Traditions....

We stopped in Houston to visit Paw Paw and Gordie at the RV park for 2 nights. It rained the entire weekend we were in Houston, but we managed to find a little fun at the clubhouse, playing pool, working out and a little trip to Sam Moon :~) (for work, wink wink)

Here, the girls are making homemade, sprouted flour biscuits with Nan-E. They were super yummy and the girls have a tradition of baking something good in the kitchen with Nan-E at Thanksgiving. Thank goodness for Nan-E's baking skills, that gene definitely did NOT get passed on to me. My baked goods look more like a science experiment, geez.

We always do the line up for pictures. The usual suspects, only, our faces change, our bodies change (well, some of us more than others), our hair...forever changing (ok, just my hair), the girls grow taller and we change our shirt color to define the year. I love to see the progression we have made each year. This year, I wanted to try to do something different than that usual cookie cutter photo....only, I couldn't take an action shot from in front of my camera. So, sans moi, here it is....

From Left to Right: Ted, Mel, Pa-K, Nan-E, T-bone (top row)
Gabrielle, Bella, Lexie (bottom row)

Here is the Betty Crocker, cookie cutter, everyone say "cheese" for about 30 seconds straight, don't blink, look at the camera....no, not at the seagull, oh...ok, lets try again. Say Cheese, don't blink, look at the camera...oops the wind pushed my hair right across Lexie's face....one more time......(it is freezing out here, please be good enough, please be, whew, ok, this one works, let's go inside and play Guitar Hero).
Maybe next year I will have done my research, learned a little about photography snapshots vs. poses, along with the technicals of my camera and will have (fingers crossed) a dynamic, frame worthy photograph for the 2010 Thanksgiving Week.

The main thing is, we are building traditions that will make a mark on our children's lives and we will resource this time together, as a family, when we need to fill that void when life gets in the way of spending time together. Thanksgiving always marks a time that I am especially thankful for the incredible family I have and how important they are to me.
I hope your Thanksgiving week was fulfilling and that you are building a tradition for yourself and your family that will provide you with many years of happy memories.....