Gobble, Gobble...

I am so proud of myself for getting these Thanksgiving pictures up before Christmas :) So, is this what your holidays look like with your family? These pictures pretty much sum up what every Mauceli family holiday looks like....








Exciting, huh?!?!? We spent Thanksgiving this year in Jackson at my cousin David's house. It was a lot of fun, although you'd never guess that from the pictures! Pretty much all of holidays include lots of energy and cooking and drinking and visiting, and then once everyone eats, things seem to get a little bit horizontal! We had a blast visiting with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins, and it was fun for everyone to see how big Stella has gotten.

David pretending to play with SG when he's actually texting some girl, somewhere in America...

Stella and her Godmother :)

Eventually SG passed out just like everyone else!

Happy Belated Thanksgiving Everybody!

Lots of Halloween Fun...

Chris and I LOVE Halloween- it is our absolute favorite holiday! This probably stems from the years of Panic shows over Halloween weekend in New Orleans that are some of our most fun memories ever. With the arrival of little Stella Belle, we had a whole new kind of Halloween fun this year. Here are some pictures of our week long celebration...

Chris won first place in the costume contest at work! He was a mummy (minus the guaze in this picture)- his department dressed up and performed Thriller!

One of several Halloween outfits :)

Another cute Halloween outfit!

SG loves Halloween too!

Pop and Bella took SG to pick out her first pumpkin!

Me and my pumpkin :)

Stella is lucky to have a cousin who adores her as much as sweet Lilly does!

Happy Halloween!

Scooby Dooby Doo, Where Are You...

Yes, we're 1 1/2 weeks away from Christmas and I am posting Halloween pictures. Timeliness has always been one of my best qualities :) We took SG to Nashville to trick-or-treat with her cousins, Trip and Lilly, and we had a blast! They have the best neighborhood ever to trick-or-treat in. Everyone goes all out decorating their houses, and the home owners even dress up in costumes to give out candy. We dressed up as the Scooby Doo gang and were a hit everywhere we went. It was a blast!

Scooby, Velma, and Daphne before work/school on Halloween day!

Fred and Scrappy at the neighborhood ice cream store that was giving away FREE ice cream!

The best neighborhood house- Beauty and the Beast were waltzing on the porch, and the tea pot and Snow White handed out candy!

The scariest house!

Scrappy hitching a ride in the Mystery Machine!


The cutest Scooby and Velma ever :)


The whole gang!
Fred, GrandGhost, Scrappy, Shaggy, Daphne, Mystery Machine, Scooby, and Velma
As you can tell, it was quite chaotic trying to get a group picture at the end of the night!

Meme and the cousins pooped out after a night of trick-or-treating

Very Scooby family portrait :)

Where's the pause button???

First of all, I know I've been lagging in the blogging department, but let's face it, I've got an 8 month old, a husband, and a dog. There are days I find it difficult to find the time to brush my teeth, much less sit down at a computer! With that said, I have so much to share here, and hopefully I'll find the time to do it really soon!

Second, does anyone know where to find the "pause" button on their child??? If so, I would love to know. SG is definitely in a "developmental spurt" phase, and things are moving soooo fast. Like, crazy fast. This past Friday I sat her on her blanket surronded by her toys so that I could sneak away for a bathroom break. I made it back in about 30 seconds and she wasn't on her blanket. I freaked and looked around frantically for her, only to find that she had shimmied her self across the entire room to where I had some newspapers stacked up- I know, genius child, right! Of course what finally motivated her to get from point A to point B was the daily newspaper... this has to be our sign that she's going to be a genius! She is now a baby on the move, and it's not quite a crawl, but more like a lizard, really low to the ground, and she can get where she wants to go in no time!

So that was Friday, as while we were still trying to recover from the shock that we must now babyproof everything (and actually vacuum and sweep to keep the floor clean for her to explore), she pulls another fast one on us Sunday night. I was able to pull my camera out really quickly to capture this first while she was doing it...

She is oh so pround of herself, and oh so upset that just as soon as she learned this little trick, her mattress got lowered so that she doesn't flip out of her bed in the middle of the night! Every day there is something new. Motherhood is the most amazing, and yet completely terrifying, thing I have ever done. SG is such a joy, and we are very blessed. Now, if anyone knows how to slow this down and keep her a tiny baby for as long as possible, let me know. I will gladly push the pause button if someone just tells me where it is!

Beach Bums...

We went to Florida earlier this month for our first family vacation with SG! It was so much fun showing her the sand and ocean for the first time. She especially loved the swimming pool, which we knew she would since taking a bath is her favorite part of the day! Chris and Pop had to leave mid week and it was just the girls for the last several days. We can't wait to go back next year when SG can actually play in the sand (without eating it, hopefully)!

Believe me, she knows how cute she is :)

Shopping day with Mom and Bella

Before dinner one night

Getting ready for our family beach pictures

SG got too much sand in her diaper & spent a lot of time "airing out" after that!

Best buds playing in the giant bath tub!

Playing with Daddy on the beach!

Snoozing in her beach tent

First time in the pool!

We spent lots of time in the indoor pool during afternoon showers.

Yummy, Yummy Cereal...

SG is old enough to start having a little more than her bottle these days, and we introduced rice cereal to her at 5 1/2 months. The first time was such a shock to her, and she hated it! Who can blame her, it is really gross! We worked on cereal for about 2 weeks just to get her used to moving the food around in her mouth and swallowing. Since that time she's had sweet potatoes and then pears mixed in. She really never got into the whole cereal thing, so she's now taking her veggies and fruits without it, and seems to like it much better :) I think we're moving on to carrots tonight- yummy! Here are some pictures of her first experience with cereal. You can tell how much she loved it...

And these pictures are from the second time we tried. This time went much better!...