Back Home Again and For the First Time

Boy oh boy oh boy am I behind or am I behind? Geez. Life with a little one has changed my ability to get to the computer! So this post is about our trip to Indiana in early October. The purpose of the trip, as you know, was for Little Man to meet my family. I tried very hard to get photos of all the different family members holding him, but of course I didn't get that accomplished. I got to talking and watching Luke interact with different people and forgot sometimes. But here are some photos from the trip:

First off, Miss Jessica is now a nurse.
And I got to attend her pinning ceremony.


We are so proud of her!


Ok, now some photos of LM with the Indy relatives.
Of course, the grandparents had their time with him.
He loved that part.


Meeting his OTHER Aunt Kim. Who likes go to by Mimi. Phew.


Checking out cousin Lori.


With cousin Veda.


Chillin' with Uncle Steve.


TOTALLY comfortable with Unk.


Giving Bevi some sugar.


Relaxing with Aunt Marlene.
This one and the next few were at the baby shower for Gibson!


Oh, and Debbie had the touch, too.


With cousin Amber.


And Aunt Sherri.


And Torchy.

And we were just getting started. And remember, I forgot to get photos of some! LOTS of relatives. Little Man was SUCH a good sport. Really. He was generally in a good mood for most of the trip. And he slept well and we stayed pretty much on schedule with meals. Amazing. OK, more relatives and activities:

Here he was showing his grumpiness a bit...end of the afternoon.
With Aunt Sally!


And cousin Candy...who gave him his favorite toy of the moment...silk handkerchiefs!


He and his Great-Great Aunt Dot hit it off from the start.


Meeting Uncle Bob.


And way high on the cuteness scale - his second cousin Rolen.
This is my niece Amber's son. Who gave him hand me downs.
I know. It's complicated. ;-)


Cousin Ryon was fun to sit with, for sure.


In good hands here...I mean cousin Jessica IS a nurse, for goodness sake!


Checking out Uncle Rick and that scruffy beard.
Or maybe the lights on the ceiling. One or 'tuther.


Meeting cousin Robin.

Robin came from the Colts game. She got to go for free because her husband entered her into a breast cancer survivor contest with a local radio station. They had brunch at the Hard Rock Cafe, were part of a huge pink ribbon on the field before game, and sat in a luxury box to watch the Colts. Pretty cool. She's had quite a year, so it was cool she got to go. And kudos to that husband of her for entering her in the contest. Way to go.

Of course, LM took time for some Nana hugs too.

In addition to attending nurse pinning ceremonies, baby showers, visiting relatives, and eating and sleeping, we also did some other stuff too:

We watched Veda play soccer.


We enjoyed the fall colors.


Kylie and Cora found this pretty caterpillar hanging out on part of a dried up soybean plant.


We watched Deacon play football.


And we visited the Garfield Park Conservatory again.
I'll share more of that another day. Maybe in 2012. Ahem.

All in all, it was a fabulous long weekend in Indy. It was a smoother trip because as you will remember my in-laws flew with me. That was very nice. And, I'm so glad we were able to go before LM got any bigger.

Hey, these Hoosiers aren't too bad, are they, Little Man?

I am determined to get caught up. We'll see if I get it done. Hope to see you soon to catch up on other items. Thanks for stopping by.

Welcome Gibson Ellett!

Baby number four for our family in 2010 arrived yesterday! I have lots of stuff still to post between the fair (which needs an update) and now, but this must go up directly! Gibson Ellett was born on Veteran's Day at 4:34am via emergency c-section. Mama and Daddy were up all night with the birthing process. He eventually arrived and is beautiful and wonderful by all accounts. He was 8lb, 5oz, 20in. I can't wait to meet him at Christmas, and am totally thrilled to once again be an Aunt.

His first name, Gibson, isn't after anyone - just a name his Mama and Daddy chose especially for him. It was a while after he was born before he received his name, as they were hashing it out even after he arrived. I don't know what his sanctioned nicknames will be, except for perhaps Branch, which he's been called for several months (another branch on the family tree) but I've taken to calling him Gib, Gibby, and the Gibber. These may all be contraband. I don't know. But it's a name that lends itself to cool nicknames, for sure. His middle name is a family name - my grandfather's name was Edward Ellett. Ellett was his mother's maiden name. Her family helped to found Ellettsville, Indiana.

Of course, relying on others to send me photos, here are some photos of the new little guy with my Indiana family:

This is the only one so far where I see some resemblance to his cousin LM


Here he looks JUST like his dad.


Kissy face!


Dad and Mom with their new son.


Veda, Deacon, Cora with their new brother!


Nana with another new grandbaby.


Grandpa and Torchy checking out the babe.


Uncle Bob and cousin Amber.
I think it's funny Gibson already has his eye on Uncle Bob.
Smart kid. ;-)


Bevi and Unk stopped by too!


Cool Man Gib.


It's like he's saying, "Enough with the photos!"


The three boys.
And, my brother Steve with a look on his face that looks like HIS dad.


The four kids, dad looking on.


Four kids and dad, clearly after a Cora meltdown.


The whole beautiful family.

So there you have it! Our latest baby! As I said, I'm dying to meet him in person. It won't be long.

See you soon!

State Fair 2010! ***UPDATE COMING***

***HI ALL - I Just found my other State Fair photos and will be updating this post shortly.***



This year's butter sculpture was about Texas-OU

Also in the "old news but previously not reported here" category - an update on the State Fair of Texas! Yes, that's right. It closed almost a month ago. But sister, I'm living on little sleep and borrowed computer time these days. So here is your update of the great State Fair of Texas 2010.

We went to the fair four times. We took Little Man each time. He seemed to enjoy it except the day it was really hot. Each time we went to the fair, we went by to see my photos. They were displayed in the Creative Arts building with lots of other beautiful crafts and creations of all sorts. It is a great building to spend some time marveling in.

Me standing near the butterfly photo.
It's just above the one LM is looking at.


The other one - the sunflower image - was on the top row.


We walked all around.

On this particular night we went with S's brother and sister-in-law and Mark and Kim, their kids, her mom Debbie, and S's parents Cheryl and Sam. There were strollers and baby bjorns involved heavily in this outing. What a difference a year makes. We checked out the treasures people sell as well as the automobile buildings. And, of course, we ate our weight in fair food.

LM helped his Nonna down some fair food.
Not really. He just got some "sugar" from her.


Big A and Kim had cotton candy.
I can honestly say I am not a fan.


But Alexandra was. She liked it.


Even Kim's mom is a fan.
Don't worry, I get my calories in elsewhere, ladies. Ahem.


We saw the trains.
We all thought the trains were moving to Grapevine before this fair.
But they were still there.


We also went to the butterfly garden.
I highly recommend this place. Beautiful.


All of the fair photos were with the purse camera.
A couple turned out alright!

So there's the quick, late fair update!

See you soon.