Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving gathering at the Hanna's. We had such a fun time hanging out with family. I hardly saw my kids...they were so content to play with their cousins all day. We are so incredibly blessed to have such a close, wonderful family.

The 3 Musketeers


Ashton's new wheels.

Zeke & Cal taking a break after LOTS of running outside.

Dan taking a break on the swing.


Zeke having his pumpkin pie because "pumpkin pie comes with Thanksgiving!"


K snuggling with Doug.

Jack with "his Alli"

The huddle before the next big football play.

Zeke "guarding" Callie

Trip to Aggieland

Tuesday our family took a road trip to College Station just to see the campus and take the kids around some of our favorite spots at A&M. It even turned out to be Elephant Walk day, an Aggie tradition for seniors....where students walk around the campus, reminiscing about the sites on campus...they do a few yells with yell leaders. A&M brings elephants on campus for the students to take their picture with. So, needless to say, we were not without things to look at/watch on the campus....there was a lot going on.

That evening we had dinner with Stephen & then went to watch an Aggie basketball game. It was a late night...so after about an hour into the game...Zeke & K were reaching a point of crazy delirium...so I took them on to the hotel while the guys stayed to watch the rest of the game.

The next morning we got up and took advantage of the pool for a little swimming. It was so quiet in our hotel....we felt like we pretty much had the place to ourselves....it was awesome!

Lil' Aggies

Kaelyn picked out her pearls to wear with her Aggie outfit...I think it makes a nice touch.

Kaelyn thought that it would be really funny to open up my office filing cabinet...pick a file and climb in. She thinks she is SO funny! "C-H-E-E-S-E"

This is an outfit that MeMe bought for Kaelyn last September....we are so proud because she is now able to wear it over a year later! With the exception of her feet, Kaelyn hasn't
grown much in the past year. She has stayed in pretty much the same size for a LONG time....much different from her big brother.

Funny Zeke-isms

We are traveling to College Station today to take Zeke and K around A&M. Brad & I decided the other day that this was something we had never done, but really wanted to...so while we were in Germany last week we made plans to take them today.

This morning I told Zeke, "Guess, what!"
Z: What?
J: We get to stay in a hotel tonight (Zeke LOVES hotels) and our hotel has a heated swimming pool inside!
Z: That is great...we get to go swimming inside our room!
J: Well, not in the room, but inside the building..that is almost as good. :)

I thought it was hilarious that he conceived we might be getting a hotel room with our own pool inside.

My second funny Zeke story came at dinner the other night. Zeke was sitting down eating his fruits and vegetables...although he is still not a big fan...he eats them without complaint (most of the time). Kaelyn decided to climb up next to her brother while he finished his meal. I was washing dishes at the sink and Zeke said, "Mom....Kaelyn IS a REALLY good girl."
J: Yes, she is...why do you say that?
Z: Because she ate my blueberries!
(so now he doesn't have to)
Those 2 certainly make quite a team....crazy children.

Sweet Reunion

We made it home!!! HALLELUJAH!

We are so thankful for a safe trip and we were thrilled to find both of the kids in great spirits this evening. (Zeke especially has struggled with our absence in the past). Zeke seems very content, very happy, and thrilled to see both of us. His settled nature is such a blessing. When Brad wheeled out of the terminal, Zeke ran full force into his Daddy's arms....it was wonderful to see.

Thank you Nonnie, Gwanddad, Papa C. and G.G. for taking such amazing care of the kids in our absence. We are so blessed to have your love and support.

Travel Excitement

Here is an update on our travel so far. Yesterday morning we got up at 6, loaded up the car (completely....the guys were both holding luggage in their laps while I drove) and then we headed to the airport. Scott's flight was scheduled to depart just 30 minutes after ours which worked out perfectly for arriving together.

I believe Scott's flight left on-time. At first our flight, scheduled to leave at 9:20am was delayed due to the fact that the aircraft was stuck somewhere else in poor weather. After an hour delay, we boarded the plane. We sat on board and watched as the luggage was loaded. We sat and we sat and we sat....after an hour of sitting on the parked plane (2 hours after orginal departure time), the captain came onto the speaker to inform the cabin that we were not able to take off because there was a window open in the cockpit that was unable to close...they were waiting for a tool to fix the problem. After another 30 minutes the repair crew boards the plane to work on the problem. It is at this point that some passengers (who had already missed connecting flights, meetings, etc) decided to get up and get off the plane. Once the cockpit window was closed....then the luggage carrier came back and we sat and watched as they unloaded the bags of those passengers who had decided to leave the fun. 3 hours and 20 minutes later we are ready to take off....it is now 12:40....our flight to Houston is scheduled to leave Amsterdam at 1:45pm....it is supposed to be a 2 hour flight.

We arrived in Holland at 2:05pm, all the while stewardesses are assuring us that there have been many delays in Amsterdam due to bad weather so when we get on the ground we should just run to the gate. :) There was a semi-stampede of people trying to exit the aircraft as quickly as possible.....I believe at least half the aircraft either missed connections or they were about to miss connections. Brad & I did our best to keep from getting run over.

Once we got to the terminal, Suzette our wheelchair assistance woman, helped us determine that our flight had indeed just left and we would then go to guest services at KLM to see about getting onto another connecting flight. Brad Wims was determined that we would be crossing the Atlantic that day. We waited in line for one hour, then spoke with the guest assistance woman for another hour about different options. We could have flown into JFK but then we would have spent the night in NY just to catch another flight Sunday NIGHT to flight back to Houston....YUCK! It was the same story if we flew into Chicage....SO.....we ended up staying the night in Amsterdam. After much discussion about appropriate transportation and accomodations.....Suzette, who was still with us (3 hours later).....took us to find something to eat and then to find a taxi to the hotel. Suzette kept saying, "it's a lot easier to get help in these matters in the US...isn't it?" She was a very sweet woman...we were blessed to have her help all afternoon. She was with us from the moment we got to Amsterdam terminal....until we got into our taxi to go to the hotel. Having her help was wonderful!

So, 12 hours of travel time in airpoirts to travel 600 miles.....I hope we don't continue this pace for the rest of the trip to the States. :)

Right now it is 9:10am in Amsterdam. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:10am and on an entire board of "on-time" flights, the one to Houston has in red words next to it "delayed until 11:10am." I think I am having dejavu....

I will post again once our feet hit the ground in America.....we are REALLY ready!