Gobble, Gobble

This photo perfectly captures what the holidays are all about - family, friends, and (although you can't see our full bellies) food! This year we traveled to Marion, IN for one-heckuva Thanksgiving dinner that was nothing short of an absolute feast. Big thanks to Douglas & Brent who have missed their callings as event planners and to Patti & Earl for welcoming us into their beautiful home. It was really nice to spend the day with them and with Evelyn, Justin, their three gorgeous daughters and my Aunt Pat. Here are some more photos from the day that highlight the fun time with family...

Clearly, there just weren't enough hours in the day for everyone to get their cuddle time in with little-bundle-of-joy Baby Lyla!

Suffice it to say that we are more ready for #2 than we ever have been, BUT we're not ready yet. :)This was a pretty special moment for Mom & Dad Johnson - sitting across the room from Manda & I as we sat with Josie and Lyla. They both got all teary-eyed seeing "their daughters with their daugthers". This was the first time that we'd all been together and it was a pretty incredible moment.

Now - back to the food. Did I mention it was delicious? So you know how you feel after too much turkey... I think this face captures it pretty well? (Look closely to see the mac & cheese all over her cheeks.) This little lady was stuffed!
But, she learned a very important lesson on Thursday afternoon...no matter how full you are, there's always room for dessert. (Thanks Earl!)
Here are some photos we took in Earl & Patti's lovely yard. We were hoping for something Christmas-card-worthy but my 35mm was majorly acting up so the photos wound-up being very over-exposed. (Sidenote: we checked our warranty on Friday & found out that Monday was the last day of the warranty, ran down to FedEx to ship it back to Canon, and long story short - voila - a fixed camera arrived today. Hooray!) So, nothing worthy of the Christmas card, but definitely a few worthy of the blog.

So, Thanksgiving was a success and it was only Thursday!!

Now, onto the rest of the weekend's festivities. We set aside Friday for the Schneider-side of the family and had a very tasty Indian dinner in the early evening. It was one of those nights where everything just fell into place perfectly. We beat the crowd at Akash, had a delicious meal, then finished up just in time to walk past the annual tree lighting on Fountain Square on our way home. We got to the square just in time for the big reveal that Nick Lachey was the one in the Santa suit. Here is Josephine all bundled up in her Cincinnati-winter-best.

And here she is with Grandma & Grandpa Schneider just before the big event!

They lit the 60-footer & then had a big surprise fireworks display. To say that Josie was absolutely captivated would be an understatement. She was utterly and completely in awe of them!

Here's a video... and yes, that's Josie squealing excitedly in the background. :)

On Saturday we headed up to Xenia to see my long-lost PJ before he headed home to FLA, meet baby Makayla, and stop by a party at our friends Bill & Alicia's house. Ladies and gentlemen...meet Makayla - what a doll! Big congrats to Suzie & Kenny!
Here's a photo from the final moments of our Thanksgiving weekend festivities - just before leaving Bill & Alicia's house to head home on Saturday night. Thanks for having us guys! It was great to see you!