Pictures for Christmas!

We had pictures taken of Emmie and Nicolas for Christmas presents this year. I thought you all might like to see. They turned out really well and we appreciate Mary letting us borrow her house and beautiful gardens! Amy Drouet was the photographer and did a fantastic job as always! The pic below is Nonie opening her pictures. I think she liked them.......

Merry Christmas!

Emmie loved Marsha's I mean Nicolas's trampoline

Nonie and Emmie

Nicolas didn't want Nonie to be cold!

Emmie was fascinated by the glass table

Now Dutchie's ears will not be cold on her scooter!

Beautiful quilt made by Mama Hollis for Emmie

Casey, Hollis, and BamBam

Sara and Emmie

Gdaddy, Mimi, Emmie, and Nicolas

Hollis and Emmie

Teddy Bear Tea at the Roosevelt

Who dun it?

slickster Bill
Bah humbug!- She's innocent!

Rolling in the floor with cousin Will

Aunt E

Checking out Jaycee

We have been terribly deficient in our blog postings (sorry Steltz!) and the harassment never ends (Steltz)! Liz is reportedly working on Thanksgiving post. I am trying to round up more pictures from Thanksgiving and I'll post those. In the interim, I'll post Christmas pics.

We left on Tuesday and drove to Dothan, Alabama to spend Emmie's first Christmas. I'm not sure how people travel with a small car or more than one child. We looked like we had packed the entire house and were relocating permanently! It was so fun spending time with family and friends and celebrating Emmie's first Christmas. Thanks everyone for making it so special. Emmie was particularly enamored with Nicolas. It seems that boy can always put a smile on her sweet little face and she's sure she can do whatever he is doing.

We celebrated with Gdaddy and everyone Christmas Eve and then on to Nonie's on Christmas day. It didn't take Emmie long to figure out how to open presents! After just a few, she was diving at the next one. She especially liked the taste of the red tissue paper! Her favorite though was getting to eat all of the food. So far, she hasn't met a food item that she doesn't like! She thought all of the holiday overeating was a fantastic idea.

We were home almost an entire week, but it seemed to go so quickly. It was so nice to see everyone and we especially enjoyed the "murder mystery" at mom's Christmas night. It was essentially "Who dun it?" at the Gunn residence with the Snell/Bancroft crew. It was great seeing all of our cousins/aunts/uncles/etc. and Emmie loved having all of the babies to pummel. She literally had them all crying within only a few seconds due to "loving pokes and pulls of the lips/eyes/ears/whatever body part was close!" The costumes and character acting was especially good and I never realized how much "talent" my family possesses. =) I think we should definitely make this an annual event.

Thank you all for the conversations, family time, laughter, and love. It was a perfect Christmas. I only wish we could see everyone more often.

Thanksgiving

Crete, Santa, Emily, Gray, Liz, and Emmie

Terry and Crete

Betsy, Bethany, and Emmie

Liz, Bobble, and Emmie

We went to Shelby to visit Liz's family for Thanksgiving. It's always so fun to visit Shelby at Thanksgiving. It's usually the first real cold that we get for the year though this year New Orleans was pretty cold too. We usually show up with tshirts and flip flops. Fortunately, we checked the forecast this year and packed a little warmer. After all, we are now responsible for this small child. Though to be honest, Emmie would rather be barefooted anytime!

Emmie was so glad to see everyone again especially Crete and Gray. She will watch Crete and is sure she can do everything that he can do. It was great getting to spend time with Raah, Bobble and everyone else as well. Terry outdid himself again with all of the cooking especially Liz's favorite cheez wiz casserole!

We also visited Santa while we were in Shelby. Emmie was not very impressed at first, but she slowly warmed up- as long as we were holding her.

Betsy, I'm still sad you went to the mountains to get Christmas trees without me and I fully expect you to wait next year! Except for being deprived of picking out Christmas trees =), it was a perfect first Thanksgiving for Emmie. It's always good spending time with family and Emmie always appreciates good food! That child does not like to miss a meal.

I'll post more pictures as soon as Liz collects them from her family.......