secret agent Erica

its not fair. erica will go on "secret missions" for her daddy, but not for me. in a way, i guess its actually good. its nice for andrew to have special things with her that i dont. i'm sure it makes him feel really special.

anyway, what am i talking about??? Andrew will call erica over to him: "secret mission." she'll run over to him and he'll whisper something in her ear. if she doesnt quite understand, she'll look at him with a confused look and he'll explain again. once she understands, she gives a mischevious smile and runs off to accomplish the task. most of the times, she has to do something to me. tickle me, poke my belly [she loves bellies], give me a handshake, give me a kiss, and sometimes smack me. [yes, i know its not a good thing to be teaching her, but what can i do?] But whenever i say, "secret mission," she just runs away from me. and if i actually do get the chance to tell her what to do, she refuses to do it. ah well.

SOOO... thanksgiving...

So, wednesday i went to my parents' house to help with baking, etc. My mom, dad, sister, brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and neice were all there. it was so much fun. i'm glad we had the chance, b/c i could really have fun w/ them on a more one-on-one basis. i knew that once the whole extended family came over, i wouldnt have a chance to hold my baby neice.

i came home that night, which is good b/c erica got to sleep in her own crib. Thursday morning, andrew and i worked at getting our food, etc together to take to his family's house. luckily, erica woke up around 7 am, so she got a morning nap before we left. We were at his parents house REALLY early, so i was able to help get things together, and we could have some one-on-one time w/ them. then everyone came over for lunch: the big feast! grandmother and grandfather, uncle, aunt, 2 cousins and boyfriend of the one cousin, 2 great-uncles. Erica really enjoyed her food. well, we all enjoyed the food. She especially loved dessert, which everyone was too willing to share with her. My dear Hubby kept giving her whipped cream. she had A LOT! i have no idea how she was able to run around and around and around after that big meal.

we spent the afternoon talking, watching football, and playing games. Andrew's sister, her hubby, and toddler boy [two days younger than erica], and baby boy came over. erica had fun playing with her cousin, and she LOVED the baby. she's really interested in babies. i had to make sure she didnt smother him too much with hugs, etc.

for dinner, andrew's mom had ordered food trays from chick-fil-a. it was quite the different [but good] menu for thanksgiving day. Andrew's cousin, great-aunt, and other great-uncle came over for dinner.

We spent the night at his parents' house. erica's crib was in the same room that andrew and i were in. SO, she woke up in the middle of the night and saw us; she wouldnt fall asleep b/c of that. we got her out of the crib and brought her over with us for the remainder of the night.

in the morning, we left for my parents' house. it was PACKED full of people. Of course, there was my immediate family [listed earlier in this post]. then, also from PA was my cousin, her hubby, and their toddler daughter. From New Jersey: aunt, uncle and aunt, cousin and his girlfriend. From Georgia: aunt, uncle, cousin and her husband and 3 children, cousin and his wife. It was so great to see them! the Georgia family dont come up too often, so it was a nice time of catching up. the kids had so much fun together! The day was not quite as "structured" as the previous, so i may leave out some things in my summary... we had a little bit of breakfast. Then went outside with the kids to play [the weather was so nice!]. had turkey, etc leftovers for lunch. spent the afternoon mainly talking and having fun. colored with the kids. had lasagna for dinner. then played some games. the kids got some presents from their aunts and played with them.

we spent friday night there. we set up a pack-and-play in the computer room for erica. i didnt think she'd fall asleep, but she was SOOO tired that she didnt cry for even a momment. andrew and i had to sleep on the couches. not too comfortable, but oh well. Erica woke up in the middle of the night again, and had trouble falling back asleep [since she had once again taken off her pajamas]. so, we pushed two couches together and let her sleep there with us. i was actually quite shocked that she fell asleep again. she woke up then around 8. she climbed out and went upstairs, where her grandparents watched her so i could get a few more minutes of shut-eye.

we left sometime between 9 and 10. i dont really recall. we came home and just kinda took it easy, b/c we were all tired and worn out. So i've decided that we CANT do too many days in a row over Christmas. We have the friday before christmas, sunday before christmas, christmas day, and the day after already booked. eek! so i told andrew that we cant make any plans for saturday. erica [and i!] will need a break. we're also going to be coming home each night to sleep instead of sleeping elsewhere. that should help, b/c we'll get full nights of sleep.

i'll get pictures up soon. unfortunately, i'm a HUGE bum and didnt take any pictures at andrew's family get-together. i just kept forgetting. i may have one or two, so i'll get them on here. and i do have some from my family gathering. I dont know when i'll get around to it, but hopefully it'll be soon.