Thanksgiving pictures, part 1

OK, so, on with the Thanksgiving pictures. Steve and Mary and their families arrived on Saturday night (last Saturday), so on Sunday afternoon, after Ari's nap, we headed down to my parents' house to see them all for the first time.

Ari absolutely loved both of her baby cousins. She wanted to hold Matthew (my sister Mary's little boy), so of course, I helped. (I don't know why she insisted on holding his face.)



Josh (Mary's husband) was a big hit with both Ari and Lyvi (Steve's little girl). I know this shot is blurry, but I still thought it was cute.



Mom had a couple small gifts for the girls to open, and in case you couldn't guess, they were books. Ari wanted to read hers with me right away. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love the way she loves to read.



Ari spent some quality time with Matthew...



Kissing his hand (don't ask me why)...



I love this shot because I love the expression on my sister's face...



Ari, Tony, Steve, and Lyvi were all camped out on the kitchen floor when I walked in. Without any prompting, Ari turned to me, said "Cheese" and pasted this perfect little smile on her face. Sure, she won't do it when I ask her to...



We went down to my parents' house the next night, too, after I got off work. I like this shot of Ari...



We attempted to get both of the girls to lay down on either side of Matthew so we could get a group picture. Guess who didn't want to cooperate? (You can see her in the upper corner, making her escape.)



That was the night we put up the Christmas tree, because we were going to celebrate Christmas on Thanksgiving Day. The girls were absolutely thrilled to help Mary and Josh put it together. Mary sorted through the branches, and the girls carried them to Josh.



I love these next few shots...



This one cracks me up, because I was sitting there begging them to smile, and both of them gave me the exact same expressionless face...



There's those smiles...



And that's all for now.