Thanxgiving Trip Part One

The Journey Begins
We saw this funky sunrise in the morning. It looked like a pink flame at the edge of the earth.

Matthew sleeping so peacefully. I was so grateful that he slept in the car for part of the way. I wish it would have been for longer stretches, but he seemed to always wake up after 45 minutes.

A little groggy, but still handsome. We had a pretty good pattern developed. I would feed him (either by nursing or bottle) and then he'd sleep, and then he'd play for a while by himself, then we'd pull over when he got whiney so I could jump in the back seat to entertain him. When he started to get hungry again and there wasn't an immediate exit, baby food became a lifesaver.

Josh giving me a fake smile.

The Cousins
Matthew checking out his first and only male cousin, Micah.

Both girls wanted to hold the babies, and Ari kept holding his face for the picture. I guess his cheeks are appealing to any age.

And Lyvie got her turn to hold him the next morning. She was so calm and sweet with him--both of them were actually. They did have this habit of getting too much in his face at times, which got rewarded with a poke in the eye or hair tugged.

Just lounging in the chaise and takin' it easy.

The little dudes sticking together and making nice (they're not old enough to fight yet)

And speaking of fights...here's Lyvie and Ari playing nicely...

...and here they are getting separated for playing not so nicely. We all knew it was bound to happen several times over. They are over 2 years old, you know.

My nieces, the two coolest 2-year old chicks!

We tried to get some pics of them altogether. It wasn't perfect, but it was fun. Here's Matthew and Micah squishing the girls.

Ok, now we're a little more comfortable.

Ok, now wer're a little too comfortable...girls, put those legs down--scandalous!

My mom insisted on getting in on some of the photos. What was she thinking?

C'mon, you two! You had four small kids once. What's the problem?

The Grandparents
And speaking of grandparents, here they are spending some one-on-one time with Matthew.

Tackling Grampa.

C'mon Grampa, slip me some food from your plate. Mom never has to know.

My sister took this one, and it is so adorable.

Another one she took, a close second to the one above.

This kid was so wiped out one night that he fell asleep right on Gramma's shoulder.

Crazy Uncle Josh
Josh had lots of fun while he was there. He didn't always cooperate for pictures...

...but he gave in a time or two :)

He checked out the Black Friday ads with Matthew.

He enjoyed helping Matthew open some gifts.

But his favorite thing would probably have been the wrestling matches he started.

For some reason, Ari kept forgetting he was an uncle, and she called him "Auntie Josh" many times. It made for a good laugh for all of us.

Matthew Matthew Everywhere
Just some more pictures of our favorite guy. As you can see he met a girl on this trip (smoochy smoochy)

Would somebody please get these girly shades off of me?

What a goofy guy :)

Look Ma! No elbows!

Mommy and Matthew cuddling while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

And a family picture taken the day we left.

Oh I'm not done yet. I've got some more pictures to share, but I wanted to get this up in the mean time. Happy belated Thanxgiving!!