What a wonderful time!

My parents (2)+ sisters (2)+ their husbands (2)+ their kids (3)= an absolutely wonderful Thanksgiving week. They made the long trip from Texas to spend Thanksgiving with us. Dispite quite a few of us having horrible colds and stomach issues, we had a great time shopping, playing video games, watching movies, eating, and best of all just being together. On the Wed. before Thanksgiving my friend Jana, who is a wonderful photographer here, took our family picture- we haven't all been together in years and have never had a profesional picture taken (I can't wait to see it) http://jselanderphotography.com/jblog/ (there are a few sneak peaks of some of the pictures taken, including Kyle and I, my niece and nephew and little sisters family). Since we will not be together this year for Christmas we celebrated it by putting the tree up on the night before Thanksgiving and then opened presents on Thanksgiving morning before watching the parade on our big screen and cooking our little hearts out for a wonderful Thanksgiving meal just before the Cowboys game. I miss my family so much and the week went by just too fast, someday I look forward to not having to say good by for so long. The kids loved having everyone around, Gavin is still recovering from his favorite big cousin Hayden. Enjoy the pictures and I will begin to stop thinking about how much I miss being with my family and enjoy life as it is!

My little 5 month old nephew Briley!

Beauty parler night- Avalyn got her hair cut by Mau Mau (my mom) and her nails painted by her Aunt Kathryn

Cambria and Briley playing!

"Christmas" morning

Cambria's 1st Christmas present and Avalyn in her new princess outfit (she is still wearing 3 days later)

The babies playing with their new toys!

Gavin's new Leapster and guitar- he was thrilled!

The new kitchen in the play room- Avalyn has been "baking" cupcakes for days now!


Thanksgiving meal! Our 24 pound Turkey and room for everyone at the table (including our friends Andy and Melinda and their little girl Sidney)

Hanging out with Uncle Kevin (or as Avalyn says Kuncle Kevin) and Briley with his daddy Brian.

One last picture before going home! All the cousins!

catching up

Wow, it's been a while. We are doing well and thrilled that the holidays are right upon us. All of us, accept Cambria, have been sick over the last couple of weeks. Gavin had it the worst- I don't understand how we could potty train him in just a couple of days, but to get him to use a bowl or toilet to throw up in was impossible (we have cleaned mattresses, the couch, and of course the carpet- which Kyle steam cleaned just a few days before he got sick). I am glad it is over and we are all feeling much better. Praise the Lord Cambria didn't get sick. Right now I am avoiding laundry and cleaning the house to blog, anything is more fun than laundry. I let it pile up all week, so I only had to fold it and put it away once before my family arrives tommorrow night- I don't know what kind of logic that is since you can barely see the carpet in my room right now, good luck finding socks and it will will probably take me a couple of hours to finish once I begin (yuck).

My attempt at a picture of the 3 today- Cambria would have nothing of it, she was ready for her nap.

A little update on Cambria- can you believe she is already 10 months old! We've notice since the surgery that her left eye is still moving inward quite a bit and after several weeks of seeing no improvement in that eye we called the doctor. Don't worry it isn't serious, they are still much improved since the surgery and she is doing great. The doctor told us to put a patch on her for 90 min. a day till her next appointment on Dec. 2nd. Cambria isn't crazy about the patch, the first time she wore one she cried for the 1st 30 min. She has done better since the first time, but is still not happy about it. She acts really sleepy and messes with her glasses a lot more when she has it on. I am just glad it is for only 90 min.- hopefully that doesn't have to go for longer.

Otherwise she is doing well and is even starting to improve on her sitting skills! Her visual specialist (who visits ever-other week) brought a physical theropist with her on Mon. to see if she could help with her sitting. A few days before they came Cambria started to allow me to put her in the sitting position for a few seconds at a time- with a toy to play with and her legs spread apart. I was so glad to see this since there has been absolutely no improvement on her desire to sit until that time. She did great for the theropist and seems to still be improving slowly. The funny thing was when they were here she was scooting around and actually went to the steps (that she ussually just touches) and pulled herself up on the bottom step for a few shocking moments till she fell back down to scooting position. We were so proud, she has never pulled herself up on anything and ussually just turns herself around when she gets to something too high. She hasn't done it since, but it was a very proud moment for all of us! Sorry there is no picture of it, I didn't have my camera with me quick enough and she has not been thrilled with us when we try to get her do it.

Thanks for the help

Just haven't been feeling too well lately. No, I am not Pregnant- Kyle and Avalyn also had this little bug.

Update on the picture: I was leaning toward #1, 5, or 6. I went with #6. I am with you Jessi, my absolute favorite was the first of the extra, but it didn't seem right for the baby dedication. I needed you to take the picture Jessi or Jana. I know I am spoiled to have such wonderful photographer friends- miss you Jess and Thank you Jana so much for taking pictures in the rain yesterday for our Christmas card.

We had a wonderful weekend with Kyle's parents last weekend. It's always sad to see family leave, it makes you realize how much you miss out on being so far away from family. Now we are gearing up for Thanksgiving with my family. We are so excited to see all of them- just wish we wouldn't have to say goodbye so soon after they arrive (okay I will not think about that, they aren't here yet). We are so Thankful that we will all be able to be together for Thanksgiving and "Christmas" on Thanksgiving night. Then we will be off to SUNNY Arizona for Christmas with Kyle's family. We are looking forward to warmer weather- I know that might sound crazy for Christmas time, but we get enough of the cold stuff around here (at least for this Texas girl). We absolutely LOVE the Holidays and being with family is a huge priority for us during such special times, so traveling with 3 kids is definantly worth it! If you can't tell, I am so happy about the next couple of months!!!

Sorry about no pictures I just haven't taken too many lately, but I promise some to come soon.

Pick your favorite

We are finally going to be in church for baby dedication in Nov. I am so excited we will actually have family there (we haven't for any of our other kids). They put up a picture on the screen of each child. I have to turn it in this week, leaving me no time for a professional picture. My camera is not the best and I am not the best, but I did what I could yesterday after church. None of them are perfect (the colar on her dress bugs me), so I was wanting some other opinions. Please let me know which one you like best! Thanks!

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And just because she is so cute, here are a few extra!

The Best Treats of All!!!

What a wonderful day!

Trick or Treat?

We had a great Halloween! No coats or car needed to trick-or-treat this year and the best of all was just being together. We took the kids trick-or-treating to a few houses and then went to a Fall Party at a friends house for the rest of the night. The kids had a great time and got plenty of candy!

Cambria's costume

I just realized I only took pictures of Cambria alone in her costume- I don't know what I was thinking. I am always trying to get a great picture of her and pictures of all 3- that's the hardest- and I just forgot. I did have their pictures taken by a photographer in their costume and got great shots of Avalyn and Gavin, but I don't have those to share. So here is Cambria and I will share the 3 of them on Halloween in the next blog!

Missed you!

It's been a while- Kyle put a virus on the computer and it took him all day to get things cleaned up. Now I have to catch up. Here are some pictures from a last minute trip to the zoo Thur. afternoon- great weather, no people, good friends (Melinda and her daughter Sidney), and very well behaved kids made for a great time at the zoo. We have to get out as much as possible, since we know winter is on it's way (yuck!). I don't ussually get to many pictures of Cambria at the zoo, so I tried to this time- before she fell asleep. She did enjoy the aquarium, I don't know how much she could see but she did try to eat the fish tank.