Where to Begin?

I am so far behind on my blogging, that I don't quite know where to start. I think I'll start from now and go backwards!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents' house filled with family,food, Rosa's Tortilla Cafe, family, black Friday shopping, a lost contact lens, a giant pile of leaves, food, old friends, picture taking, and some more food. Brandon's mission for the week was building a leaf pile bigger than our minivan. The boys spent hours jumping in the leaves, and I spent almost that much time attempting to get mud and leaf bits out of their noses and ears afterwards. Those pictures to come later this week. I looked at probably 800 pictures of various people jumping in leaves and the thought of editing them right now makes my hair hurt. The girls and I went Black Friday shopping starting at Target at 5am and were back home for some Rosa's fajitas for lunch that day. I finished my Christmas shopping (with the exception of my children).

Dear Rosa's Tortilla Cafe, Please come to Houston. That is all. Love, Mandy.

Harper played with her cousin Zane, and every year I mentally thank my brother and sister for marrying well because Andy and Brandy fit so well in our family.

That's right, all of us together are Brandon, Brandy, Andy, Mandy, Lindy, and John. It's kind of nice, because when my mom calls us by name from across the house to help peel potatoes, we can ignore it because we're never really sure who she's calling for.

We saw a lonely truck driver on I45 on Tuesday, who was lookin' for love in the form of yellow legal paper package-taped to the back of his load.

When Andy and Lindy walked in the door for the first time on Wednesday, they were immediately greeted by Aidan who proudly proclaimed, "Andy! Guess what? I pooped corn today!!" Not, "Hi Andy! Good to see you! Happy Thanksgiving!" Isn't there a Hallmark commercial that goes something like "When you can't find the words to say. say it with a Hallmark"? I think Aidan has a future writing for their Thanksgiving card division.

No trip to my parents' house is complete without approximately 1200 random pictures.

I know this post is heavy on the Harper pictures, but trust me when I say that I will make up for it later this week in the form of pictures of boys jumping in leaves. Doesn't that sound exciting? Up next week: paint drying!

Andy and Brandon have become the turkey carvers. This picture reminds me a bit of the one here from last Christmas.

We also attempted a sibling picture. Many of you will be seeing something like this soon in a mailbox near you. That is, your mailbox. Not your neighbor's.

Harper was much more infatuated with the leaves and the proximity of her brothers to bother with posing for a Christmas card picture.

I love this picture of Andy and Harper. Do men have a biological clock? If so, I think I can hear Andy's ticking through my computer screen.

Harper met her cousin Mason (actually, my cousin's son) for the first time, and they danced for a few seconds before Harper tried to beat him up. Let's just say it was painfully obvious to me that the girl has two big brothers.

Hope you had a very Happy Thanksgiving!