Sunday, November 25, 2012

My First Thanksgiving


Yay! The holiday season has arrived! 



Ethan got to experience his first crazy family potluck on Thanksgiving day - our extended family is not known for running out of food at holiday dinners. Joe made 2 turkeys, and the rest of us made, like, 16 sides and/or desserts each. As always, it was delightful to spend time with cousins, aunts, in-laws, and honorary family (hello, Gokul!). E got to spend quality time with his lovely redheaded cousin Sophie as well as his favorite first cousin Jack.


Joe entertained the kids with airplanes and spins and chases in the backyard - very funny to hear alternating 'Me next's from Jack and Sophie, as well as to watch a very dizzy Sophie walk erratically and ask to be spun again.



Grandma gave special ornaments to 'my six children' - two kids, our spouses, and our children - and to Sophie. E got some much-needed help from Jack to open his adorable sock monkey ornament, which he promptly examined with his mouth (and found acceptable).




After eating ourselves silly, the foragers among us set off for the golf course to gather pecans! My dad is a master pecan cracker, so he has been placed in charge of cracking those shells and bringing us bags of delicious home-picked pecans. Grandpa P, it's clear you'll need to visit The Woodlands for our version of pecan (pronounced puh-CON, of course) pie!


Jack was very helpful - he warned us not to pick up any snakes.

Denise went barefooted. All the better to feel the pecans (and hopefully not any snakes).

Bumper crop of mini pecans
We really have just the best family ever. It's so pleasant to spend our holidays with such wonderful people. You can't pick your relatives, but if I got a choice these are the people I would choose. 


















We have so, so much to be thankful for, more than ever this year. Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!


International Winter on the Waterway


We stopped by the Woodlands Waterway last weekend to look at all the booths and all the people at the International Winter on the Waterway annual celebration. We didn't stay long enough to see Santa arrive by ferry, but we did get to check out the snow play area ('real' snow!) and see stages with dancers, carolers, drummers, and more. We also got to meet up with Marcia at the Crighton Players (great local theater in Conroe) booth and E got festive. Thanks for the antlers, Marcia!!








Monday, November 19, 2012

Butternut squash!?!

He's not sure about this but he's sure he looks cute.












Woodlands Children's Festival

daddy teaching E about being a social butterfly
Thank you, Jess, for inviting us to the Woodlands Children's Festival last weekend!!!

Barney is coming!
Gran came up to spend the day with us and we had a lovely morning at the festival. We didn't get to spend a lot of time with Jess & Kev & Jack (the age difference is still pretty significant for a few more months at least - Ethan isn't as in to arts & crafts and digging and running as his older, more sophisticated cousin) but we were happy to catch up with them and with some of Jack's other friends during the very exciting Barney show. Apparently, I still have new-baby-blinders on, because when I just checked my photos I can't find any of the rest of the family, just of Ethan...

E and the Recycle Cycle
Fortunately, Auntie Jessica is a much better documentarian and took tons of awesome photos - check out the Jackson's Lane blog!

more of daddy teaching E about being a social butterfly
E had fun watching all the other kids at the festival and he even got his face painted.

Cool bear on a cool baby
After the festival, we had some very important gran-and-me time back at the house.