Thanksgiving and 10 months all rolled up into one!

Thanksgiving was great this year. We got to go home and enjoy both of our families, including my brother's family! It was so much fun watching Brooke play with her cousin Andrew. First we went to Ryan's Aunt Dona's house the night before Thanksgiving and she had a blast crawling around her house and interacting with Jill's kids. On Thanksgiving, we ate lunch with Ryan' s family and Brooke tried turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and some of Sara's delicious mac n' cheese. She liked everything except the mashed potatoes. Then for dinner we headed to my parent's house. Brooke did very well for a 9 1/2 mo old and seeing so many people! The next day was also lots of fun. We went to a place called the Mud Hut in Longview with Amy (Chris's wife) and Brooke's cousins, Andrew and Ethan and my mother and mother-in-law. We needed lots of extra hands to help especially with 3 kids under 2! It was still fun and I think our pottery will turn out nice. I will get to see it in a couple of weeks. I made an ornament with Brooke's hand print and a plate with Brooke's footprints. My mom made a plate with Andrew and Ethan's footprint and Brooke's hand print and Amy made a picture frame with her boy's footprints that looked really cute! That afternoon we took professional family photos at my parent's house. After an eventful two days, we just spent the weekend visiting and relaxing. Ryan had to work on Saturday, so Brooke and I stayed in Longview and headed back on Sunday. Much to my surprise she slept the whole way back to Arlington. I guess she needed to catch up on some sleep after a busy Thanksgiving holiday!


My dad and Ethan


Andrew hugging Brooke

Brooke excited about playing with a ball


The following weekend Ryan and I decided to continue our tradition of going to a tree farm and finding our perfect Christmas tree. This year was extra special because it was Brooke's first time to visit a tree farm and take a hay ride. It was also perfect winter weather. The temperature was in the mid 40's (cold for Texas) and sunny.

The tree we picked out before we cut it down

Brooke watching daddy saw the tree


Brooke is now 10 months old!!! Time sure does fly! As usual, she is sucking on her two fingers of her hand. This is her pacifier. She prefers her fingers, which is fine with me because at least she has them with her all the time and she can't lose them. She is crawling all over the place. She loves to climb the stairs and when she gets to the top she turns around, sits, and claps. It is so cute! She is pulling up on everything and cruising along furniture. I know she is going to let go any day now. She loves to practice walking with us holding on to her hands. She is eating more and more "real" food. I can't get away with snacking around her anymore because she wants whatever I am having and I usually give her a little bite. She loves most food, but mashed potatoes is one thing she doesn't like, surprisingly. She will also eat pasta and rice that I fix, but doesn't like it in the premade 3rd stage foods. We are working on getting her to drink out of a sippy cup. She does great drinking out of a cup with a straw, but this is not spill proof. In addition to mama and dada, she has also learned the word dog, but she says it like daag. There are so many things that she can do now, it is hard to name them all. I just enjoy watching her grow and learn new stuff. This is such a precious age!