A very, VERY happy Thanksgiving!

2 Great days and I have to share before I go to bed.

Thanksgiving Day was going to be a little bitter sweet for us. We were away from family and our Alaskan family had made other plans...so we were expecting a lonely day. It didn't turn out that way at all.

Lisa and I decided to make our traditional Thanksgiving breakfast...quiche. It was delicious. It is also the first time in 7 months that I allowed myself to really cheat on my diet so it tasted EXTRA delicious. We spent the morning snacking on the quiche and watching the Packers beat up on the Loins. Besides the nice breakfast, it was like any other day for us. We got on the floor and played with the girls. They took their morning (30 minute) nap and we just did our thing...waiting to hear from family.

Thursday afternoon, we set up a video conference with my family who was still gathered in Texas for my cousin's wedding. I was skeptical that it was going to work. I was thinking the connection would drop out and we would spend more time trying to keep it running than actually enjoying it. To my surprise, it worked nearly flawlessly...there were some audio hiccups early on. The video was great and everyone was able to see the girls in action. Alyssa even put on a nice audio display for everyone...we could hear her screeches echoing all the way down in Texas. I have to admit...we didn't DIScourage it!

We left the camera going for hours and hours...even during the feast. We really felt like we were there with everyone. In the evening, we finally figure out that you could expand the video to be fullscreen. Once we did that, the girls could really see everyone on the conference call and were reacting to their antics. I tried to take some pictures to show this...it was really amazing. It really was great! It was like they were here in our living room and I'm sure it must have felt like the girls were there with them. Here is my mom talking to the girls...notice how the girls were looking right at her as if she was there in the room. Amazing. I just noticed half of Aunt Jan is in this picture too.

Here's Aunt Christin getting some face time.

And my favorite moment...and I'm REALLY regretting not getting a tri-pod out to get a better picture...but the girls were getting fussy as it was near time for their afternoon/evening nap so Lisa started reading Brown Bear. My dad had slipped into the drivers seat in Texas and very quietly sat there and listened and watched Lisa read the girls their story. Even right now, I'm getting a little choked up about it because it was a very sweet moment. I love watching Lisa read to the girls and it was so special that Dad got to sit in on it...and from my view (which is why I took that picture), it captured how surreal and special that moment was. Thank you Tom and whoever else worked their magic to make that tele-conference work. It was wonderful!


Shortly after that picture, the girls went down for their nap and we were able to eat our meal. We took pictures of it but Lisa didn't think the pictures were very pretty so sorry...you don't get to see our meal. All you need to know was that it was DELICIOUS. We both overate and paid for it the rest of the night...I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30 while Lisa was feeding the girls. nice.

We also talked to Lisa's family on Thursday. Lisa's mom and grandparents got to see the girls briefly on the webcam. Now that we have that tele-conference thing down, hopefully we'll be able to share some great moments with everyone else.

So what was so great about Friday?!? We beat tu!!!!!!! As some of you know, Lisa and I are rabid A&M sports fanatics. Someone asked us when the girls were born, "you aren't going to be one of those parents that dress their kids up in their school colors and stuff, are you?" I laughed and said, "Well....YEEEAAHHHH!!!!"

A&M football hasn't given us too many things to cheer about this year but today, we beat our rival and it feels so good. Lisa and I always get a little more worked up then we should during football games but I knew we would win today. I even had a bet with my Aggie boss and am really looking forward to him paying up...I'm thinking about asking for my winnings in monthly installments, you know, to make it last longer.

Anyway, as soon as the football game was over, we switched the channel and watched A&M basketball team play in the pre-season NIT tournament championship...and WIN!!!

The second the game was over, we headed over to our Alaska family's home (Ben and Lisa) to enjoy a belated Thanksgiving feast. It was AWESOME! It brought back a lot of great memories from last year. We have spent SO much time over at their place...sitting around, drinking, listening to Dave, playing poker...in the past but haven't been over but a few times since the girls were born. It was so nice to be back and relax and have a great meal with great friends. Dinner was incredible and again, I ate waaay too much.

So now it's getting late and work is just around the corner again. It has been a wonderful Thanksgiving and I hope everyone out there had as much fun as we did this year, even if we couldn't be with the ones that we love. We are looking forward to a quiet Christmas with the girls in Alaska this year. We will be getting out the decorations soon...we haven't decorated since 03 and are really looking forward to going overboard this year. As Lisa said tonight...it's going look like Christmas threw up on our house when we're done.