{ajm}

We spent Thanksgiving in Houston at my parent's home.

Before lunch (our designated turkey day meal) we played and petaled and paraded-or at least we watched the Macy's parade. Mark was particularly impressed :) 

Thanksgiving "dinner" was, per normal, fabulous.

It took lots of hands to prepare:

For the first time in I can't remember when, I didn't help. With anything. Ok-just not with food prep, I was childcare. Mallory and I played the kid version of Phase 10, I took LOTS of pictures and the meal was DELICIOUS. I may never help again 🙂

Thank you Lord for the sweet gift of family and the inumerable blessings you shower on me.

from our little turkey to yours 🙂

Fall Break (in October) saw us traveling cross country to see some of the Mankin side of the family. After two days of driving we were all thankful to see these flags at our destination!! We stopped to play at the zoo in Abilene, Texas upon arrival. 

After a few minutes expolring on our own, Mimi D arrived.

After we put a tuckered out Mark to bed, we wandered around outside exploring Mimi D's home.

 

I am so thankful for Ben's mom and dad. They raised a wonderful man I am head-over-heals in love with and who I appreciate more evey year we are married.

We headed over to the university where Ben and I met and attended college and marveled at all the changes. 

 There is a new building on campus that has a picture of him in a glass case right now.

We had dinner one night at a west Texas must. Perini Ranch. It's amazing. I am still dreaming about the stawberry shortcake.

These shots just say west Texas to me.

The next say we hugged Mimi D good-bye and headed to OKC. More on our Oklahoma adventures next time.

We took the children on a "family date" to Cheekwood a few weeks back. My whole reason for going was to see the spectacular Chiuly exhibit. It was amazing. I have this "thing" for glass art. It must be in my blood. My parents began creating stained glass panels when I was an infant. Years later, my family had the opportunity to see some of the glass factories in Italy where they blow & sculpt amazing pieces. Now in the span of a few short days I have had the pleasure of seeing two Chiluly exhibits in two states. It's simply Increadable.

These two-the sun and the moon were my favorites. I think…..

Mallory certainly seemed intreigued. The glass in the reflecting pool was super cool too.

A spectatular first "family date." 

My little monkey and the strawberry princess. We enjoyed Trunktacular at Rolling Hills Sunday afternoon. After a bit of a scary start (Mallory is still terrified of "scary masks") I think they both had a good time. Mark seems very easy going and happy to be along for the ride where as his big sister needed constant cajoling as we introdiced her to new experiences. The monkey costume is likely the one "cross-over" costume they will be able to share.

After Trunktacular we headed to some friends for a bonfire and trick-or-treating in their nightborhood.

Hot dogs seem to taste SO MUCH better when cooked over open flames and when eaten with friends. Thanks for including us in your Halloween plans! Minnie Mouse and the butterfly had a FABULOUS time gathering candy from your neighbors. Mallory's wings "fluttered" up and down as she ran full tilt through yards keeping up with the older girls-serious fun to watch her have such a great time.

This year pictures are pretty scarce. I MISS my 24mm 1.4. My favorite lens has been gone over a year now and I can't seem to get over it. I've been using a borrowed 24-70 2.8. It's very nice, don't get me wrong. But how I miss my other lens. It was lighter and shot better at low light. And since I use a 50D the lens the magnification is a bummer. Guess I need to start saving up again……