an entire movie. I don't think I have ever seen her sit still for more than 20 minutes prior to this event. Saturday came too soon, and it was time to put my mom back on the plane. The kids were already to go with her, and I would have gladly shipped them off for a week. Perhaps in the future.

Wet and Wild Wedding Weekend

This past weekend, Ava and I had the honor of attending the wedding of one of my oldest and dearest friends. Siusan and Lee got married on the Outer Banks in North Carolina. I had never been to those islands before, but I love NC beaches. This one did not disappoint. Since it is off season, it reminded me of our own quiet beach of North Topsail Island, about 200 miles south. Siusan rented a 10 bedroom beach house for friends and family to stay. It was great to have everyone at the same place and allowed for a continuous stream of festivities. Starting with dinner the night before the wedding and then rolling into small ceremony on the beach bright and early in the morning followed a pancake breakfast and BBQ lunch. The weather was great for November, and the bride and groom ended up with a day that was 65 degrees, sunny, and no wind.

Siusan and Lee were the only ones crazy enough to actually go in the water (which was about the same temperature as the air), as they did a "trash the dress" photo shoot later on their wedding day. I am sure there will be some awesome photos. Ava had a blast over the weekend, and I enjoyed her company. She thought it was pretty special to take a trip with just mom. Elizabeth got to do a business/leisure trip with me about 18 months ago, so Ava was excited that it was her turn. Plus, she had been asking about going to the beach since the beginning of summer.

As I mentioned before, it was a bit cool to go in the water but that didn't stop her from making her own fun on the beach. There were a couple of other little girls in her age group for her to play with, and I really didn't see her all weekend other than when she wanted another cupcake.

Note the devilish grin, this girl peppered me with questions non stop while we were traveling. I never knew she had so much to say, but she managed to question me to death through 8 hours of travel time on each end of the trip.

Go Lizzy Go!

Today was the day of the elementary school bike rodeo. This was the day that we have been practicing for these past few months. Today was her big debut of two wheel riding in front of friends, classmates, teachers, and family. It turned out that she was just one of a few kindergartners that had shed their training wheels.

It was a competition of speed and skill. I was so proud to watch her navigate her bike through the course. I am not sure how the scoring worked or how you can score a kid on training wheels higher than a kid without, but Elizabeth won 3rd place overall out of the six or seven Kinder classes. She was just awesome, and was so excited to win a prize. I hope it sinks in that hard work and practice can really pay off.

YEAH FOR FALL!

I am sure I am speaking too soon, but the past week of cooler weather has led me to declare FALL. The acorns are falling off the trees and the kids have needed coat/sweaters a couple of mornings. Ryan is baking pies, and I put all of the kids shorts away. I did leave out their t-shirts, since I have pictures of the kids playing a leaf pile in January, wearing shorts and t-shirts.