Jenny's Photo Shoot

Brian's sister Jenny is a talented, budding professional photographer. She graciously brought all of her equipment (good camera, lights, backdrop, etc.) in order to do a photo shoot of us and the rest of the family. What a generous gift! Here are my favorites... there are a lot of them, but I swear that I really did pare them down to just these! I hope you like them as much as we do. Thanks, Jen!

After the photo shoot, we all relaxed at a Mexican restaurant. Here are a couple of unprofessional (because they were taken by me), but cute pics of the dinner.

Second Christmas

Since the entire Hittle family was together this weekend, we ended up having a "second Christmas" of sorts, to open a few more presents, most to/from Annie & her family, etc. since they weren't there for Christmas Day. As the pictures below show, it was a really fun day. In the group photo, clockwise from bottom left is Sierra, Greg, Jenny, Alex, Peggy, Sean, Kale, Sadie (the dog), Annie, Jim, Brian, Larkin, and Karen.

Part way through the present opening, we had to take a break so that the boys could play with their new nerf guns. Here are a couple of my favorite shots.

Then, it was back to pictures with the babies and present opening.

Here are Larkin and Sierra in their matching beach chairs. How adorable and hilarious are they?! We will all be going to Destin, FL for Annie and Sean's wedding next May, so these chairs from Grandma will be perfect.

We ended the fun day with a game of Left, Right, Center. We'd never played before, but it's simple, mindless and fun. Brian and I didn't do very well, but we'll get 'em next time!

iChat with the Fellers/Cooks

While we have been enjoying this Christmas with Brian's family, my family has been celebrating in the Hampton's. In an effort to bridge the physical gap, we all gathered around for an iChat this morning. Despite a bit of spotty coverage, we all thoroughly enjoyed our video chat and here are a few screenshots from the call. The first picture shows my parents, my sister Dana, and our nephew Gavin. The second shot is of Gavin...er, I mean Darth Vader!, and the third pic is of our other nephew Luke, who did a whole lot of adorable waving. We miss you and love you, Cooks and Fellers! We can't wait to see you at Easter!

Jim's 60th Birthday Surprise Party

Brian's dad, Jim, is set to turn 60 years old on January 11, 2009. The family decided to throw him a surprise party and so we held it today, a couple of weeks early. The boys (Jim, Brian, Greg, Sean, Alex, and Kale) all headed out to a movie (they saw Valkyrie) while the girls set up for the party and welcomed the guests. The weather didn't really cooperate (it was freezing rain), but that didn't stop Jim's good friends from coming to celebrate with him. Here is a video of Jim entering the house and being surprised... and we really do think he was surprised!



Here are a couple of other pictures from the evening... The first photo is of the cake that Jenny decorated with such care. As you can probably tell, it was a Harley Davidson theme, as that is Jim's current obsession. Then, there's a picture of Larkin with the birthday boy, and then Larkin with our good friend Robin. As you can see, Larkin loved Robin... she couldn't stop staring at her, and she sat in Robin's lap for quite some time while a large group of us played Catch Phrase!

Family Friday Night

Brian's other sister, Annie, her fiance Sean, and Sean's boys Alex and Kale arrived into town today. So, the whole Hittle family was together and we enjoyed the chance to just hang out. Here is an adorable video from early in the day when we got Larkin and Sierra together to play. (Sierra is on the left, and Larkin is on the right). They loved checking each other out!

Here are some cute pictures from later in the evening... it was so sweet when Annie would look at Larkin and say to her, "We're buddies, right?!" Larkin clearly agrees, as she just loved staring at her Auntie Annie. It was also the first time that either Alex or Kale had ever held a baby... and they did great. Alex even fed Larkin like a pro. As you can see from the pics, Larkin got passed around to everyone, so my arms actually got a break from holding my 18-lber!