We did the same old things, essentially: running around outside part of the day, playing games and hanging out with family and friends inside part of the day, and lots of eating all day and night. I didn't manage to take a picture of all the Thanksgiving food, but there was a ton of it and it was all super delicious (Janice, Nicole, Mamaw, Rita, and I all combined our efforts to make a bunch of good food). If I haven't said it before, I am always so grateful for how veggie-friendly my relatives are. There was, of course, real turkey and ham for Thanksgiving, but almost all the rest of the food was vegetarian. For the rest of the meals, they always work to make sure there are alternatives for us (like making veggie chili and soy dogs for us while they made chili cheese dogs for everyone else). I know it's extra work and we always really appreciate it.
OK, I couldn't post all the good pics I got of everyone, but here are a few. I have more coming from my camera at a later date, I think.
-Shirin
Gabriel holding Morgan for the first time.
Gabriel with the two baby cousins.
Brendan with his 2nd nephew (out of three).
We had a lot of fun watching the babies' reactions to one another. They both look so happy here.
Three brothers and one baby outside near the basketball court. In the background you can see the metal roof structure Sam has been building by himself...he's very handy and loves to work outdoors.
Gabriel's beautiful grandma is a prolific pie maker. Here she is in the middle of making one of everyone's favorites: banana creme pie.
Aunt Janice getting some sugar from Cyrus.
Emily loved the babies. She helped Gene babysit while we ran around outside. She's actually their second cousin (she's Gabriel's first cousin), but she called herself Aunt Emma, which was cute.
On the starting line for the first "Amazing Race" game in the woods. Gabriel and I are always a team, Brendan and his friend David are usually a team, Janice and Casey are almost always together, Nicole and Ashley are often teamed together, and this year David brought his nephew Seth along to be his partner. This left Clayton and Cruz together for the other team. Casey's and Brendan's teams are usually the ones to beat. We came in third on the first race and then first place (whoo hoo!) on the one the next day.
I was inside with Cyrus, helping with the food preparations, but these boys are all tired and sticky after playing a game of flag football. The front row is Aaron (Ashley's boyfriend), Gabriel, Cruz, and Seth. The back row is Casey, David P, Clayton, David R. and Brendan.
We also had our annual softball game, although I didn't play this year (I did play kickball later, though). Cyrus and I just sat and watched (Emily took this photo).
Cyrus got to watch what his future games during holidays would look like.
Gene is the most amazing babysitter. He never gets tired and never turns down a chance to help with the babies. Here he is taking in all of Morgan's cuteness.
Oh yeah, and how could I forget to mention trivia night? This is the winning team: Sam, Cruz, Casey (not pictured), and Brendan. Gabriel writes the questions every year and it's a lot of fun.
My team came in second: me, Rita, Ashley, Clayton, and David P.
Janice, Gene, Nicole, David R., Seth, and Mamaw came in a close third.
