Hehe. Joslyn was getting prepared for the festivities! Missy made these little turkeys made out of Joslyn's hand-print and then put each of our names on it. Mine said "Aunt Keri" of course. :) lol, I just LOVE Joslyn's expression here though - she looks like she's thinking, "Are we done? Please for the love of God, tell me we're done!" ;)
We were all hanging out in Judy's family room before the food was ready, so I got a little Joslyn time then. And of course I'm kissing her head because I love doing that.
Claire and her baby cousin Joslyn together. :) Personally, with the two of them together like this, I really do think Joslyn looks a lot like Claire. Maybe the nose is a bit different but otherwise, they look very similar. I'd noticed that before when looking at some of Claire's baby pictures - that Joslyn looks a lot like Claire did back then. :)
What up, homie? *cough* Shut up. :-p
These two are my cousins Chris and Kevin. They're brothers - may not look too much alike but they have the same sharp wit that I love. :)
Kevin, Claire and Kris posing together for a picture before the meal was served. *laughs* It's funny because Claire reminds me of me in a way -- I used to make the exact same kind of poses with my mom and look all cute and adorable. Little did you know there was a little terror underneath that disguise with temper tantrums galore! lol, to be honest Claire reminds me a lot of when I was a kid...she got a lot of my kiddie tendencies, hehe. ;)
I really like this picture of my dad and my mom. They both look genuinely happy and that's always real nice to see. :)
Hee, here's baby Joslyn hanging out on the floor next to the table. That was her position for the majority of the meal. She was pretty content. She may not be smiling here but every time I passed by her, she would give me a big smile and coo a bit at me. Hehe, she's so adorable. :)
If you haven't figured out yet, I was going around the table taking pictures of everyone before the meal began. Sue me, I wanted to capture all the memories. :-p Of course, here's a picture of Missy and Keith (my sister-in-law and my brother).
This is a pic of Kris' parents. They used to never celebrate holidays as a family but they seem to like the family atmosphere now of it all, so they come over for our shindigs more...and have their own as well.
*cough* Another picture of Joslyn because um...I can't walk by her and not take a picture? It's like against God's plan or something? *cough* Shut up. :-p
A nice little family picture of Missy, Keith and Joslyn together, even if Joslyn was more interested in looking at something else other than the camera, lol.
Half-way through the meal, Joslyn got tired of being on the floor. Missy got her to go to sleep and then handed her off to my mom. If you can't tell, my mom absolutely loves her granddaughter. ;)
Here's Keith and myself. It's been nice reconnecting with him over the last 5 months. I feel like our relationship has grown a lot; we're a lot closer now. And we absolutely joke around way too much, hehe.
Da baby lookin' all peaceful during her sleep. :)
And then she suddenly wakes up, notices Grammy is not Mommy, and "WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" I swear, Joslyn does not work up to her screaming. It just goes from completely silent to that scream, which is why my mom looks so alarmed and like "Uhh, I didn't do it. I promise." lol ;) I especially love Claire's expression. ;)
Missy was showing Claire some pictures and I was trying to get a picture of that, but JUST as I was snapping the picture, Claire began to walk away. Of course. lol, so this is what I got. Still cute though. If you can't tell, in the background Claire is wearing her Disney princess costume -- Belle -- who is her favorite princess of all. She was telling me all about it. ;)
My mom was showing Keith her little photo album that she's put together of some of our pictures of Joslyn. :)
After another sudden scream-fest from Joslyn, Missy got her to sleep again and asked if I'd like to hold her. It was just after I'd finished stuffing my face, my lower back hurt because of it (lol), and so I hopped over to the armchair to be able to relax while I held her. As you can see, the transition between Mommy and Auntie went over well. hehe
While it looks like this was taken at the same time, it wasn't. Joslyn woke up screaming again, but this time because she was hungry so Missy went off to feed her. When she came back, she asked me if I could hold Joslyn while she went and got the bottle ready (half the feeding is natural, half bottle). I said sure and there's Joslyn looking at me like I'm an alien that's not her mommy, lol. Claire was very interested in her new baby cousin. It was cute -- when Joslyn was taken away for feeding, Claire brought over her dolly and told me, "Here, you can hold her instead." It was really sweet. So I did and pretended to rock her; Claire just loved that and ran off to get me more presents like a glowing necklace to put on, lol. ;) Nevermind all the dancing she did in front of me while I WAS holding Joslyn. Claire was a on a bit of a sugar high from all the toffee popcorn she was eating, lol.
*smiles* This was the first time that I got to feed Joslyn her bottle. I felt a little bad because my mom hasn't even fed her yet, but I got the opportunity to. Missy came out with the bottle while I was holding Joslyn and asked if I'd like to. Of course I said yes! It was really nice to be able to feed her, I quite enjoyed our time together. :) And she burped like a champ afterwards too! lol
Joslyn was amused by Claire (not in the picture) while my aunt Judy was holding her. :)
I gave Joslyn over to Judy since she was one of the few who didn't get to hold her by that point. And I think Judy really enjoyed her time with da baby. :) And that was basically it. About 15 mins later, it was time for Judy et al to head off to another family gathering for dessert. Thanksgiving was really nice and I enjoyed the time with the fam. :)