Thanksgiving

What a wonderful Thanksgiving. We headed down to Dothan on Wednesday night. We got lucky with traffic because we left later, but decided after listening to Nolan cry on and off the whole way that never again will we travel at night...at least not for awhile. Poor Nolan just wanted to roll over and lay on his tummy. We made it to Dothan in 4 hours though which hasn't happened in a long time.

Thursday we spent the day at my Mom and Dad's playing and helping my Mom cook. My sister Jamie and her family came for dinner along with my Aunt Teresa, her husband and 2 of her grand kids. I can't remember the last time I saw my aunt so it was really nice to see her. It was a great dinner. My mom made her cornbread dressing...one word...YUMMY!

Nolan is his Thanksgiving outfit

Cole and Nolan playing with Granddaddy

Friday I went and ate lunch with some old friends from High School. Some I haven't seen in years. It was wonderful to see everyone in person. Several have blogs which I stalk :) . You all haven't aged a bit girls!

Of course, I got a little shopping in too. Not much, but a little :)

Saturday morning we headed back to Atlanta as my parents headed to T-Town (aka God's country as my Dad calls it) for the game. ROLL TIDE!

Jason watched the game and Nicholas and I started decorating for x-mas. He loved putting out our village houses. Below are some pics of the tree and the mantle. I loved the way they both came out.

Reasons to be Thankful

Okay, I'm going to get serious again. I pray that my husband doesn't get mad at me, but he sent me a email a minute ago about the holidays. As most of you know, he lost his Dad this past March to cancer. It all happened very fast and totally took us all by surprise. There are times that I still can't believe he won't be here for Christmas and the many other family functions. Nicholas still talks about him. Any time we see a white truck, he asks about Pops. Any time he thinks about the lake or fishing, he mentions Pops. I'm so thankful that in his short life he has such fond memories of his Pops.

Here is some of Jason's email...
"I spent to much of my short adult life thinking Dad would be there for me into his old age. I did not see him enough, talk to him enough, or hug him enough. We should come together as a family and accept differences no matter what they are.".... "The day will come when the only thing left will be memories. "

How true for all of us. The day will come when all we have left are the memories. What will you remember? Please I pray, don't let petty differences come between you and your memories. I may not always agree and like everything about my family, but they are the only one I have. I love you all so much and I hope you know that! Now I'm off to pack so I can go make some more memories for me, Jason and the kids!

PS...Nicholas is so excited about going to Grandmomma's and Grandaddy's house for Thanksgiving. He has asked everyday when we are leaving.

Busy Busy

When most people refer to this time of year as busy, most are referring to Thanksgiving and Christmas. In our family we are referring to all the birthdays...5 out of the 8 grandkids were born between 11/21 and 12/8! Yes, that's right 5....check out the last couple of years for us.....

2003 - Jake is born
2004 - Nicholas is born...on the day of Jake's 1st birthday party!
2005 - Scout (Jake's little sister) and Audrey are born - within 4 days of each other!
2006 - Cole (Jake and Scout's little brother) is born

The running joke in our family is who might get pregnant in March to deliver the next November baby! So tomorrow we are off to Dothan, not just for Thanksgiving, but to celebrate all of our November/December birthdays! Happy Birthday Kiddos! I love you all!

Birthday Weekend

Nicholas had a great 4th Birthday! We started Friday morning by surprising him with Breakfast in Bed. I went and ate lunch with him at school that day and then we all went to Chucky Cheese for dinner. We got him Hungry Hungry Hippos and we played about 20 games Friday night before bed!

Nicholas blowing out his candle on his cinnamon roll

Playing at Chucky Cheese

Saturday was his Pirate Party at our house. He had 7 friends come and had a great time. We had a treasure hunt and they all got into it more than I ever thought they would. They ran around from clue to clue, it was so cute. His cake was Pirate hat that I made. It wasn't bad if I say so myself. All in All it was a good day. He got some really cool toys. Grandmomma made Nolan and Nicholas matching Pirate shirts. They looked so cute. Grandmomma and Granddaddy spent the night so the kids got to spend a little more time with them today before they headed back to Dothan. The only sad part of the day was that my nephew Jake was sick so he didn't get to come. Jake and Nicholas are like two peas in a pod. Of course, the bright side is that we will see them in a couple of days for Thanksgiving.

All the pirates ready for the treasure hunt

Reading a clue

Nicholas reading a clue

Ready for cake

The cake


Nolan enjoying some cake