Gobble, Gobble giggle - I love Thanksgiiiiiviiiiing!

Mae's 1st Thanksgiving was upon us, and this year we spent the official day with the Kraatz family. We headed up there Wednesday night so that we have a full Thanksgiving day to give thanks for our little Mae Day.

Dusty's Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ron joined us, as well as his grandfather, Poppo. This was only the second time for Aunt Sandy and Uncle Ron to see Maebry, so there was PLENTY of loving to go around for our little bit. She was a trooper and played hard all day/evening. She had her first Turkey Day dinner...sweet potatoes (her favorite) and oatmeal...truly worthy of the pilgrims to be sure!

All of the food was delicious with dad doing the turkey, mom rockin all of the sides and Aunt Sandy made sides and desserts...including a very yummy Ooey Gooey PUMPKIN cake! Man, what a finish to a great meal!

As you will see, Maebry even tried to make it through the A&M game...but eventually...the proverbial tryptophan got the best of her...good ol mommy's milk, does the trick every time!

PS. Yes we know the Aggies lost...stupid field goal! BUT, it was a great game..and there's allllways next year!

Yep, I'm hip, I'm cool. This is my homie Aunt Sandy. Let's EAT!

NO! REALLY! Lets EAT!

Now, this is more like it. More sweet potatoes getting in my belly.

And thanks to my dad, I now have my after-dinner finger. I wished he would have put some mint flavoring on it. Jeez.

Then I get after-dinner kiss from my mom. Jeez-louise!

Daddy and Mommy love this smile. Who wouldn't!
PS: I think I just tooted...wink, wink.

Ugggggh, they are going to win right, Poppo? Go Aggies!

The onesie says it all. The End and what a good Thanksgiving it was.

Remember, Remember Mae's first November...

Well, as you could tell by the slight delay in posting...November FLEW by! We had such a great last few months of the year and Maebry really turned some corners. She really started rockin the solid foods and becoming a big girl!

Maebry also was able to see all of her wonderful family much more often, thanks to the holidays and such. As you will see, we tried to get pics with Mae and her rogues gallery of grandparents and cousins cousins cousins!

How cute is this picture. Me, my Grand-daddy and my Tootsie (aka my dolly)!

Here I am caught with my Grandpa Lloyd, and it seems we don't like flashes.

Shhhhhhh, I am sleeping. Thank you Grandma Susan.

Here I am with my favorite gal pals (aka the cousins most likely to get me in trouble). JK!

Ok, seriously this is guy who will totally get me into trouble. Well if trouble means reading comic books, playing video game and one day working for NASA. Oh yeah, and this guy owes my dad a million dollars.

Boy, do my cousins love me or what. Here my other cuz Kolton. We looks so cute in are matching brown stripes.

Next are some photos into the Adventure Land of "Eating with Mae!"

Are those sweet potatoes?! NUMMMMMMY!

Ok, do I have little bit of Oatmeal on my face. You can be honest.

Just another sweet photo of me eating...oh yeah, naked total in...you should try it some time.

Lastly, it just me and my Daddy, hanging out at a Fredericksburg Trade Show and eating from a bottle. As per usual!!

Yeah, bring on the Turkey. Gobble gobble gee, Gobble Gobble giggle. I wished Turkey only cost a nickel.

Mae's dearest Great-Aunt Kathy

This is in memoriam of Kathy McCarty. My family lost a dear member on Sunday, November 8. She was 60 years old and lead a great life. She was always there to give us hugs and welcome home, she would wish you well and kiss you when you had to say goodbye, she'd help you when you were feeling ill, tend to your plants when they needed reviving, and she just loved us, plain and simple.

My Aunt Kathy was married for almost 40 years, had two awesome kids and two lovable grand-kids. She was a great daughter to my Mamaw, a great sister to my mom, a great aunt to my cousins and I, and a great great-aunt to our daughter.

WE LOVE YOU AUNT KATHY.

Kathy McCarty RIP 1949 - 2009

Please tell Papaw hello from us all. We love and miss you so much!!

Parties, babies and more - Oh!, Novemeber

The last two weeks have flown by and we have not been too timely with our blogs here lately. So here is a nice and condensed version.

November started with some birthdays earlier in the month. First weekend in November brought about Maddie's BIG first birthday, Jessica's baby shower and a week later, Maddie's daddy, Matt had a birthday party.

First, here are some pictures from Maddie's, Matt and Savannah's daughter, first birthday. Boy, what cutie. You will just love, love her tutu. And her sweet Grandmother, Savannah's momma, made this great birthday ensemble. Oh yeah, and Savannah's dad bought a toddler bouncy-house for Maddie...TOO fun! We can't wait to see this thing at many more b-day parties. Well, if Matt and Savannah don't mind of course...wink, wink.

Here is the cute Maddie Birthday outfit I was talking about. Way to go Maddie's Grandma!!

Look at Maddie eye-balling her cake mound.

Nummy! Birthday cake!

Our friends Keith and Michelle taking care of our little miss. Mae is friend to all laps.

Here is Maddie amongst all of her gifts. What a haul!

Here is Maddie enjoying her birthday present from us. A Rody! Too CUTE!

Here is our little miss enjoying another lap, but this time she was a little sleepy.

The next day was baby-celebration-palooza. Abbey came over and picked me up a little before noon and we headed to north Austin to get ready for Jess's shower. We had a safari themed shower for her and her baby boy, who is due at the end of February or beginning of March.

It was a ton a fun and Abbey and I didn't get home until after six that evening. We are very grateful for Shara and her great house for hosting the event. We are also super excited for Jess and Mark and their baby boy. We can't wait to meet him and give him more hugs than humanly possible. And yes, Dusty and I will try to see how many that really is.

Here are the pictures from Jessica's shower. Please note that I, along with slew of other hostesses put together the shower for Jess. Hope you enjoy.

Here is a picture our the cute safari-themed cookie jars. Abbey found this cute theme on a blog and we borrowed it. Yeah blogs :)!

Here are all the ladies enjoying a shower game. It was a memory match game with cute prizes. Way to go Shara for coming up with this game...go Skor bars!!!

Here is Jess opening some of her baby shower gifts. We loved being able to get Jess her baby boy's bedding.

A week later, we celebrated Matt's birthday. Here are some more photos from his 30 plus one birthday party. We went over to their house for another Saturday get together. They made pizza's on the grill and we enjoyed watching Maddie eating her daddy's bday cake...yet again too cute. And later Dusty and I learned we have no business owning "DJ hero" because boy we would not be good at this game even after some showed us how to actually play it. Sorry, Matt and Jason, you guys can have at it.

Here is Matt and family ready to celebrate his big day.

Mommy and Maddie ready to get their cake-eating on.

Matt's Transformer cake. Too cute!!

And now, here is the Transformer cake enjoyed by Maddie. Black icing and all.