Happy Thanksgiving!!

We had a very relaxing and uneventful Thanksgiving around here. On Thursday it was just the four of us so I made a ham, mac & cheese, dressing (my favorite!), green beans, cranberry sauce, and rolls for lunch. My cherry cobbler crust didn't work out so Daniel took the kids to Walmart later that day to get dessert :) We ate and watched the parade and some football games. I was planning on doing the local Turkey Trot with some of my friends but I haven't been running as much lately, and I was not looking forward to running in the cold...so I didn't even sign up. Today we went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory with Grandpa, Nanna, and Uncle Jacob who were in town for a football game. I didn't take any pictures of our Thanksgiving but here is one of the kids playing with some Thanksgiving stickers from Gigi, one of Avery in her new dress from Gamma and Great-Pa, and one of our new washer and dryer!!

N'Awlins

This past weekend I made a quick trip to New Orleans to see my good friend Leslie from college. Even though she comes to Texas now and then, I had not been to visit her since I was pregnant with Aidan five years ago! She picked me up Saturday and we did some shopping before heading out to the French quarter with her friend Betsy. We lived it up that night and spent the next day recovering :) We went back to her house in Mandeville and I got to see her husband Dave and her boys, who I hadn't seen in forever! They are adorable and remind me a lot of my kids...Jack is very much a first child like Aidan, and Theo is the laid-back younger sib like Avery. I flew back Monday and can't wait until our next get-together (Jack destroyed me in Memory, so I want a rematch!). Thanks for everything, Leslie!!! And thanks for holding down the fort and letting me have a fun kid-free weekend, Daniel!!

Our Week

Here are a few things we've been up to. Daniel was out of town part of this week so I took Aidan and Avery to have dinner with my friends Whitney and Mollie one night. The kids had a blast with them...maybe it's because my friends are just as silly as my kids? :)



Avery started a gymnastics class on Monday! I have a feeling this will be much more up her alley than ballet. She's very fearless and loves to tumble. She had a pretty good first day! Sorry the pics are a little blurry, our "good" camera is out of commission right now :(


We've gone on two fun field trips with our Mom's Club, one to a fire station and one to a neat therapeutic horse-riding facility, where we got to feed horses!

Florida Part 4

We went to the beach on Halloween and although it was sort of chilly and windy, the kids had a BLAST! The water was a little cold but it didn't bother them a bit. Avery made the funniest face when she was walking on the sand...like it was a shocking sensation to her! It wasn't their first time to the beach, but it had been over a year so I guess she'd forgotten. We dried off and ate at a pizza restaurant before heading home.

Florida Part 3

After the conference was over, Daniel and I went up to Coral Gables and stayed at a hotel near my parents' condo (it would have been a little too "cozy" for all 6 of us). Since we were there over Halloween, Aidan & Avery dressed up and we went to a Trunk or Treat Fallfest at my parents' church. We usually do Halloween activities through my mom's club, our neighborhood, WEE School, and our church which we had to miss this year because of our trip...so I was glad for this one and only chance to have the kids dress up in their outfits! The funniest costume I saw was a little Chilean miner...he won the Best Costume contest!

Florida Part 2

Here are some pics from the resort. It was gorgeous and our room was really nice. Uncle Cody was also at the conference, and Aunt Amy, Sage, and Logan were staying there with him...so my mom brought Aidan & Avery over one morning to swim with their cousins. The cabana pool was heated and had a lazy river and water slide. So fun! I LOVED being able to sleep late and bum around the pool during the day, and attend some fun PWC activities with Daniel at night...there was a dinner cruise one night, and we went out to dinner with some of Daniel's bosses and co-workers to eat some delicious crab and hit the South Beach scene!

Our room:

Our view:


Cabana pool:

Aidan going down the water slide:

Cousin Fun:

A waterfall in front of the hotel:

On the dinner cruise:

Florida Part 1

We just spent a week-long vacation in Florida, thanks in part to Daniel's company having a conference in Miami! My parents met us at the airport and took Aidan & Avery home to Coral Gables with them, while I stayed with Daniel at the resort where the conference was held. Here are some pics of plane ride, and some of the kids' adventures with Papi and Grammy!



A friend loaned me this DVD player...a lifesaver!!!

Making Halloween cookies with Grammy:


At Papi's office: