Thankful.....

First off, I NEVER EVER do this...BUT...I was contacted earlier today by Eloise's newborn photographer and she let me know that Eloise has made it into a photo shoot giveaway. The photographer that I used (and yes, she is amazing) chose several newborn photo-shoots as her "best of 2010" and my sweet baby Eloise was one of them! If you could go to this website:
HERE
(just put your mouse on the "HERE")
and vote for Eloise, I would truly appreciate it! I really and truly don't think we have a chance to win...but I was pretty honored that out of all of her newborn photo sessions, she thought Eloise was one of her best!!

I know Thanksgiving is long behind us and we are now focusing on the Christmas holidays; however, I still have so much to be thankful for. For Thanksgiving we packed up and headed to the Hill Country. My brother and sister in law live in Boerne and they were gracious enough to host us for Thanksgiving. For 5 days we had me, Walt, Eloise, my mother, Poco, Nana, Poppy, Spencer and Lauren. On Thanksgiving my Nana's sister, our Tia, and husband came to visit..and I didn't mention that we also had 6, yes 6 fun, loving and very well mannered dogs in the midst of our group too! My older sister, Nichole and her family did not come down for Thanksgiving because they came in this past weekend. One of Nichole's oldest and dearest friends got married, and we had the pleasure of driving up to Dallas and spending the weekend with our niece and nephew a.k.a. Eloise's cousins! I find that we often get so wrapped up in what the holiday season is NOT all about that sometimes we forget the real meanings. Spending time with family, being thankful for what God has provided us with, and knowing that God sent his only Son to die on the cross for all of our sins. Being with my family is always a great reminder of how
lucky I truly am....
Eloise is such a blessing
and she is so happy to announce that she will be having a new baby
SISTER

come late April/early May

How blessed I am to still have my grandparents around....
and to be able to see my grandmother do this with my daughter

I'm thankful for the sweet little girl that doesn't want to wear her girlie clothes, but puts up with them anyways since she loves her momma so much

Thankful for a child that is growing daily, and developing right on track

Thankful for a brother that takes it upon himself to host Thanksgiving AND cook the turkey...

Blessed to have a husband who will help out in any way possible....

Blessed to have a sister that cooked the ENTIRE Thanksgiving meal, even though I told her I would help...but she didn't gripe once when I was tending to Eloise and not to the food....
(it was delicious by the way)

Blessed to have a sister in law that cares about presentation....
a sister in law that puts time and effort into things.

Thankful for my two loves
(miss gracie had an ear infection, and was not feeling like herself, or she would be in the pic as well.)

thankful that when I look into my daughter's eyes I see innocence...

to be married to a man of God.

thankful that my baby has sweet dreams....

blessed to have a family that I can lounge around with, in a warm house

Thankful to have a great aunt and a grandmother that remind me daily what sisterhood is all about....
how I love my sisters

blessed to be married to a man that is involved with every aspect of his daughter's life...
and he is head over heels in love with her.

thankful to have a grandfather that is still "young at heart," even at 90 years old....

thankful to have a poppy that still loves to hear "Happy Birthday" being sung to him

blessed to have a poppy that is still blowing out birthday candles

thankful to see that the little things can make people happy in life
(like turning 90, and being so ecstatic to receive a snuggie!!)

thankful to have had a first hand experience on what true love really is....

thankful to share laughter every time Tia is near...

thankful for my sweet baby's health

blessed to know that a little sunshine really is all we need sometimes to feel better....

thankful to have a mom that is always there to help out her kids....

Blessed even when this baby is having a bad day....

Thanksgiving was a wonderful time...I only wish I would have taken more pictures of the entire family!! Like I said earlier this past weekend we went to Dallas to see my sister, Claire and Jack. Even though I didn't get to see Nichole too much, I was still so happy to be able to see her babies. I loved watching Claire, Jack and Eloise play together. They played so well...it was so fun to see how much Jack and Claire have grown and I was so happy to be able to help out.
This was on Friday before school...I just had to snap a picture of my handsome husband and sweet little Merry Christmas baby....

Here's Jack man after his nap. Uncle Spencer woke him up and he still wanted to sleep just a little longer... we found him curled up beside the t.v.

Aunt Lauren meeting her niece Claire for the first time....
what a huge help Lauren was!! and it was a bonus because it is always so great to see her!

Jack giving me his sweet little smirk

Eloise and Claire are 3 weeks apart (Claire is older, even though Eloise is bigger!! haha!!)
I loved watching them play....they are best friends!!

It is SOOOO obvious that Jack has a little sister. He was SOOOOO good with Eloise. He calls her "EllieB" and it is the sweetest thing ever! He was so patient with her, and played so calmly with Eloise. What a great big brother Jack is...and what a wonderful husband he will be one day!!

Bath time was the MOST FUN!! I don't think Eloise has had that much fun, ever! The entire time I watch Jack and Claire play together, I couldn't help but think about how Eloise will play with her new baby sister...made me even more excited!! The babies just splashed and played...I think we could have stayed in the water forever!!

Unfortunately our trip was short, and we left early on Sunday. Eloise knows all about the suitcase...(we've been gone every weekend since Nov. 4th!!) She hopped in that suitcase and was ready for us to make sure we packed her!! Thank goodness we are home this weekend!! It is much needed....Walt and I are attending a baptism class for Eloise as she will be getting baptized at our church on February 20!!

Miss E is pulling up on everything! She is just growing at a rapid rate and I can't believe that next week I will have a 10 month old!!

On Monday morning we had a little mini photo shoot before work...my little beauty was all dolled up in her pink (yes, she matches the chair) because it was freezing outside!! Isn't she the cutest!?
I think she is a natural!!