we are thankful!

we had a lovely thanksgiving and i got a slew of fun pictures that i wanted to share. we had a very busy, but exciting, few days in both WI and MN (for ruby & i). it was soo good to see so much of our families. we don't get to see our sickels' side nearly enough and although T wasn't able to go up with ruby & i, i was still grateful to be able to visit for the holiday. here are some (okay, many) snapshots of the holiday festivities.

we spent thanksgiving day with T's family at his parent's house. we ate a ton and had great company. it was a good day. :)

yay! it's thanksgiving! let's eat!

some QT with grandpa sun

 funny! ruby and her auntie rhonda

just chillin' with grandpa sun. no big deal.

ruby was not all that interested in the packer game.

max, however, captured her interest. ruby loves pets. she always laughs at them and gets very excited when they come by her. it's pretty sweet.

cuddle time with dad :)

our favorite! it's time to eat!

 friday morning, ruby and i got ready for ruby's first airplane ride. it was pretty exciting. i was a little nervous about traveling alone with ruby and how it would all go, but seeing as how the flight to MN would only be 45 minutes, i knew it would work out fine. and it did! i managed to pack all of our stuff for the entire weekend into one backpack, which was super convenient. ruby played with her toys while we waited to take off. i fed her before we took off for both flights and she fell fast to sleep. and i was out-of-my-mind with happiness that we didn't have to drive 5 1/2 hours to get there. score!

ruby's favorite thing to do - read books! she was very interested in this one while we sat and waited to board the plane.

hanging out with her catepiller in the terminal (and check out her mad sippy cup skills!)

watching the planes come and go

more reading! and this time with cousin hannah. this is too sweet. :)

oh more sweetness! quality time with cousin hannah. ruby, as always, loves to be with her cousins. she watches their every move and laughs at them when they play. she's such a social little lady. i love it.

ruby has started feeding herself her food. she concentrates really hard and is pretty impressed with herself when the food actually gets in her mouth. and even more entertaining is when the food doesn't get in her mouth, ends up on the floor, and she looks around down at her hands as if to say "where'd it go??" and as with every new milestone she reaches, i'm so proud of her.

the night before we came back home, we helped lisa and her family decorate their christmas tree.
 ruby likes the lights, although mostly she just wants to eat them. :) we stayed up way too late helping with the tree and (as you can see here) ruby was pretty much zoned-out by the end of it and in much need of some sleep!