Thanksgiving

Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend! We had a great time out at the farm. There was lots of food and lots of family, and luckily the rain held back so we could hang out outside the whole day. We took Casey with us so she could have a chance to run around. She is such a great dog – the kind that will stay with us and won’t run for the hills at her first taste of freedom. She was a big hit with some of the kids (and some adults too), and got quite a bit of ham and other tidbits from people who couldn’t resist her hound eyes. Someone else had a little bitty Chinese Crested dog with only 3 legs. I should’ve gotten a picture of it.

Matt and his dad and the other guys had a good time standing around the turkey fryer and having "guy talk". Later on, Matt set up his drumset in the big huge shed/barn/storage facility, and his cousin brought out the electric guitar, and they had a mini jam session, which gave the older folks something to grumble about (they play loud, heavy metal rock music). Addison had a fantastic time playing with Emma, a little girl who’s 2 and a half, and cousin Hunter, who is almost 3. They played on the swingset, dug in the rocks, played with cars, ran up and down the stairs, and got spoiled by all the relatives. They have a little toddler bed there at the farm, and Addison just loves it. She asked to take a nap, so we tucked her all in and piled animals around her. She didn’t actually sleep, but she had a great time playing in the bed for about 45 minutes. Then she was off for more fun. She was filthy by the time we got home (and exhausted) but very happy.

The backyard/deck area

The barn and part of the storage building

Addie and Emma in the rockers

Addison and 3rd or 4th cousin Rebekah (Matt's cousin's daughter)

Addie and Papoo (Matt's dad)

I had a pretty relaxing day. Ryan slept almost the whole time, and was passed around from aunt to grandma to great-grandma to great-aunt, and he even took a nap laying flat on top of his 2nd cousin Kelsey’s tummy. (she’s 14). I had time to eat, and play with Addie, and watch over the dog. The food was all great, and there were so many desserts that I didn’t get to try them all, which, if you know me, is very unusual. We brought home 4 to-go boxes of food, which we are still eating on. If you’ve never had fried turkey, I highly recommend it. It is not greasy at all – the frying seals in all the juice, so the meat is SO tender and juicy. Yum.

We got our Christmas tree yesterday and decorated it last night. Addison was mildly interested, but mostly wanted to play with the ornaments instead of hanging them. She would bring us handfuls of ornaments and say "DaDa put it on tree?" so Matt would hang them up. I bought a lot of stuff last year after Christmas, when it was all way on sale, and I’d forgotten that I had an Advent calendar, the wooden kind with all the little doors. I need some ideas of things to put in the cubbyholes, besides candy. Ryan was not really in the Christmas spirit and howled loudly during the festivities, so Matt and I had to take turns holding and bouncing him, which was only partially successful. We also got out the Little People Nativity Set that Addison got as a gift last year. We put it away with the Christmas decorations last year so that it will just be a special toy for this time of year. I told Addison who all the people in the set were, and she carried baby Jesus around and frequently called him Baby Ryan instead.







When we finally got Addie to bed, I went to bed too and Matt went out to Best Buy with Ryan to check out a digital camera we’ve been wanting to get. Our has that awful delay problem, where you snap the picture but it actually takes the picture about 2 seconds later, when the kid has turned away, or stuck out a tongue, or started to cry, or whatever. He played around with it at the store, but we can get it a lot cheaper online. We did venture out earlier in the day to check out deals on washers and dryers because ours are so old and simple, and our dryer is about to go out. Our washer has no load size settings, and with baby clothes and stains, I need to be able to do small loads from time to time without wasting so much water. We went to Lowe’s and Sears, but both places were packed and we couldn’t get any salespeople to help us, so we figure we might go later this week.


This is my token mention of the Aggie game on Thursday. That is all.


Ryan went from 9 p.m. last night till 6 a.m. this morning without eating. He didn’t sleep that long (from 11:30 to 6), but the long time between feedings is great! Addie started sleeping 8-10 hours consistently at 8 weeks old, and Ryan is a little over that, so he needs to start catching up to his big sister. I know that we are lucky for him to even be doing this well, so I’m certainly not complaining. I can’t believe that we’re already past the newborn waking and eating every 2 hours stage. And now he’s smiling so much, and trying to talk to us. It’s fun and cute.

We plan on just chilling out for the rest of the weekend, and then we have a busy month coming up. We’ll keep you posted!

This is my first official post in the Nevill Family Blog. How exciting. It will probably consist of mostly pictures and stories about the kids, but I will try to keep you updated on Matt and I as well, which will mostly consist of pictures with and stories about the kids. We are full-swing into family mode at this point in our lives, and realize that our .....well, I was going to say we realize that our "college days" are forever behind us, but I think we said goodbye to those days long ago. Let's just say that we realize that our days as a young, carefree couple are gone forever. Addison was a welcome adventure to our lives, and we doted on her and spoiled her, and still managed to take several trips alone during the first two years of her life, including a trip to Rome last Christmas and a cruise this past spring. But now, with the birth of our son Ryan, we have completed our family and are going to concentrate on who we all are now as a family of four. Don't worry - Matt and I are still going to make sure we have time for ourselves, alone and together, but we are both excited about what lies ahead over the next 20 years, as we share our lives and hearts and home with our two beautiful children.

This Thanksgiving is going to be Ryan's first introduction to Matt's side of the family (most of them). His mother is the oldest of 8 children, all of whom have kids of the own, and some of whom have grandkids, so family gatherings on that side are always large and fun! Addison has three cousins (maybe 4) that are within a year of her age, and Ryan will have two (that I know of) that are about a year on either side of him. Matt's parents have a beautiful farm about an hour from here, complete with a pond, cows, a tractor, and lots of room to roam. They'll fry turkeys and we'll have a big potluck Thanksgiving. Last year was the "on" year for all the siblings, and we had about 80 people there. This year, most of the aunts and uncles are spending the holiday with their in-laws, but I think we're still expecting between 30 and 40 people. Should be fun!

Right now, Addison is becoming very verbal and learns new phrases every day. In the past hour, she said "Where's your shadow, Mama?" and "I turn off the light, and we're in the dark." I have never taught her about shadows or the dark before, so who knows where she picked that up. Probably just from overhearing me, or maybe from TV , or the YMCA, or wherever. Ryan has started smiling quite a bit over the last week, and we're getting some coos and gurgles too. I'm really excited about this Christmas, because I know that Addie will be able to start singing some Christmas songs, and can do a little bit of anticipation of presents, Santa, etc. I'll be sure to get some good pictures from Thanksgiving and post them soon! In the meantime, here are just a couple of recent ones of the kids.