Thanksgiving with the Joneses ...

{... and more Joneses and the Jones-Littles and the Jones-Rodgerses and the Church-Joneses* ...}

Friday morning {the day after Thanksgiving} we woke up and had breakfast with Nona then loaded the car and headed to Jackson. Although we planned the drive so that when we arrived Eden could have a little bit of playtime then go down for a nap, we were stuck because of a sideways 18-wheeler on 98 and for some reason she fell asleep about 45 minutes outside of Rankin county. Go figure.

Eden slept until Ashley stopped Lola in the circular drive of the 147. Her eyes opened as soon as the engine turned off. Luckily, Ashley had called her mom to tell everyone to be quiet and hide then handed me a scarf to put over Eden's face. The scarf came in handy when Eden's Granddaddy opened the front door and tried to welcome Eden with open arms {apparently Grandmommy-CC failed to convey the quiet message}. No worries, though since Eden's head was well-rested on my shoulder as I carried her upstairs to her crib. 20 minutes later she was awake reading books there. So, I changed her diaper, and we headed downstairs where there were plenty of visitors ...

The newest addition to the Jones family tree is Angie, a rescued pound mutt adopted by Britton and Courtney and adored by Eden.

Since Boston was in town from Oklahom, his family (minus his sister Mollie) joined the Joneses for Thanksgiving lunch. Ashley quickly snapped their Christmas card photo {Harrison, Julie, Boston, Whit, Bekki and Rod} ...

Now, Ashley is wondering why she didn't get a pic of her family like this. Next time.

Perhaps, however, Eden's favorite part of visiting were her two older cousins - Fable and Ever. She thanked each of them for all the hand-me-down clothes by laughing, screaming, running around, and having a blast. They were great playmates and eagerly included Eden in all their fun.

Then, of course, were the obligatory family Christmas photos. Britton timed the whole ordeal - it took about half an hour from "lets take a picture" to the final product.

which turned out very nice.

Ever got a pink tent for her birthday from her great Aunt Janet. The three little ones had a blast playing in it, under it, over it, within it ...

... they also had fun exchanging shoes ...

... and playing football {actually, at one point, Eden wanted to be upstairs with me watching the Iron Bowl - where I taught her to say War Eagle and cheer for the real Tigers}

As might be expected, bedtime was a little later, but she was a good sport about it - she just read books with her  cousins {and then next night with her Aunt Whitney and Uncle Bebop} like it was no big deal.

The next morning we woke up in time for church - unfortunately neither Eden nor I felt very well {tis the season for colds}, so we lounged around until Icchiban opened {that is Eden's favorite lunch buffet - which is a good thing since it is her Grandaddy's favorite, too}.

Then, it was back to Baton Rouge and back to some semblence of normalcy. Amazingly, Eden fell asleep just after we got on the Interstate and slept the entire 3 hour trip! Ashley drove, and I got to take a few short naps. Eden did wake up a few times. Every time she did, I would close my eyes and put my head on her carseat; Ashley would not move and breath very softly. It worked.

So, we're in BR until the 23rd, and each of us is teaching Wintersession {12 days of 3.5 hour classes}. Right now, though, we're trying to end this semester successfully. Wish us luck.

*Editor's Note: None of them actually hyphenate. Ashley just likes the way it looks.