bird 'n' dressing... & don't forget the SAGE!

Your eyes are not deceiving you...our family headcount grew by one over this turkey holiday! Last Tuesday, we picked up daddy's Christmas present a little early... she is super cute and spunky, with green eyes and a pinkish-brown nose.... and I am told that before long she'll be big enough for me to harness & ride. That's right.... my mom lost her marbles & decided to get daddy the lab pup that he's been dreaming about for several years now. As if there are not enough female hormonies running rampant around our house, we added another girl to the mix... and the poor pup didn't know what she was in for with me as her big sis! After a day or two of deliberation, we decided to name her SAGE (fitting in more ways than one... her striking green eyes, the herb in holiday dressing, & we're all hoping she'll be full of wisdom!) Hopefully she'll make daddy a good hunting buddy & us Lewright sisters a bestest friend for life! ... and most of all, hopefully she won't drive mommy further out of her mind over this holiday season ;o) hehe! Does anyone know how to keep her from dropping her entire coat on our wood floors year around???... you know that is my number one concern!

Turkey day itself was just as expected.... full of food, family, & fun. We spent the morning & lunch at DooDah & KK's house and the afternoon & evening out at Popi & Gingi's ranch. I went & went & went until my little motor could run no more. Ardynn did the same! Even without a nap, we managed to hang with the crowd until the wee hours for the card games ... the sugar from the smores helped a bit ;o)

How very thankful we are to have such wonderful family & friends.... and that we are all healthy & kicking.... thanks be to God! Enjoy the photos below of our new pooch & of our fat 'n' happy Thanksgiving day... hope yours was swell, too!

at popi & gingi's ranch

at doodah & kk's

the new pooch, sage

hide your toys... secure your dolls... ardynn's on the move

Geezo - what a difference a week can make! The little bean went from rocking back and forth on her knees to full out crawling in a matter of days... watch out, peeps! You can see the cute little pipsqueak in action in the videos below. She has been making it a few scoots for a few days now, but just this morning she decided she was tired of watching me play with all of the toys - - she's out to steal them all from me now... we'll see how well I can share!!?? Don't be nervous, mommy - I am an excellent toy sharer (wink, wink). Hope you enjoy seeing the videos of her below... mom took them while I was at "school", so you'll miss hearing my voice, but I guess it is still worth the watch.

I have also included a few random pics from the past couple of weeks. Baby Hudson came home to visit San Angelo for the first time last weekend, so we got to see his darling little mooshy face at his ShuShu's house. She has a FABULOUS back yard with gorgeous trees. It sprawls out down to the river & is the perfect place for a toddler to roam around & have a ball. Mom & Sarah got some pretty smokin' cute shots of us kiddos in the back yard... Sarah got more than mom, but below you can see a little of how much fun we had playing with the Lambs! The other photos of yours truly are from last Sunday. Gingi took me to a tea party at the Cactus Hotel, so I got all dolled up & we had a girls' afternoon.... thanks, Gingi!... lots of memories were made ;o)

goblins, ghosts, & ghouls galore

We may not have been the scariest Halloweeners this year in our Minnie & Strawberry costumes, but we didn't miss out on any halloween action... that's for sure.

Friday before candy day, my school had a Halloween parade, where we all got to dress up & parade around, picking up all kinds of loot from our parents in the gym. Honestly - I was a little weary about seeing my teacher decked out in a butterfly costume & all of my masked friends mulling around, but I came around and ended up joining in the fun - wearing my ears & tutu for the whole morning!

If you don't know by now, my mommy LOVES her some Halloween fun, so that night we had a small shindig of our closest family friends to carve jack-o-lanterns, decorate pumpkins, and eat some grub. Us little folk are not quite big enough for "carving" .... so mom got supplies for making faces on some smaller pumpkins for us (you'll see our masterpieces in the photos). Our daddies had a little more fun than they were expecting outside carving jacks... they didn't do half bad, you'll see! It was a fun way to kick off halloweeney weekend & it got all of our porches decorated for the big night.

Halloween was Sunday, so you better believe that mom took advantage of it and dressed us up in our black & orange garb for Sunday School and chuch, but don't worry - I'd say we still look pretty cute. After our naps, we loaded up in the car and headed to Gingi & Popi's to raid their candy bowl. We got some family shots on Gingi's festive porch... (notice Elvis & the witch who decided to join in the fun this year)... and then scooted back home to trick-or-treat around our neighborhood. Although again weary about everyone dressed up in their not so nice clothes, I was a very good sport about trick-or-treating once some of my bestest girl friends arrived.... Kora, Alyse, & Bella!!! Thank heavens they decided to hang out in our neighborhood, because without their encouragement to gather candy from my neighbors, I may have ended up staying home in my Minnie best. We took our little strawberry in the stroller with Bella & made the rounds up and down our street with the FLOODS of kiddos who were also looking for loot. It would be an understatement to say that we had a lot of kiddos come to our house for loot.... in fact, Popi (who was nice enough to stay back home & hand out candy, while the rest of us walked the streets) gave away 8 big bags of candy by 8pm, and had to turn off the light & put a sign on the door to keep the stragglers from ringing our doorbell off. Whew!!... our neighborhood goes overboard for most all holidays & I suppose Halloween is no exception. I had a marvelous time & am already planning next year's costume... I have declared, among other things, that I will be Tinkerbell, a horse, and a pumpkin.... so we'll see!?!? Hope the goblins at your door didn't scare you too much ;o)