Black Friday Madness

Every year on Black Friday, instead of hitting the malls, a bunch of us get together at Willow's house for our own chaos. This year it was 4 old friends from 3 different states, six kids and one husband who ran for the hills. It's such a fun time to reconnect and the kids just have a blast playing together.

Avery took a ride in the Tonka truck. Natalie and Maria took a break from playing to watch a movie.

All of the kids... You may be wondering about the outfits but the 3 oldest were playing dress-up earlier in the day and never changed.

Joey (3), Maria (5), Matthew (7 months), Avery (1), Natalie (4) and Danny (3 months).

And of course we had to get a picture of the 4 of us. Apparently Willow did not get the memo to wear her cream colored turtleneck sweater.

And today we stopped by Karen's house and Hope was in the best mood. I just had to snap a quick photo of such a cutie.

Happy Thanksgiving

We headed over to Mimi and Papa's house yesterday for Thanksgiving dinner. Here's Mimi and Danny.


Garrett got to carve the turkey. Yum!

The family gathered 'round the table.

Aunt Liz, Ray and Danny.

Uncle Pat and Natalie making faces.
Uncle Steve and Natalie worked with play dough.

We all had a great time.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

We're Back!

Phew! What an adventure, and boy am I tired. We arrived home late last night after a great trip. We saw grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, dogs .... and even Santa Claus! I took a million pictures so I loaded them onto an online album.

Click here to view the pictures! 

There are some really cute ones and many attempts at the perfect picture so bear with me if some of them seem similar. Especially trying to get 4 cousins to all look and smile at the same time. Not easy!

I've put just a few here as a teaser.

Danny meeting Auntie M for the first time.




Greg's grandmother, Mamaw, got to spend time with Danny and Natalie.

And here we are with Greg's grandfather, Papaw.

Greg's Grandma Lois in Chicago.

Sydney and Natalie having a tickle contest.

The 4 cousins being so patient for me.

Santa was at the Bass Pro Shop.

Fishing at Table Rock Lake in MO. They weren't biting.

The weather on Sunday was beautiful. Sunny and 75 degrees.

It was great to see everyone.

Road Trip

We've packed our bags and are heading west to visit various family members. First stop = Chicago, Illinois and then heading south to Missouri. We will be using a combination of airplanes, rental cars, shuttle buses and taxi cabs. Should be quite the adventure.



A big thank you to our dog-sitters, Mimi and Papa and our mail collector, Holly.

Here's to a safe trip and stay tuned for a bazillion pictures upon our return.

Lilly & Ashleigh

Ash and Lilly came up today for a visit.

The girls colored pictures

And played dress-up

Danny thought the whole thing was boring

So they tried to include him by decorating him with toys. Please note the two plastic rings on his feet and the plastic ring by his head. It was on top of his head like a hat, but slide off before I snapped the picture.

We had a great time and are so glad you guys came up to spend the day with us.

3 Months Old

Yesterday Danny turned 3 months old. Although he has his moments, he really is a very good baby. He smiles all the time now -- especially when Natalie talks to him. He can be fussy and on the verge of crying and when he hears her voice, he immediately turns towards her and begins to smile. I'm not convinced when people say that at this age babies smiles are not voluntary ... or that it's just gas. I think she's got the magic touch.

Click here to see his 2 month photo and here to see his 1 month photo.

Just goofing around

Here are a few pictures we've taken over the past couple of days.

And this is Danny in his "Little Brother" onesie taken yesterday.

And here he is in the same onesie on the day we brought him home.