thanksgiving

with sayward's encouragement, i continue the updates. on we move to thanksgiving.

this isn't a fantastic picture of either rhys or i, but i like it because my hair is long in it. if you remember, i cut my hair off a year and a half ago for locks of love, and although i don't regret my decision, i still miss having my long hair. i've only cut it once since then, and i think by this summer i'll be ready to chop it off again. okay... back to thanksgiving.

the day before thanksgiving this year was jayson's mom's 60th birthday. jayson was able to arrange a surprise party for her with the whole family and some good friends. it was a fantastic time, and she obviously loved it. here is negleyanne and "mimaw".

the two uncles and the two cousins. uncle justin and ella (jarod's daughter... 1.5) and uncle jarod and negleyanne.

closer up photo of ella... not the cutest but it was a huge croud that night, and she only knew a couple of people well. to be honest this was exactly how i was feeling the whole night - social activities are not my thing.

thanksgiving was a blast, especially because the whole family was there. i felt better as an aunt because i finally got to meet ella, and had such a great time watching her and negleyanne play together for the weekend. other than the terrible sickness that plagued many of us the days after, it was a great time!

since kaboom

i've decided that instead of worrying about doing a large meaningful blog, that i will do short ones every couple of days until i return to work to go through all of the pictures i've managed to take this past fall/winter.
i was determined to make good use of my maternity leave and having time to spend with jayson and the kids this fall, and that manifested itself in a trip to williamsburg. my mother was generous enough to let us use her time-share for a week and it was fantastic. i drove down with both the girls by myself... yes, supermom - and jayson came down a few days later.



jayson and i are lucky enough to have friends that not only like to hang out with us (why, i'm not sure), but also like spending time with negley anne and rhys. mark and courtney are awesome and we were so happy to spend that time away from pittsburgh with them. to make the trip even better, it was in the upper 60's low 70's and sunny almost everyday. we had such a great time!

one of the fun things that we did while we were down there was take a ferry ride to another little town close to williamsburg. somehow we ended up on this large plantation turned museum and we spent a good while walking around the grounds being jealous that things bloom there so late in the fall (this was the week before thanksgiving). mark and courtney showed their knowledge by knowing almost every living thing around us, and even negley anne got into the horticulture action (don't you want to go on vacation with us too?... we're so cool).

on the one day that we decided to go to historic williamsburg, negley anne was in a foul mood. as all parents know, that can ruin a day. we were able to do some walking around, but it wasn't what we hoped. funny thing is, negley takes really pretty pictures when she's angry. it doesn't help her mood though when i stick a camera in her face though, so i don't get many.

the one constant through the entire trip was rhys. i can't tell you how blessed we are to have such a chill baby. as long as she's fed and dry, we can always get a smile out of her. if i could, i would freeze her right now because she's so much fun to be with... but since i can't do that, i'll just take lots of pictures.

Quick Post

In case you happened to forget who we are and what we all look like because i've been so horrible at posting this year... here's a quick catch up: NegleyAnne (now 2.5) wearing her sunglasses at night "to keep the dark out".
Rhys (6 months) smiles at everyone that she comes in contact with.
Tillie, happy and hairless... quite possibly the greatest dog ever.

There you have it. More to come - maybe.