Fun and Thanksgiving

Maria is really getting good at feeding herself and just recently has really gotten the hang of drinking out of a straw!

Block building time.  Sometimes Jack likes Maria playing with him and other times hollers when she gets too close.

We went to an all day conference one Saturday and took Maria with us.  Kevin and Elizabeth Seibert were also there with little Cecelia.  Maria really liked checking her out.  They grow so much in 8 or 9 months...Maria was about 9 1/2 months old here and I'm thinking Cecelia was maybe 2 months?

Jack likes "helping" Maria "walk".  She's pretty tolerable of him hauling her around the house.  It's a pretty big feat especially considering that she is probably only about 9 or so pounds lighter than him.

I think Jack told me this was a cowboy outfit: hat (which was found out at G & G Bockey's house and Jack claimed), ribbon around the neck - might've been a tie?, and Mom's nice black shoes.  Gotta love his imagination!

We spent Thanksgiving day with the Hoersten side of the family at G & G Bockey's house.  We ended up staying out there all day and visiting.  Maria thought that crawling under one of the end tables looked like a fun place to check out.

Hmmm, this looks interesting

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we got together with my family.  Uncle Brandon and Maria checked out the weather outside for a few minutes.

Jeff made a bookshelf for us and we brought it home a few weeks ago.  Maria decided to check out the top shelf.  She was pretty cautious and started whining after a minute, which was fine with me.  It's not like we need to encourage climbing on the bookshelf.

The bookshelf: just starting to put things on it.  It's now pretty full, but still not super organized.  I think we're going to purchase some baskets to keep toys and other things in so it will hopefully look nice and organized.

Maria looking extra cute after church one Sunday.  Her hair is getting long enough that I've started using a little clip to keep the hair out of her eyes.

We got together with the extended Bockey family for Christmas on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  Maria and Olivia had a good time playing together.

  

Thanksgiving with my family: Jeff and Jack hang out while Maria checks out the end table and Jack's cousin's, Andy and Jesse, play behind the chair.  It was the hotspot to play that day!