Thanksgiving Meal

The Thanksgiving meal was so much fun this year, because extra family were present for it, and

#4. It was the first Thanksgiving in Nan and Poppy's new house!!

It was so much fun to be able to work in her new, big kitchen. Not only did mom fit in there with us girls, but Aunt Barb fit, too. If that were mom's old kitchen, we would've all had to stand in a circle holding each other in order to fit that many people! God has really blessed us this year and we are so thankful.

The men...

Tables' are being set...

And turkey is done!

We're so thankful for our new blessing.

I think we need more dessert next year. Don't you?

I made this dress and those boots for Leila.

She discovered the door jamb.

Leila will be your friend as long as you wear a chewable necklace.

She actually slept through our dinner, but she had her own later on.

It was a wonderful day that was made even more perfect by the attendance of our Grandparents and Aunt and Uncle. We are truly truly blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day involved several firsts for us this year...

#1. It was Leila's First Thanksgiving!

#2. Our family ran/walked the Inagural Arlington Turkey Trot. It was a first for Arlington and a first for our Family, as well!

Leila and Ella both came out to get some excercise in the cold.

It started out by the Arlington Convention Center...

...and there were LOTS of people!

We had great views of several city sites, including...

Cowyboy Statium

Whatever this is

Ranger Stadium

And Six Flags.
(Obviously by the existence of these pictures, you can tell that I was running very quickly and making competive time. NOT!)

In fact, Leila started out in the stroller, but by the time the race actually started, this is how we ended up...

And this is how we walked the entire 5k. She even managed to take a little nap. We are so thankful for our Moby wrap and are thankful to "Aunt" Rachel for introducing us to it!

We were cold and tired and happy to see this sign after about 45 minutes. We were, however, hoping it was a MILE marker and not a marker for kilometer #2! (It was.)

Crossing the finish line at approximately 1 hour and 4 minutes. Aunt Christina set a new personal best for herself that day. Aunt Danielle ran well, too. But neither of them beat Uncle Jesse, who came in at 16 minutes, after walking the entire last section that you see in this picture (he started walking after noticing he had already passed the fifteen minute mark!)! They all did a great job and we are very proud of them for their commitment to excercising. I was very proud of myself as well, for walking the 3 miles carrying Leila and NOT coming in dead last! :)
We had  a great time and look forward to doing it again next year!

#3. We also spent Thanksgiving with Poppy's parents from Nebraska and his brother and sister-in-law from South Texas this year. It's not the first time we've been with them on Thanksgiving, but it IS the first time we've spent it here instead of in Nebraska! (Pictures to follow in the next post.)

Hanging Out

The Tuesday of the week of Thanksgiving was spent with friends and family, as well as helping get Nan's house ready for Christmas.

Leila and her Great-Grandma read books...

And Aunt Rebecca napped.

"Aunt" Rachel and Katelyn came over and brought us some clothes, and Leila's Aunts decided it was their right, as Aunts, to play dress-up with her.

This was the chosen ensemble.

Luckily, Leila is a good sport!

They also spent time trying to coax her to crawl. Danielle and Rebecca say they got her to crawl a few steps, but I wasn't there to see it, so I'm not going to count it as official! Sorry, aunties.

But, here are some videos of bribery NOT resulting in a crawl. :)

Learning to Crawl

Leila's been working on learning to crawl lately, but, before I put up those picutres, I had to post this one of Ryan feeding Leila her prunes. Isn't she just too cute with prunes all over her mouth?!

We've been spending time in Aunt Rebecca's room so that Leila can utilize the nice, big, open carpeted area for crawling.

She's having a lot of fun...

...rolling...

...and scooting...

...and playing...

...but not too much crawling so far.

She did manage to find a few small Mum Mum crumbs left on the floor from the previous day.

And scooted over to play with Aunt Rebecca's work apron strings.

Then, I put her on the bed to look at Betsy. But, she preferred rolling back and forth trying to get Aunt Becca's school books.

Betsy was such a sweet girl and just sat there the whole time!

We're having lots of fun and Leila's moving more each day. It won't be long until I'm chasing her around the house!

Welcome Great-Grandma and Grandpa Kracht!

Leila's Great-Grandpa and Grandma Kracht arrived from Creighton, Nebraska to spend the week of Thanksgiving with us. We had a wonderful time.

Sunday afternoon was spent together.

Leila sported a dress we've been trying to wear for a long time. Nan bought it for her and it's beautiful. We were planning on having her wear it when she gets dedicated, but her Aunts were all in Europe when the opportunity arose, so it passed us by.

The weather ended up being quite warm that Sunday, so we took advantage of what is probably the last change Leila had to wear it before it it too small for her.

Thank you, Nan, for such a pretty dress!

Leila was able to really spend time getting to know her Great-Grandma.

We spent most days over at Nan's house hanging out with them...

and we got to see some other friends that week, too!

We don't realize quite how small Leila is until she gets around bigger kids like Katelyn. She's only 13 months older than Leila, but she makes Leila look like a little baby!

Katelyn seemed to like Nan's new chairs, too!

Notice the difference between how she fits in the chair versus Leila in the same chair above?

There Are No Words

Grandpa "Papa Bear" Racine - Died December 3, 2010

"Grandpa, Papa, whatever-your-name-is", you don't have to be careful anymore.

You are at peace. You are free.