Thankful for Relationships

Be forewarned that this blog is full of randomness. I'll start of with Josiah's fall pictures in his not-so-Halloween costume, since he didn't wear it until 2-3 weeks after Halloween. We took these in our front yard in front of our split rail fence.

Thanksgiving weekend was crazy, to say the least. Josiah was teething and had his first upper respiratory infection (which later spread to me, and then Jacob’s eye) and was put on antibiotics early in the week. We waited until Thursday at lunchtime to travel to my grandparent’s house for dinner in order to avoid traffic, which turned out to be a good plan. We had a great time with my family and spent the night in my grandparent’s brand new 30 year old never-been-slept-in house (I know that doesn’t make sense, but it’s a long explanation). It was very nice!

Grandma rocking and singing to her very tired grandbabies in my great-grandfather's rocker.

Josiah and Uncle Caleb.

The next day we went to my Uncle’s house so that he could take some 9 month pictures of Josiah (a little early) and my mom’s annual Christmas pictures with her grandbabies. I’ll post those pictures at a later date.

After pictures we rushed to Jacob’s parent’s house to get ready for

night one of our 10 year high school reunion. We went to a small Christian school where we were with our classmates from elementary school through high school, so we were really looking forward to it. The first night was family BBQ night, so Josiah came along. We enjoyed catching up with many of our classmates and seeing what God was up to in their lives. It was actually kind of amazing to talk to some of them and see everyone’s kids. It must have been a wild night because we all came home with Josiah’s spit up stains on our shirts and Josiah came home without his pants (diaper leak) and zonked out.

Our old classmates and their kids. This picture is hardly worth posting since you can't really see everyone, but it is the memory that counts.

On Saturday we had another Thanksgiving meal with Jacob’s immediate family followed by yet more Christmas pictures of the grandchildren. Then we made the rounds to visit more with my high school friend, Laura, and her husband, Thadd (who graduated with my brother). It was good catching up with them since they are now missionaries in Germany and have also recently had their first baby, Lilli. After coffee with Laura and Thadd, we visited with Annie, our Cross Country and Track teammate. FYI: Annie and I were on a state champ relay team three years in a row! Then we had a fun dinner with several old friends and ditched the rest of the reunion due to the cold weather.

Laura and Thadd with Lilli.

Mikayla and Josiah in their Christmas best. Excuse Josiah's white socks - he has no black ones.

On Sunday, we had our annual Whitaker family reunion and Turkey Bucks Auction at my grandparent’s house. What is a Turkey Bucks Auction, you ask? We all bring our stuff we want to get rid of and we use fake money (turkey bucks) to bid on and buy it. I bought a pecan cracker, 2 electric edgers, and a 1x4 board (yes, I said a board. My mom is going to paint it to make something fabulous). I had to really fight for the pecan cracker!

I love this picture of Josiah with my grandparents!

Teddy, our auctioneer.

One of my cousins with the suitcase and cowboy hat he bought.

We finally came home on Monday and we were all so glad to get here – not that we didn’t have a great time, but it’s always good to be home. After being sick earlier in the week and then being rushed around all weekend and held by lots of different people, Josiah has now decided to have a bad case of separation anxiety. It is bad enough that sometimes Jacob can’t even hold him. It is a bit endearing to me, but mostly it is difficult since I can’t get anything done. Oh well!