Where Did November Go?

Last month seemed to fly by!  It began with the birth of my niece, Addi.

  

 And Chet had his Third Birthday on Nov. 15th---that's him with his new baby sister.

Then there was a fabulous Vintage themed party on the 19th...What a blast!  Party-goers dressed up in 1920, 30, & 40's costume.  We listened to old records, played a character game, had a photo shoot, drank mocktail Pink Champagne & Lime Rickeys, and ate yummy food inspired by restaurant menus dating back to the good old days. 

My friends Holly and Jamie helped me get some shots of Duncan to celebrate his First Birthday.  Duncan gave smiles to Jamie :)  Holly took the photos--she is so talented!  

I love how these turned out.

 

Then we geared up for Thanksgiving at Grampa & Vovo's house...

And Duncan's First Birthday!

 He didn't quite know what he was supposed to do.

I guess Mama needs to let him play with his food more often.

 Daddy had to show him how it was done...

 He resorted to using a spoon.

That's my silly boy!  We love you Duncan :)

Duncan's First Trip to Mississippi

Duncan and I had an AMAZING time in Mississippi.  This was the first time for many of our relatives to meet him, and boy--did he love the attention!  Especially from his MeMe (Jason's mom) and GiGi (my mom).

First stop was at my Mom's in Bay St. Louis.  Ah, HOME!  It was just as I remembered, except for one thing...everything was SO DRY!  It only barely sprinkled for 15 minutes the whole 2 weeks I was there.  The area hasn't had rain for about a month, which is very, very rare.  So, like the folks back in California, they have to water their plants and grass now.

Duncan got to reconnect with Aunt Hilary and Chet, who came to visit when he was born.

 ...and meet Paw Paw Gill for the very first time!

...and meet cousins for the first time.  Uncle Jason, cousin Maddux, and cousin Jolie (making a funny face)

...and cousin Patton.  Don't they look like they are related?

We got to hang out at the beach, na-na-na-na-na-na!

 Duncan enjoyed himself a little too much...

...and finally tuckered out.

  We enjoyed some GOOD EATS!  Crawfish boil, etouffee, Barq's in a bottle and Pirate's Cove roast beef po boy, Bayou Country's pulled pork sandwiches and corn-crab bisque and Mardi Gras dip and pralines...need I go on?  YUMMMMY!

Next, we visited MeMe in Lucedale!  We had so much fun!  Duncan and I got so spoiled :)

There was no lack of squeezes, and kisses, and playing peek-a-boo...

 ...and MeMe had such fun toys to play with.

Duncan got to see his first armadillo, well three babies actually--and out in broad daylight and right off MeMe's front porch!  CRAZY!

Duncan was so excited to see all 8 of Fairchild cousins, along with their mommies and daddies.  Each of them took turns holding him. Here are 4 of his cousins...Logan, Brandon, Sarah, and Tyler. 

While I was at MeMe's house, I probably drove Jason's Mom crazy.  I went through pictures and recipes and letters and just started scanning and copying like mad!  It was SO much fun!  Here is a picture of Jason when he was just about Duncan's age (5-6 months) with his Daddy.

 Duncan found his toes.  He's so much like his daddy, who in so many pictures I found of him loved sticking his toes in his mouth.

After a fun few days, we found ourselves back in Bay St. Louis.

 Here's the clean-up crew doing their morning rounds on the beach.  They collect and dispose of oil-balls that wash up on the shore.  The dispersants that were sprayed on the oil spill made the oil sink to the bottom of the gulf, so who knows how long we'll be fighting this thing now.  Stupid idea.

One of the coolest things we were able to see was a big alligator up close, being kept at one of the local plant nurseries.

 Needless to say, I didn't need to visit some fenced in play-pen to see an alligator in Mississippi.  Here is a sign we saw by a gas station right off of the I-10 exit...only about a mile from my mom's house.  Cool, huh?

...Or what about the bayou that runs about 500 feet from my mom's driveway.  If you look closely in the middle of this last picture toward the back of the water, you'll see a gator swimming along.  The COOLEST!

One of Duncan's favorite things to do on our trip was to ride around with GiGi on the golf cart.

 We looked at all of GiGi's pretty plants,

 and drove down the road to our "picture tree," a large live oak with tons of spanish moss hanging from it.  He tried to eat it every time he got a hold of some.  Yucky.

 We had a big family get together at my Uncle Thomas's.  They barbequed a whole pig, and it was delicious!  We had lots of other goodies like cobbler, banana pudding, homemade icecream.  Yum!

 My Uncle Thomas (Mom's brother)

 Duncan loves his GiGi!  In the background is my Uncle Thomas's house, which used to be my grandparents...it was the house my mom was born and raised in.

 Uncle Daniel, Uncle Thomas, Uncle Dalton, my Mom, and Aunt Irma.  Uncle Laverne and Aunt Lainey couldn't be there.

Here is also a picture with some of my first cousins that came...if they all were there, I think that we would have to get an aerial shot.  We had a blast!

GiGi gave Duncan his first bite of snowball :)

 It was so hard to leave Mississippi.  We can't wait for our next trip!