all ready for winter!

with a big family comes a busy holiday season. thankfully, we’ve been able to work with everyone’s schedules to make sure we spend quality time with *all* of our families.

we’ll spend thanksgiving here at the house with ryan’s mom’s side of the family. that includes shirley, robert, auntie loretta, auntie margie, uncle bob, brandon, aunt elaine, uncle danny, grandpa alex and mae. this year is extra special, too, because danielle (ryan’s cousin/ellie’s “auntie d”) is coming up from socal. it will be so nice for us all to see her again. my mom, dad and danny will also be joining us for dinner :)

the next day (black friday, for all you shop-a-holics), the three of us are going to drive up to orangevale where ryan’s dad geoff and his step-mom rodica live. they’re having a great big family reunion/thanksgiving celebration with rodi’s huge romanian family. she has TONS of sisters, and they all love babies! so, ellie is sure to be doted upon. her aunties erica and carerra will be there, too.

last, but certainly not least, we’ll have dinner with my mom’s side of the family on saturday. my mom is hosting, and the guest list includes the three of us, my dad, my brother, uncle gary, aunt susan, emily and brad. gary and susan haven’t seen ellie since MARCH, so they’ll be in for quite a shock at how much she’s grown. i’m not sure if emily’s boyfriend danny will be joining us, but i hope so because he’s hilarious :)

we’ll discuss the many things we’re thankful for in another post as we approach the big day. until then, merry merry!

oh! also worth mentioning today is ellie’s 10-month birthday. happy birthday, big girl!