Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a very busy Thanksgiving! My family came from near and far to visit - my Mom and Dad arrived Wednesday evening from Springfield and my brother and Tonya arrived later that night from Michigan.

On Thanksgiving I made my very first turkey in preparation for hosting many members of Jason's family for dinner. Turkey wasn't pretty (how does Butterball make them look so nice?), but I think it tasted ok. We had 28 people for dinner, and a few others for dessert and dinner later on, so we used every available space for seating. We even used the loft. Certainly a good reason to get our basement finished so that we can host again. I was thankful for Uncle Jerry who carved the turkies, (2 of 'em), the Aunts who helped with dishes, and everyone who brought food to share.

Chris and Tonya recently adopted a Golden Retriever - Diesel. He came along for the trip. Ryan, Annie and Diesel all got along very well. Tonya's Mom Rhoda came up Friday and they went to the outlet mall for some shopping, then they all headed to Springfield for the rest of the weekend. No Black Friday shopping for me.

Ryan and I put up one of our Christmas trees today. When it was up and the lights were on, I said, "ooh, pretty." He repeated, but it came out "ewww, pretty"....like it was stinky or something.

Other November news

Ryan and I went to Springfield to see my parents last weekend. It was a pretty low key visit. I'm determined to make my kid a 1st year scrapbook, so while I sorted all the first year pictures, my Mom chased Ryan. It worked out pretty well, so it's likely that I'll have another scrapbook getaway weekend.
No pictures to post from our visit - my camera is in the shop for repairs.

The big news in the Murr family is that we'll soon be adding some more pink. John ('Bones') and Carol, and Big Sister Nikki, in Surprise, AZ, found out yesterday that the baby expected in April is a girl. Cousin Ryan is very excited. Hopefully we can make a trip West in the spring to meet the new 'lil Miss Murr.

Julie, Scott & Logan visit

Julie, Scott and Logan came from Florida for an impromptu visit two weekends ago. Fortunately almost all the local cousins were able to get together. The guys played one round of Texas Hold 'Em (seemed like more!), and then they were put in charge of the kids and the girls played cards.
These days, it's much more difficult to get a picture of all the kids together. This time it was Ryan that kept trying to escape. We compromised by taking a BigCousin/LittleCousin picture (Big in wisdom and stature, not size!) It's very neat to see them all next to one another. There's almost five months difference between Ayden (the oldest) and Logan (the youngest), but they're all about the same size and have very similiar developmental characteristcs. Life is definately much busier now than it was this time last year.

Abby, Logan, Ayden and Ryan
















Jason & Ryan, Julie & Logan, Mike & Ayden, Doug & Abby

Happy Halloween!

Halloween was only one day, but we've been celebrating all month. The first weekend in October, Mr. Penguin went to Michigan to say hello to Uncle Chris & Aunt Tonya.


The 3rd weekend, we went to Springfield and celebrated Halloween with Gram, Poppy, Nana, Ivan, Aunt Leslie, and Sarah.














On Halloween day, I took a vacation day and Ryan and I made the rounds. First, we stopped to see Great Grandma Sheila.



















Then, we went to see Great Grandma Murr.



















And our last stop was at Grandma & Grandpa's.




















After all that visiting, we came home so Ryan could take a nap. He was so tired that he missed the first hour of trick-or-treaters! We went to one neighbor's house for a treat...Jerry & Lynn have a great Halloween graveyard display! Later, we hosted a fire at our house for the neighbors. We had s'mores, katydids, cider. I hope to make it an annual tradition. Overall, it was a great day - the weather was beautiful and Ryan put up with wearing his costume, and he did a great penguin waddle.

On Saturday, Miss Lion (Abby) and Mr. Dragon (Ayden) came for a post Halloween gathering. My pictures weren't good, but their costumes were great!