Our 1st Thanksgiving in Ann Arbor

I am so thankful that we had extended family that graciously invited us into their home for our first thanksgiving so far from our NC family. My dad's cousin, Mike Haithcock, and his wife Melinda (who live here in Ann Arbor), had all of their family in for thanksgiving, and the kids and I joined them for their thanksgiving meal. It was so great to see everyone again, and I have to say the food was amazing as well! Unfortunately George had to work all day and missed the fun, but we will be glad when Christmas rolls around that he's already worked his holiday shift!

This is Mike and Melinda's graddaughter, Mattie, hanging out with Emily and Elijah.

She is just too cute and we all had a blast getting to know her a little bit.

Emily absolutely loved Mattie and pretended to be her mom. Mattie graciously handled all of the attention really well. (sorry I didn't realize the flash was on in all of these pictures; that and the movement made them all blurry)Elijah in his little "I'm stuffed" shirt. He loved Ms. Melinda's mashed potatoes!

I'm thankful for two precious, healthy children!

The Coulters Visit

George's sister, Amber, and her family came to visit us for a couple of days. We had so much fun hanging out with Amber and Eric and their four children. Emily just loves playing with her cousins, especially Elise, who is only 3 months older than Emily. They are great playmates. The first night they were here, the three big kids had a sleepover with Emily in her room. The second night, Emily was invited to stay in the hotel with their family, which she thought was a most amazing opportunity. It turns out the best part for her (other than getting to sleep with Elise) was getting to eat breakfast on the couch the next morning!

Elijah was very kind to share all of his baby toys and seats ;)

We decided to get in the holiday spirit we'd make and decorate Christmas cookies. Philip insisted we have a contest and Auntie Amber made sure every child (and Eric) had a prize cookie!

You can tell they took their job very seriously.

They had to look good enough to eat!

The girls became expert Hi Ho Cherrio players.

Yes, they pretty much lived in the tinkerbell and cinderella dresses.

Tinkerbell & our baby giraffe

October 31st escapades...

Our trip home

Emily & Elijah got their first experience on an airplane last month when we traveled to NC to see family and friends. They both proved to be excellent travelers. Here are just a few shots of our time in NC.

The $3 princess phone I found in the Wal Mart checkout line proved to be well worth the money, entertaining her for most of the trip home! You just never know...

Hanging out at the pumpkin patch...

We were able to spend several evenings with George's family as well. Emily had a blast playing with her cousins and I loved catching up with all of my sister-in-laws!

our friends James & Ryan...

Saying goodbye to Leah at the airport was not something Emily looked forward to.

If you didn't make the blog I'm sorry, I did a terrible job of taking pictures that week, but I did have a blast seeing everyone! We miss you all terribly!