Thanksgiving 2008

Wow! What a Thanksgiving this was! Traditionally, Thanksgiving is held wherever Mom and Dad reside. In the beginning of our relationship, Kim and I traveled to Mississippi for my favorite holiday of the year. When Mom and Dad moved to Savannah, we were in hog heaven to combine Mom's cooking with a visit to Paula Dean's. Thanksgiving 2007 involved negotiating the sale of our house across the fax machine and we decided Thanksgiving would be spent in our new home for 2008.

On Carl, on Colleen, on Quinn and baby Riley, on Mom, on Dad, come dash away all to Austin Texas for the holiday. They arrived in small groups on Tuesday, the 25th. It took mere seconds for the chaos to begin. With 5 grandchildren of every age under 6, our house was a zoo! And did I mention that Kim invited our lovely British neighbors to join us for the big meal? Oh my! I can't believe they stayed for dessert in the midst of the craziness!

We took the family to Central Market on Wednesday for a lovely outdoor lunch and plenty of space for the kids to run. The weather was perfect and the food was fabulous. I received 2 thumbs from the North Carolina crowd. Here are Carl and Colleen with McKenzie. Dad took way more pictures than I did so stay tuned for more images.



I remember when Carl met Madison for the first time. She was 8 months old and we were having her baptized. I was sitting next to Carl in our living room when I went to pass Madison to him. He held up his 2 hands and said he was afraid too hold her. "She's too little." Look at them now. I saw such a sweet connection between the 2 of them. Carl is so sensative and she thinks he is amazing.



Dad met Morgan for the first time and, of course, fell in love as did Mom.




My very brave Uncle Mark, Aunt Laura, and their son Kevin drove down from Denton on Friday to see the family. If you were to ask them about the visit, they would probably tell you they survived some kind of freak November tornado. It was wonderful to see them and they have all my kuddos for surviving the visit!




Can you believe Mark is going to be 50 in a few weeks? This says to me - do what you love and you'll look great.

We had a wonderful dinner Friday night at the brand new Salt Lick in Round Rock. The food was incredible, though the service was a wee bit slow given the heavy crowd. Thankfully, Nanny had bubbles in her purse to entertain the little ones. And McKenzie and Riley were just the girls to catch those bubbles in their mouths. They played so sweetly together throughout the whole visit. Very sweet. Here are random pictures from dinner.

















Everyone flew home on Saturday, leaving us in a very quiet house. It was quite a Thanksgiving, complete with a little drama, a whole lot of food, and a bunch of kids. I have to say I am thankful at this moment that we have 11 months to prepare for the next Thanksgiving, which I pray is back at Mom and Dad's house! I love you all!