Bellican Thanksgiving/Christmas in November

In November, we stayed in Memphis to spend Thanksgiving with the Bellicans (Mandy's family). My sister, Melanie, and her family would be coming in town. Also, my aunt and cousin were driving in as well! And with the whole family in town, you can't just have Thanksgiving. You gotta have an early Christmas too!

I don't have many pictures of the family from Thanksgiving day (I am not sure why??).

But I do have lots of pictures of James playing with his cousin, Anthony.

Here is James pushing Anthony around in a doll stroller.

When James got tired of pushing, he just chased Anthony around!

Looking out the window for family arriving!

Playing on the keyboard together

James loved watching Papa as he made the fire.

Well, that was Thanksgiving. Now for Christmas in November, two days later!

Cousin, Lucas, and James follow the Bellican tradition of waiting on the stairs before going downstairs to see what Santa brought!

Anthony joins them!

Wow! Santa brought the big boys shopping carts full of groceries!

James also got a huge amount of play-doh!

As Justin snacked on chips and ranch, he found out that someone else loved ranch too!

Just look at this face ;)

James was worn out by that afternoon.

After James got his nap, he found Papa needed a nap too!

My sister, Mel, and her sweet kiddos

Gotta get a twin picture :)

Going for a wagon ride!

Papa spends some time with the boys outside.

Anthony and James have some more fun together, spinning in Papa's chair.

The guys hang out and play the wii.

Melanie and Mario

Christmas in November family picture!

Dad's November Birthday

My dad's birthday was in November and we celebrated it at my house. We just had a nice relaxing evening of gifts, dessert, and good family time. I love when we can get together as a family and just hang out. Sure wish we all could do it more often!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We love you!

Dad, me, and James

Dad and James playing hard on the couch.

James love his "Papa". He gets sooo excited to see him.

I love James' face. Good times :)

Michelle and Josh came and hung out with us.

They have been the best babysitters!

Good practice, right guys?!

Meme gets James to do the stomp dance...haha.

It's so funny.

Grandad came to join the party too!

He and James threw the ball back and forth, and James just "had a ball!"

Showing Grandad all his toys :)

Halloween

Ok, so here I am again, VERY behind on blogging. But my plan is to catch up before Christmas! So get ready for blogs coming quickly!

My sister, Melanie, invited us to Texas to spend halloween with their family. Justin still had to stay back and work, but my mom came with James and me.

James did great during the 7+ hour road trip (with the help of Mimi).

On the way there, he slept about 2 hours.

On the way back he slept over 3 hours!

We stopped to get lunch and found a pretty spot to take some pics.

When we got to Mel's house, we noticed their big, beautiful playground in their back yard!

James loved this spot. Just hanging out with his cousin, Anthony.

And if anyone knows me, I think I handled myself well seeing how high up they were!

James was such a big boy, climbing up the stairs by himself.

He loved sliding down the slide, but usually went down backwards on his tummy. :)

We decided to carve pumpkins! James loved helping Aunt Melanie.

I think he was "stirring a pot".

Isn't little Lucas just the cutest thing ever?!!!

Loved hanging out with my twin sis. :)

Miss you Mel!

So what do you do when you totally cut the main piece out of your design on accident?

Add two eyes and make a scary face :)

Oh well.

Look at my little "Bob the Builder!"

Meme walked the boys through the church parking lot for a night of fun playing games.

James loves to throw balls so he participated in the "throw the baseball" game.

He did great. Can you see the moving image of the ball? It's kind of transparent.

Anthony loves baseball, so he did this game!

What cute cousins

Trying to get all the boys in a costume picture before we went trick or treating!

We had to sing "If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands" to get them all to look and smile!

James participated so much better than I thought he would. I think it was because he wanted to go up and down everyone's stairs!

Getting more candy. He even said, "dank du" (thank you) a few times without me prompting him!

Enjoying a lollipop while staring at a scary costume.

Twin pic again!

Gotta get a tickle game in!

Poor Lucas, of course he was the victim.

Picture of boys before we left

"Can you boys hug each other?"

Meme with her three grandsons :)

Melanie with her two boys :)

Mandy and James