My Thanksgiving Holiday

Just for Robyn - a quick post of Leah

This post is for Robyn because she is missing her granddaughter Lead. I have more to come, but I have been SO extremely busy here at Susan's house cleaning, decorating, picking up dog poop, sorting cattle, cooking, and visiting. Hopefully, later tonight I will have a good post on the blog.

Yes, I did get Tim in a photo! Isn't this a sweet family?

This warms my heart!

Happy Birthday to Natalie and Emily's mom - Stacia

Stacia and daughter Emily

Stacia and daughter Natalie

I had visitors on Veteran's Day - which was also Kevin and Barbara's birthdays

I am quite sure that a little love from his daughter Avery was the best birthday gift Kevin received this year.

For all of you who don't get to see Kevin with Avery, it is a joy to watch them together. Kevin's love for Avery is quite evident.

Like father, like daughter.

We worked really hard to get a family photo of Sharon, Kevin and Avery. For proof of how hard it was, just look at the next two photos.

Kevin's birthday cake was highlighted by Avery's hand print. Susan outlined the hand print in icing and put an A on it for Avery.

The cake decorating crew: Anna, Susan, Avery and Hallie.

The clean up

There is no denying that Anna enjoyed the frosting.

I think this photo speaks for itself. Hallie is sticking out her tongue at me. You can click on the photo to see a larger view.

Avery enjoyed playing with her cousins Hallie and Anna. She watched their every moves, I am sure Avery learned a great deal about playtime.

A popcicle and a laptop computer - it doesn't get any better than that for 3-year-old Hallie

Ok, ok, so this is my personal rant. I had a great time playing with Anna and Hallie, but I don't know how many times they asked me where Nancy was. (For your information, Nancy was visiting her Uncle Ed in Boise, Idaho, with her sister Jane.) When I took this photo of them as they were leaving Manhattan, they once again said they really wanted to see Nancy. I have told many of you several times that my family likes Nancy better than they like me. Unfortunately, Anna and Hallie proved that to be true over and over again. They wanted to play with Nancy. In fact, Anna wanted Nancy to teach her some new acrobat moves! I don't know what part of this whole thing is more amazing - that they like Nancy better than me OR that Anna thinks Nancy is an expert at acrobat moves! What do you think?

Birthdays - some belated, some current, and some just memories

I'm back! I haven't posted in a while because I have been working really hard and haven't had time to post. If you believe that you might also believe that I will be preparing Thanksgiving dinner. NOT on both of those. Anyway, I have a few birthday wishes to send. First, I need to wish my great-niece Natalie a happy 4th birthday. She celebrated while Nancy and I were in Boston and I didn't get anything posted at that time. It was hard for me to miss her party. Debbie sent me a few photos from the celebration - thanks sister.

Now for the current birthdays - Happy Birthday to Kevin and Barbara. Unfortunately, (or fortunately for them) I am not posting any photos of them. They both shy away from my camera so it is hard to get a photo of them. It is interesting that they both live in Manhattan and I have a tough time getting their photos

Birthday memories - my Dad's birthday is on November 15. Whenever I think of Kevin's birthday, I think of my Dad's birthday as well because we celebrated the two together. I really wish I could hear my Dad say one more time - "Mary Kay, you are the best daughter west of the Mississippi." Now, I know he said that about Susan and Debbie, too. That is not the point. Sometimes, you just miss your Dad and the things that made you smile about him.

One more thing - this is my shout out to veterans as we honor them on Veteran's Day. Of course, I am thinking mostly about Dad and Joe. Again, I wish they were here to thank them. This post has made me emotional, but sometimes life is like that. I guess that is why I want to spend as much time as possible with family, especially the little ones.

Natalie had one of those jumper thingy-bobs in her backyard for her birthday party.

Hello birthday girl!

Natalie had a K-State themed birthday party.
I love the excitement on her face - she was looking at her birthday cake.

Sweet Baby Leah slept through the birthday party of her cousin Natalie

Natalie's little sister Emily is ADORABLE!

Oh, sweet Jody with her beautiful baby girl Leah. Seems like just yesterday that I was holding Jody when she was Leah's age.