Morton Madness

Today we lost our beautiful, sweet, caring and funny Aunt TD. We are happy she is no longer in pain and is with her maker. Thanks for all the great memories Aunt TD! We love you and will miss you very much... the birthday song will never be the same without you. Although we will try it will just not be the same. We love you Aunt Tootie... Stephanie Lynn Kraus Kraus, Stephanie Lynn Born April 24, 1948 in Pasadena, CA, to Benjamin Franklin Hooter, Jr. and Virginia Lee Comann. Surrounded by her family, she passed peacefully from this life after her battle with cancer on November 30, 2010, at her home in Plano,TX. Stephanie is survived by her husband, J. P.; sons, Zachary and Phillip Kraus and his wife Lisa; Grandchildren, Ashley and Andrew Kraus; Sisters, Nina Morton and husband Ron; Phyllis Brown and husband Don; Virginia DeSilva and Christopher Carver; Jill Bishop and Roger Smith; Lisa Boyd; Brother Brian Hooter; special friend, Wayne Boggs; numerous nephews and nieces. The family...

Today Sophia had her 9 month check up. Weight: 21 pounds Height: 28 inches Head: 18 inches She got a finger poke to check her iron and it was borderline so we have to give her those stinky drops for a while...

Jeff brought his margarita machine that he made and it was so cool! It as a cooler, PVC and a garbage disposal. Thanks Jeff for the margaritas! Since the party was the day after Thanksgiving we decided to make dinner easy... we ordered pizza! The kids were running from one end of the house to the next and having a great time. It was crazy loud in here. I put Sophia down at 7:00 and she slept right through all the other 23 kids running and screaming. We miss you Brian, Daph, Piper, Ansley and Benton!

The Caravella's came home for Thanksgiving so we decided to have a little get together so all the kids could see each other. The adults were outnumbered... there were 24 kids and 21 adults. The kids had a blast taking pictures on the computer as you can see. I asked the boys if they had fun and Jonah said, "mom, that was chaos". That's my boy!

Today Sophia is nine months old. She is crawling everywhere and pulling up on things. She also loves to eat whatever we are eating she makes this grunting sound when she would like a bite. She still only takes about 20 minute naps , two a day but for the last two days she has had an hour nap! She is still having trouble letting others hold her but today she went to Aunt Stefanie and did not even cry! Then she went to Papa and Uncle Tommy AND Mimi. Could this be the end of being attached to moms hip? Update to follow... and yes, that is an iPhone she is playing with. She LOVES them and can even flip pictures. That is just sick, I know!

I do not know what I was thinking but I ventured out with some of the girls for some Black Friday shopping. I needed NOTHING but thought it would be fun to hang out. We left at 10:00 pm and headed to the Allen Outlet Mall. I could not believe the amount of people who were out shopping! We valet parked and that was the best $7 I spent all year! I did not make it very late, I was home by 2:30 am and crawled in bed and Sophia was up at 5:40. I wanted to cry... ha ha ha Julianne, Carley and Daphne made it a lot later than me. I think Daph made it until 5:00 and then Julianne and Carley until 9:00 or after. You go girls!

This year we decided to have Thanksgiving over at our house. I know it is not all about me but Sophia is going through a phase right now where it is MOMMY MOMMY MOMMY and I am exhausted :) She will not even go to Meemaw, Pops, Mimi, Papa or anyone! I thought it would be best since we have the baby gate up and I could let her down and not have to get up and chase her at mom and dads. She also does not nap all that great but I would take what I could get... well HAPPY THANKSGIVING to momma! She went down 5 minutes before lunch and slept for a record HOUR! It was awesome. Thank you Sophia, mommy needed that. We had a pretty good crowd. Mimi, Papa, Uncle Nic, Aunt Carlie, Aunt Stefanie, Uncle Tommy, Hunter, Chloe, Dakota, Zane, Meemaw, Pops, Uncle Jason, Aunt Kelly, Caroline, Matthew and Ben. It was really small for us though, a lot of people were missed.

We have had a great Thanksgiving break this week. The boys went out and gathered some leaves to make a turkey and then had a little fun wrestling. They were so excited to have NINE days off from school! Piper and Ansley came in town and all the girls went out to celebrate Daphne and Autumns birthday so Justin and Brian took the kids to Hooters for dinner per Piper and Jonah's request. The kids had a great time as usual and Piper ended up spending the night. Stef, Tommy, Hunter, Chloe, Dakota and Zane came in town and the boys stayed with Mimi and Papa for a couple of nights. They had a great time with cousins!

Luke had his Thanksgiving Day Program at school this morning. They sang songs, told what they were thankful for and had a little feast. Luke was thankful for rainbows, trees and grass... I think he just said what every other kid before him said, it was SO not Luke.

Jonah lost another tooth today!