More Stuffed Than a Turkey!

Thanksgiving is always a stomach hurting kind of day.  Mine and Lesh's family both live within 5 minutes of eachother and we have to celebrate with both families.  Lunch or late lunch is done with my In-loves, and dinner is done with my parents and extended family. 

Yesterday was no different.  I think we ate in no particular order- roasted turkey, potato casserole, sweet potato balls, green bean casserole, croissant rolls, pecan pumpkin crumble, cherry cobbler, crustless pumkin pie... this was all Thanksgiving numero uno!  Then we had- spicy fried turkey, mashed potatoes, spicy green spaghetti, yams, ham, sweet potato casserole, strawberry jello pie, flan, oh and dinner rolls... this was Thanksgiving numero dos! 

On the way home last night Lesh and I were more stuffed than a turkey!!  Besides the food we had a great time with family!  I am so thankful to God that he blessed us with two sets of God fearing families who taught us how to worship him and live for him.  We are thankful that God gave us a sweet little boy named Nathaniel who we pray will choose to follow Jesus.  We are thankful that we live in a wonderful home and that God provides for us in every way possible.  We are greatly blessed!  I pray you all had a blessed Thanksgiving!  Here are pictures of Nathaniel's first Thanksgiving.

Us at Thanksgiving numero uno at the In-Loves

Great Grandpa and Great Mimi with Zaylynn and Nathaniel

Everyone!

Thanksgiving numero dos!  This is my cousin Justin and his family.

This is my cousin Jennifer and her daughter Rachel.

My cousin Joel and his wife who is expecting their first! Congratulations!

My uncle George and my aunt Hiedi

My mom, uncle Alfonso, my grandma, and my uncle George. The only 2 missing were my aunt Rosie and Uncle Javier.

My brother and Zenia with Azriel. Josiah only 1 month old was still sleeping.

And of course my sweet baby boy on the horsie my mom got for her grandkids when they come over!  He absolutely loved this! He would rock himself back and forth.

My cousins Justin, Jennifer, and Joel

This was a great picture of the 3 of them.  Justin and Joel are in the army and don't live in town so this was a great reunion for them!

Here is the whole family on my mom's side.  We had a great time and it was so fun to see all of us cousins with children now, true blessings for each of us.

Here we are again so stuffed!
Blessings to everyone!

Going Out for Dinner with Children

Last night our friends the Caraway's, and the Cummings invited us out for dinner WITH kids.  Now you see this is funny because Lesh and I have an almost 10 month old, the Caraways have a 3 yr. old girl, and 10 month baby boy.  The Cummings have a teenager and almost 12 months old and twins boy and girl.  That is right! We attempted a dinner out with 6 adults, 1 teenager, 1 toddler and 4 babies!

 We ventured out to Spring Creek BBQ the perfect place where it is okay to be loud!  The awesome thing was that it was actually FUN!!!!  No one had a melt down and all the babies were smiling and playing and talking with one another.  We actually were able to have some real adult conversation!  Adult conversation is the funny part because I have been out to lunch with girlfriends and our kids and we really don't ever get to talk that much with eachother becasue we are so focused on our kids.  So I would say that our dinner outing was  a great success!  NO pictures to post here, but I thought this was definately worth blogging about because it was so successful!  Yeah for no meltdowns!!!  Can't wait to start celebrating all our 1 yr olds at their parties!

Best Buds

Today I got to watch my friend Wendy's little boy Zachary.  He and Nathaniel are only 3 weeks apart so we make it a habit of getting our boys to play together often.  Here are the boys hanging out.

Nathaniel can't wait to play again Zachary!

I love Camping!

This weekend we went on our annual fall camping trip.  We always go in October or November because of the great weather.  Well, I debated whether we should take Nathaniel with us and I told myself that I will try everything once, so we did!  Nathaniel had a great time.  We took the pack and play with us which was a lifesaver and borrowed a baby bjorn-Thanks Callie!  Those two things are a must when you take a baby camping.  I even did research on camping with a baby!  Ha, I make myself laugh.  You just have to go in with a "go with the flow" mindset. 

Some things that Nathaniel did while in the great outdoors: 
- He took a rest,but not a nap for about an hour on Saturday.  First nap was in the car on the way up.
- He ate some dirt
- He hiked 3 miles to see McKinney Falls
-Tried his first nibbles of french toast and eggs- He loved it!
-Had a grand ole time under the trees!

We had a wonderful time and so glad we went!

Here was our camp site

We all took turns with the baby bjorn since it was over an hour hike.

My back wouldn't have been able to handle it!

Here is Aunt Shady (Joy) with Nathaniel.

This is the top of the falls.  You can actually walk across the rocks to the other side of the falls.

Tim was trying to reign in Dixie who wanted to play in the water.

Megan and her husband Satish.  This was Satish's first time to camp. 

\He was a pro by the end of the trip.

Here we are having a fun time! Yes, Checkers enjoyed himself too!

Tim and Joy

That's Dixie in the water behind them.

Lesh thought it would be cool to put Nathaniel's feet in the water.

I think he enjoyed it!

Beautiful view at the bottom of the falls

The sun was setting so we left the falls and continued our walk back to the camp for some delicious chicken cooked over the fire! Yummy!

Josiah Aaron Valdivia

My nephew Josiah was born yesterday at 11:10 am on my brother Aaron's 30th Birthday! He weighed 6lbs. 3oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.  Zenia my sister-n-love is doing great! They get to come home this afternoon.  Here are some of his first pictures!

First Family Picture!  Except Azriel was at home becasue the hospital wouldn't allow any children there.

Josiah Aaron Valdivia

Abuelita and Josiah

Abuelito and Josiah

Great Grandma

Great Uncle Alfonso

Uncle Lesh and Aunt Lesly

Katy or Taylor?

This is the battle in the home of the Richardson's!  I went to Katy High school- Go Tigers!!!  My husband went to Taylor and so have all his siblings.  My youngest brother-n-law goes to Taylor and yes, he plays football.  This is my dilema!  Who do we root for?  Well, we root for both!  Here are some pics of Nathaniel at a Taylor game and at a Katy Game  This is why Lesh and I moved to neutral territory- Seven Lakes High School territory. Ha!  Everyone played pass the baby at the Taylor game and of course we watched the game.  I met up with my dad at a Katy game last weekend and took only 2 shots.  Next time there will be more!

Taylor vs. Mayde Creek

Taylor won!

Uncle Bennett with Nathaniel!

On dad's shoulders

Papa

 Mommy!  He always has my hair in his hands when he's in my arms.  I love it!

Nathaniel watching the game with my dad

My dad dressed in his team spirit gear! 

I bought Nathaniel a T-shirt that says Raise em right, Start em young!

He will be attending many football games with us be it Tigers or Mustangs.  Go Red and Blue!