All things great and wonderful....

Happy Thanksgiving from the Cains - we have so much to be thankful for this year and want to be sure and praise God for all that he has given us. David and I have jobs that we love, friends that we cherish and family that we are thankful for everyday! Not to mention the newest addition to our family, Catherine Ellis! We hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and get to spend quality time with those you love! Thank you to each of you for being a part of our lives.

This past weekend we visited my Dad in North Alabama - this was Catherine Ellis's first trip since she was nine weeks old - she's changed a lot since then!

9 week old visit

7 1/2 month visit - John Deere Girl

Hey there!

These boots were made for walking - not yet!

We stopped by my grandparents best friends - Cat & Lec - again and Catherine Ellis was way too active for these two 80 somethings - but they loved every minute and she loved just being out and about.

First Visit in June

November Visit

It's amazing what a difference 5 months makes for a newborn - the last visit she was content just sitting and slept a lot. This visit there was no sleeping, no sitting still, and she clapped, talked, and laughed! Growing up is hard to do, but we sure are having so much fun watching her do it!

In addition to her first time wearing cowboy boots, we tried the sippy cup! She played with it mostly and managed to get about an ounce out of it - but it'll just take practice!

Learning to be a big girl

Another special memory we had was Catherine Ellis being the fourth generation to sleep in the Bates family crib. My grandfather, father, brother and I all slept in this crib as newborns. She didn't seem to mind at all and it was much cozier than her 'big' crib at home.

Fourth generation crib with my nap quilts that my Memaw made for me as a little girl as bumper pads

A better view of the crib

One tired and happy puppy dog

We had a great trip and a wonderful time visiting with family and friends - a big Thank you to Aunt B and Uncle C for babysitting Saturday afternoon - even after a long trip back from Portland the night before. We are so thankful for all of our many blessings! Happy Thanksgiving!