Pure Excitement

I came in later than usual from work to find this:

Yet another exciting evening in the Yancy household.

Flight Home

The ride home was equally as exciting as the ride up.  We actually missed our flight, which resulted in us getting to visit with my family longer.  Thankfully we had the tickets on rapid rewards and did not have to pay extra to get our flight changed!

Nathaniel was once again VERY excited about riding the airplane (he was actually quite upset when we were not able to get on the plane the first time!).  Baby 'Rissa had a great time getting attention at the airport.  Look at these sweet smiles.

Another plane ride = fun! 

And sticking with Southwest's heart/love motto, my kids really got into the spirit.  Here's Nate signing "I Love You" (we also played a lot of I Love You hand games on the way home)....

And suddenly I looked down to see this heart on top of Marissa's head.

No, I did not stage this.

Love was in the air -or, uh...her hair!

Feet and Eat

Marissa is most thankful for her feet and the opportunity to eat!

This past week she has really become fixated on her toes, it is a fun stage to watch.  She is often grabbing her toes and rolling to one side or the other.

Then to celebrate her first Thanksgiving Day, we decided this would be the day she could try rice cereal.

She did pretty well with her first bites of food.

Doing this reminds me that Nate had his first food attempt when we were evacuated during Hurricane Ike...yet another thing to be thankful for - no hurricanes so far this year!

Happy Thanksgiving !

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!

As usual during this time of year we reflect on our blessings....and what a great year it has been.  A precious addition to our family, overall good health for extended family, a new house, good jobs, great friends...we are truly blessed.  I hope your Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for all the amazing things in your lives as well.

Here are a few pics from our visit to Midland (more to follow in upcoming posts).  Marissa met many of these relatives for the first time so most of the pics are of her.

 Snuggling with Big Daddy and enjoying time with Gigi

 Smiles all around for Uncle Robert, Auntie Leslie and cousin Logan

Hanging with my Great Aunt Debbie 

Our cousins Logan and Izzy sure do love us - and we love them too! 

Uncle Anson and Auntie Barbara

Great Uncle Aubrey and Great Aunt Sherry

Breathing Treatments

 

Our sweet baby girl had been congested the last few days...I guess I was trying to deny that she actually may be getting sick.  I have prayed and hoped  that she would be my healthy child....unfortuantely it got to the point after we arrived in Midland, that we had to take her in.

No matter how cute the nebulizer....

This is the end result

Sure enough she has bronchitis and ear infections.  A journey I was hoping NOT to have to travel with her....but is was about this same age that Nathaniel got his first ear infections.  We never had breathing treatments with Nathaniel so this is a new (not fun) experience for all of us.  Our parting gift was our very own nebulizer....although not as cute as the panda.  Please pray this is a one time thing and not something we have to do often, it is heartbreaking for all of us.

Airplanes!

Nathaniel has flown a couple times before, but this was the first time he has shown such delight with airplanes.  He is fascinated with all things transportation related - big trucks, planes, trains, buses, cars, motorcycles, etc.  So he was simply delighted with everything we did today. 

As we got closer to the airport he began pointing out EVERY plane he could see coming in or landing.  For a long time one of his favorite phrases has been "airplane in the sky" (Thanks to Baby Signing Time videos).  Then we went to park the car and rode the "bus" into the airport.  He quickly decided it was not a school bus (although how he knows this, I am unsure)...and for whatever reason began calling it a "scooter bus". 

Then the glorious moment arrived where we got through security quite easily (no body scans despite all the recent hype) and made it into the gates where Nathaniel could watch planes come and go to his heart's content.  He was one happy kid!

As we were absorbed in the comings and goings of planes (and mommy with taking pictures), someone came and kicked in my knees.....low and behold it was one of my favorite co-workers who happended to be transporting a patient to the airport. So she got to play with the kiddos some (she has a daughter a month older than Nathaniel and two older boys).

Then the moment came when we boarded the plane.  Nate was so excited I began to wonder if I should have put a diaper on him for the flight - but he held it together.  As the plane was picking up speed, getting ready to ascend into the sky, Nate yelled "Go Baby, Go" and clung to both arm rests!  He cracks us up!

Here's Marissa on her first flight.  Not near as excited as Bubba, yet.  They both did great.  We are thankful we have little travelers.  And we arrived in Midland safe and sound, ready to tackle Thanksgiving, bring on the turkey!

One more exciting story for the day, as we got dressed I commented that it was Marissa's first time to wear jeans.  Nate was very excited that he was in jeans too....and in stripes.  Oh the little joys we get to experience.

Great-Grandpa turns 90!

Happy Birthday, Great-Grandpa! 

We had a great visit for Great-Grandpa's 90th birthday. 

Good food, good cake, and lots of giggles.

Blocks, Bath, Buddies

Our nights are often filled with making "Daddy Robots" and "Scarecrows".  Here's Nathaniel with our whole family of robots....including a cage for our parrot, Dilbert.

Yesterday he wanted baby 'Rissa to play too; since her fine motor skills are not quite at that level yet,  we decided to make shapes around her.  It was pretty cute until Nate started drawing a line through the circle - as if to say "No Baby 'Rissa".

Another fun filled activity is bath time. 

Lately, every time Nate is in the bath, he is insistant that Marissa have a bath too.....he is such a sweet big brother. 

Our Mohawk Kids!

And....Kidz in da Hood. 


He is really wanting Marissa to be included with him for activities now that she is more interactive.  It is very sweet.  I am hoping they will be lifelong buddies.

Dewberry Farm

We finally made it out to Dewberry Farm and had some fun with the cousins!

We had been wanting to visit the Farm for awhile now - it was every bit as fun as we hoped it would be.  There were horses to ride, forts to climb, homemade slides, large air bags (AKA pillows) to jump on, tractors to climb, pigs to race, and ropes to swing on.  Here are some pics of the kiddos having fun.  The adults and Marissa just did their best to stay warm.

Thanks to our girl scout cousins for the invite, we had a blast!