Thanksgiving in Dallas

We headed up to Dallas for Thanksgiving with my dad & stepmother and my brother and his family. It was a good visit, although short and tummy filling! Matt had a good time playing with his cousins. Well, he really just played near them and took a good long nap between meals!

Here's Matt with his favorite guy in the whole world! Mine too!

Matt and his cousins, Ethan, Chase, Blake, and Grace. We blinded them with the sun before taking this picture, so unfortunately there are only about 7 eyes open in the bunch!

A family photo on a windy and sunny day.

This time we joined in the picture with my brother Steve, his wife Kim, my dad, and the kids. This time, the kids can see!

Matt got to celebrate his birthday again, thanks to my stepmother Debbie. She got him a cake and everything! He was a bit tired after a trip to feed the ducks and the family photo shoot, but he was a trooper!

See, he managed to muster up the strength to try icing again! I think he remembered how much he liked it last week.

After birthday cake and a Thanksgiving feast, Matt needed a good dip in the tub! On the way out of town, we stopped off at Lisa & Todd's house to meet baby Joshua! He's such a cutie! Lisa and I met in the first grade. Boy has it been a long time! Can't believe we're all grown up with kids now. Seems like just yesterday the boys all had cooties, right Lisa?

Matt's 1st Birthday party!

Matt's birthday party was so much fun this weekend! He was quite the trooper and we are so thankful to all that were involved in his big day.

I tried my hand at decorating the cakes for his first birthday. Here's how they turned out.

Open flame + sugar = danger! We had to blow it out fast!

Here's his first bite of icing. As you'll see, it was over from that first bite!

He is so sweet, he is sharing his cake with his nana.

Clapping over the excitment of a sugar rush!

Amazingly enough, he took his afternoon nap, as scheduled. He also went to bed that night at his regular time and slept all night. I don't know how, after devouring about 1/3 of his cake! We sure got lucky.

Watch his video as he discovers cake for the first time.

Lew (March 31, 1993 - November 10, 2006)

Friday, November 10, 2006 marked a sad day in our lives, when Lew, our trusted companion of nearly 14 years, passed on. He was a true friend who will never be forgotten and will forever remain in our hearts.