And just like that, Thanksgiving break is over! Now if only we had a week to recover... :) We had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving holiday and enjoyed spending time with our family. I'm not sure we'll ever be able to straighten Madigan out from all of the spoiling she received, but we're going to give it a try! I'll try to give you a run-down of our week.
Since we were both able to get the whole week off, we decided it was time to again take the "Tour of Texas" (aka, visiting my family - which means going most of the way across the great state of Texas). We started out on Saturday and went as far as the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex where we stayed the night with Aunt Lexie and Uncle Justin. That evening, the Chism family (some of our friends from Harding) came over and we played games and had fondue (you know, everything does taste better dipped in cheese and chocolate :) ). It was great to see them and our Madi fell in love with the other Maddie (their 6 month old daughter, Madelyn - she is SO cute!!!) On Sunday, we went to church with all of them in Krum and got to see some other friends that we hadn't seen in a long time. It was a lot of fun - the only bad part was that the visit was really short!!
After church on Sunday, we headed out west to where the land is flat and the wind always blows. We arrived in Levelland (30 miles west of Lubbock) around 7 that night and got to spend the next few days with Granddad and the West Texas Marrow bunch. Here are a few pictures from our stay there.
Madigan really bonded with her Great-Granddad. They picked pecans together, played hide and seek between two rooms and played ball together.
However, Madigan's favorite game by far consisted of her holding onto Granddad's walker while he "shook" her up. It was hysterical! We have a video of it that I'll try to post in the next few days (once Ted shows me how to do that!)
Madigan also got to see some of her great aunts, great uncles, and 2nd and 3rd cousins. Needless to say, she enjoyed the attention!
Also while we were in Levelland, we visited a really neat park. It looked like a castle. There was a special part for the "little" kids that Madigan really enjoyed. I'll try to post a video of her swinging in the next few days (it's complete with some really "girly" squeals...)
One last picture from Levelland. This won't have much meaning for most of you, but it's really special for me. My grandparents have had this chair as long as I can remember and my cousins and I spent many hours in it playing "Santa Claus" (one of my older cousins got to be Santa and ask "Ho ho ho! What do you want for Christmas little girl?" and the rest of us got to make up extravagant gift ideas that we knew better than to ask our parents for.) Silly game, but still brings back good memories of being at Grandma and Granddad's. Anyway, here's Madigan having a good time in that chair (and note how well she matches, Mom!)
But, the trip had to go on! On Wednesday morning, we packed up and headed to Graham to spend Thanksgiving at Mema and Papa's. We went to church in Throckmorton on Wednesday night where Uncle Greg preaches and then spent the day with all of the family (the whole Melton crew and my parents) on Thursday. Madigan sure loved her Mema's turkey and dressing, but couldn't understand why the rest of the day all of the grown ups laid around looking miserable. Is there such a thing as too much food?! We did have a special treat on Thanksgiving day - it snowed!! Madigan wasn't sure about the wet, white stuff hitting her face, but enjoyed being outside!
Make sure you note the difference in the clothes we were wearing from the last pictures to these. The temperatures fell from 75 degrees to 32 degrees in a little over 24 hours!
We didn't take as many pictures at Mema and Papa's because Gee Gee, Pa, Papa, and Aunt D'Anne were also snapping pictures! But, we'll get some of theirs and post more later. Here's one more special picture though. While were were in Graham, we pulled the toys out from the closet - these were toys that the grandkids (my brother, me and my two cousins) grew up playing with. Included in the toys were a bunch of books that I have memories of Mema spending hours reading to me. Some things don't change...they just get passed on to someone new :)
On Friday, we went to the Walmart in Graham and did a little bit of Christmas shopping (that's as brave as we get on Black Friday!!) Then, we had a wonderful lunch at Uncle Greg and Aunt D'Anne's and then headed east. We made it to Tyler in the early evening and had a great dinner with Auntie (my great-aunt). After dinner, we went back to Auntie's house where Madigan decided that there was no question about it - Auntie had the coolest house she'd ever seen. Especially with all of the (very breakable) glass figurines, jewelry boxes and music boxes. I was worn out by the time we left from being a human barrier between her and anything that had the potential of breaking:). But, we really enjoyed spending some time with Auntie. We left her house after a while and drove 45 more miles until we (FINALLY) arrived at my parents house where we spent the remainder of the weekend. And, as always, Madigan had a blast! She got to ride in a wagon INSIDE the house, eat cookies right before bedtime, and play with toys in stores that we had no intention of buying (none of which would ever have been allowed when we were kids). Plus, she got to ride in the trailer behind Gee Gee's new "yard bug" (is this the start of the "pageant wave"? )
Unfortunately, it was rainy and cold the whole time we were there, so the riding was confined to around the porch. But, she's already looking forward to going back in the spring and riding all around Gee Gee and Pa's land!
Again, we took less pictures here because Pa and Gee Gee had their cameras going full-force! We'll have to get their pictures and will post those later. Anyway, we did some shopping, sat by the fire, ate too much (again) and then went to church with them on Sunday. After lunch, we headed home and arrived safely around 6:30 Sunday night. We were pretty exhausted, but so glad we got to make the trip and see everyone. We're so thankful for our families and what they mean to us. We are constantly reminded how blessed we are to have such amazing people in our lives.
So, that was our week! I'll leave you with one last picture that makes me smile every time I see it. Ted was out of town for most of the week before we left and Madi really missed her Daddy. So, it was even more exciting to her that he was with us the WHOLE week of Thanksgiving (as you can tell from this picture!)
Here's a group picture. Unfortunately, we forgot to take it before a few people had left, but here's most of the group.
Sunday we went to church and just hung out most of the day. Monday, Aunt Kate took Madigan shopping, so Ted and I had a little time to run around town alone. It was really nice to shop without checking to see what Madigan was reaching for or encouraging the use of a "quiet voice" (although Ted did get a little loud a couple of times)! The only problem was that we kept going to the same stores that Kate and Madigan were at and having to hide from them! I literally dove behind a clothes rack at one point. I felt a little guilty for hiding from my kid :), but they had a great time without us. That evening, we spent Christmas Eve at Aunt Kate's house and ate a wonderful dinner.
Then, we opened presents from Ted's Aunt Shirley. Madigan got a doll and bottle which she LOVED. All we heard for the next five minutes was "baby, baby, baby".
She also got some Princess slippers and a pink tutu. Why is everyone out to make her a girly girl?!! But, she loved them (of course!) and had a lot of fun being a ballerina in her tutu. Here's a video of her grace and coordination (inherited from her mother?!).
The rest of Tuesday and Wednesday we just hung out most of the time. Can you tell that Madigan had fun?! Every time we turned around, someone had a new "toy" for her to play with!
Bubbles!
A blow-up Santa the size of Madigan
A Thomas the Tank Engine tent
On Thursday, we all drove to Asheville, NC to visit the Biltmore mansion. Wow - what a place! It was absolutely beautiful, but I have to admit that my favorite part was the basement where there was a bowling alley and indoor pool! Here are some pictures:
Whew... you tired yet? We were but so glad we got to do all of this with the Bowsmans. Thanks Grandi, Gramps and Aunt Kate for a GREAT time!! We love you!
