Christmas time is here...

...and I haven't even blogged about our Thanksgiving yet! Here is a little catch-up in words and pictures:

Max still being as ornery as ever. (By the way, if you look close, the sticker on his head reads "Made in Mexico." I think it came off the hat.) :)

Thanksgiving Day we went to two different family gatherings, the Rassi's and the Gramm's. I didn't get our camera out at all, but we had a good time with family and ate more food than we needed to. The kids did pretty good, with Max getting tired at the Gramm's...which worked out okay since we had an hour drive home and he just fell asleep. The day after Thanksgiving Greg was off work and helped me put up Christmas decorations! Well, really he got the boxes out, put up all of our lights and wreaths, and decorated the Christmas tree. He did all that in the morning, and then in the afternoon I put up the nativity, snowmen, candles, etc. I was so thankful he did it, since he really doesn't like having Christmas decorations up until Dec. 1st. Thanks, babe! :)

Max tried to help decorate the tree.

He got one on!

He's really done pretty good with the tree...only broken two ornaments (the little blue balls are pretty cheap...he pulls on them and pops the top off).

That evening, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Beutels. Paulo and Roseli came, which was great! Paulo met Nora for the first time ever and as soon as he held her, she fell asleep in his arms! :) Roseli put her to sleep, too, later on. Here are the two beautiful ladies:

If you look closely at Nora, she has two fingers in her mouth: Her index and middle fingers of her right hand. The funny part is, when I was little, I didn't ever suck my thumb...it was those two fingers!

Poor Nora...if you suck those two fingers like your mommy did, you'll probably bite your nails, too. :S

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, Mom Beutel left for Stuttgart for two weeks. The first week has gone fast, but we miss her! Here are Max and Nora with the Christmas tree saying, "We're ready for you to come home, Grandma, and bring Auntie Steph and Cousin E with you!"

Last but not least, a couple Nora pictures. She's still a very good baby, and is very smiley! In fact, she's so content by nature that I'm wondering how old she'll be before she tries to roll over. She loves just laying her boppy and playing with her gym or watching Max, and even when she's on her tummy, she holds her head up until she gets tired and then just lays down. Oh, well. I'm thankful for her good nature!

She usually loves her gym

Smileypants!

I do love my little girl. :)

Steph, I know you'll finally get to meet Nora in less than a week now, but I am still trying to get a video of her 'giggle' for you. She doesn't really laugh, but this is as close as she gets. The beginning of the video is the best representation of it. She was giggling more before Caleb got the camera recording.

And, I'll leave you with this one. I put Nora in Max's bed to watch the mobile, which he never got too excited about. She loved it! As you can see, Max will dance to any kind of music...even Brahm's Lullaby. What he lacks in rhythm he makes up for in enthusiasm. :)