Ruddick/ Lermo Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with Josh's family at our house on Saturday, November 27th.  It was fun having everyone over, and they made it easy on us by bringing all the food!  Tate got lots of attention, but slept through it all.  After we ate we switched gears and had a little birthday celebration for Griffin.

Great Grandpa Lermo got to hold Tate first (:

Great Aunt Jan Lermo

the dining room

kitchen & eating bar

Grammie's turn

G&G Lermo brought the turkey and stuffing:

Lydia, Audrey, & Ronan

Ethan, Dylan, Macey, & Griffin

Josh's cousin Lindsay and her fiance, Sawyer

Great Aunt Diane Lermo

Andrea,  Adam (Andrea's boyfriend), Sawyer, & Lindsay

Erin, Patty, Uncle Ron, & Aunt Jan

Great Uncle Ron Lermo

Great Grammie & Griffin

The Whole Group!

All the cousins ~ oldest to youngest

Presents for Griffin! Audrey took the next three pictures (:

Tate getting some Mama time

Ethan & Macey with Grandpa watching people play the Wii

Uncle Join & Griffin

After everyone left it was bath time for Ronan & Griffin, and they wanted Tate to come in, too.

So peaceful, especially after a bath!

Griffin's Birthday!

On November 26th, Griffin turned four years old!  What a big boy!  We had so much fun celebrating his birthday throughout the weekend!  He opened his presents from us in the morning, and then we got ready for his little party with my side of the family.

Big 4 year old!

Here's Griffin's batman cake-- thanks to my amazing sister, Becca, who came to my rescue an hour before the party!  I had baked the cake and started frosting it the night before, but the next day I was so overwhelmed with trying to get ready for the party (with a 2 week old baby!) that I couldn't even think about decorating it.  Thank you, Becca!!

Ronan & Tyler are ready to party!

Tate slept through it all. (:

Present Time!

Legos from Uncle Erik!

Legos from the Henrys!

Cool clothes from Memaw & Papa

A book and money from Gr. Aunt Nancy & Gr. Uncle Mike (:

Our big gift to Griffin was this super cool Nerf gun (Daddy's idea, of course) (:

Watch Out!

Ready for cake!

Griffin turned into Batman when it was time for us to sing to him. (:

We decided to take a family picture since we didn't get a chance to take one on Thanksgiving.  

(Unfortunately we're missing Aaron in this one because he had to work...so, we'll have to try again at Christmas!)

Hecht Thanksgiving

My brother came to town for Thanksgiving, and, as always, it was really great to see him!  The kids all love Uncle Erik and we do, too. (:

Tate's 1st professional photo shoot.  I can't wait to share those pictures--they turned out so great!

We all gathered at my parents house late in the afternoon.  Papa was working at the hospital, so we had planned to eat later in the evening.

We had a fun time hanging out while we waited for dinnertime.

Aaron's sister, Amy, and her fiance, Paco, came over to meet baby Tate. (:  (I think that was the first time Erik met Paco also.) 
Amy & Paco are getting married in February!!