Our Thanksgiving Holiday

 I say this every year but I can't believe how fast the Thanksgiving holiday flew by. David had the whole week off so he, Bella, and I flew into Austin to spend the first part of the week with Bella's Kiki (David's mom), Allison & McKenzie. It was sweet to see cousins so close in age playing together...or should I say sweet seeing McKenzie trying to play with Bella and Bella only being interested in trying to walk!! They did have fun playing in the sand and taking baths together. We tried to get some Christmas pictures of the two of them but good luck getting both an 11 month old and 2 1/2 year old to look and smile at the same time!

For thanksgiving we went to my parents house.  As always there was a lot of food, kids running around, and smack talking about football.  I am very proud of my Aggies this year and think part of their win had to do with Bella sporting her A&M overalls!!  Us ladies did our traditional black Friday shopping (thanks to David for babysitting) and came home pretty empty handed, which has been the case the past few years.  I guess had I been in the market for a big TV I could have scored a deal!  Unfortunately Bella developed a fever of 102 and a subsequent cold that day so the next few days were trying to deal with a fussy baby and frequent awakenings at night. 

This is Bella's "stink face" that she does on command!! It is puckering of the lips, scrunching of the nose, and huffing and puffing through the nose....soo funny!!!

Bella in her Bonfire overalls, ready to cheer on her Aggies!!!  One of David's old bonfire buddy's wife made these for Bella when she was born!!

Bella's uncle got her some cowgirl boots.....yeehaw!! These will be perfect for the rodeo next year!

My daddy and his two granddaughters

Bella loving the ridiculously big dog at Sam's.

David flew back to Austin that Sunday to have a second interview for an ENT position at Scott & White in Temple and Bella and I stayed the whole next week with my parents. One day we went down to Houston to visit a few friends. It was great getting to hang out with Bella's original play group, just like old times.  We laughed at how although they have gotten bigger, their little personalities are still pretty much the same!

Bella, Hunt and Maddie-all are 2 weeks apart!

One day we decided to go to a bounce house and let the kids play. I think the moms had more fun than the kiddos but isn't that what "playgroup" is all about with infants?!

The last few days at my parents we just kinda hung around, took some random photos, went shopping, and just enjoyed being together.  My grandmother from New Mexico was also there so it was nice having Bella get to spend so much time with her Great Grandmother.

Bella loving on her pillow pet (yes, impulse purchase on my parents part...what Bella wants, Bella gets says my dad....yikes!!!)

Bella "helping" with Christmas decorations!

Grandma has the best tupperware cabinet!!

Enjoying the sunshine in the front yard.

Christmas fun on the golf course.

Look, I CAN crawl...I just don't WANT to!!!!

Aye, aye, aye....too many pictures!!!!!

I was dreading our flight back to California the minute we LEFT California.  David had even said to me on our flight over, "I'm gonna pray for you on your flight alone back with Bella".  Not that she was fussy or bad, she is just all over the place and it is really hard to try and feed her and keep her content in such a confined space.  So my parents bring me to the airport and walk me in.  I go to get my boarding pass and check my bag and it is 7 pounds over...are you kidding me....I didn't even buy anything.  So to avoid paying $50 (yea, NOT $25) I am pulling stuff out and handing it to my parents.  Four pounds later the nice guy told me he would let it go. He then asked for my parent's ID's and got them security passes so that they could walk me all the way up to my gate!!!  To top off my blessings that morning, the flight wasn't full so I not only got to bring on Bella's car seat but had the whole row to myself (and she slept for an hour!!!).  And alas, our trip is over.  Now to gear up for the Christmas crew that will be arriving in two weeks....David's mom, and then my parents, brother and his family.

I thought I had escaped the plague of illness but as always, once the stress leaves the illness set in.  The stress of travel has left and I am sitting at home battling the sniffles.  Oh well!!