Thanksgiving

Our thanksgiving was great as always.  We went to Jay's parents house about 2 hours away and spent our whole weekend there since we spend the majority of Christmas with my family.  Our time there did not disappoint but we sure did miss Kevin who went to North Carolina to visit his side of the family.  I sure wish the whole crew could be together for just one year.

We arrived Wednesday and started getting ourselves settled and getting things ready for Thanksgiving.  Nonnie took the kids to pick out some toys and here they were giving their new babies a bath with Aunt Jessie.

We enjoyed hanging out and talking to our family by the fire many days and nights.  It was just what the doctor ordered!

Karis got a makeover...

No, we didn't let her wear that out of the house.  Not a fan of toddlers and tiaras haha!  But she sure was proud can you tell?!

Jay's sister Jessica and her boyfriend Ben

Karis painted a canvas with Nonnie (who is super talented)...

We had a "real" tea party!

Brayden got to help Jay give the turkey "shots" before smoking it.  He loved this part!

Thanksgiving we went to Grandmother Lucy's house for the famous Thanksgiving lunch.  Grandmother Lucy always goes above and beyond on the meal...BEST food I ever eat all year.  She is my cooking inspiration!

Grandaddy "Pinto" (Karis randomly named him when she was little and it stuck) was showing Jay and the kids some of his stuff from when he was in WW2.  We were all glued to his stories!

Pinto said he took this off of a Japanese during the war...how cool!

This was the coolest thing.  All the men of war had to wear a dog tag so they could be identified.  But see that indention on the left side???  He said that when they were coming to check bodies, if you were dead, they would open your mouth wide and prop this in your teeth so that they would know you were dead and your identification was right there.  How crazy?!

Pinto was one handsome fellow back in the day!

Check out this Thanksgiving spread...I mean she really outdoes herself every year!  We had smoked turkey, ham, dressing, deviled eggs, corn, cranberry salad, salad, mashed potatoes....

Mac 'n cheese, black eyed peas, green beans, green bean casserole, rolls, and sweet potato casserole.

THEN we had chocolate cake, chocolate pie, pecan pie and coconut cake for dessert.  YUM!  And Grandmother is always so sweet to Brayden and I because we can't have nuts so if there is something that has nuts in it, she will make a separate one without nuts just for us.  :)

Then Uncle Haha took us riding on his bus that he drives.  The  kids were super pumped!!!

Present this year was Jay's mom and sister, Jessica, Jessica's boyfriend Ben, Jay, myself and our 3 kids, Grandmother and Pinto, Judy and Hudson and their two boys, Scott and his wife Emily and Matthew and his fiance' Katie (they are getting married in April).  We missed Kevin and Grandmother Sheehy, Didi and Evie and Kelly and Nicole and their families. 

Scott and his wife Emily

Matt and his fiance' Katie (getting married in April)

Me sweet family

Grandmother Lucy and Grandaddy Pinto

Ben wasn't sure if he would see my kids at Christmas so he went ahead and gave them their Christmas presents.  Sweet!

Brayden and Ben were buds!

Hangin' out at Nonnie's on Black Friday...no crazy late night shopping for us.  I did almost finish up my shopping though at Nonnie's store! Just a few last things for the kids and I will be done.

We left on Friday around lunch and traveled a couple of hours to see Jay's Grandmother Grace.  She has recently moved to an assisted living since Pawpaw died and seems to be doing great!  

Grace and the kids

I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!  But just to name a few (in no particular order).....

• A Godly husband who loves us unconditionally and respectfully
• 3 happy, healthy, beautiful children 
• Incredible extended family that takes wonderful care of us and the children
• A roof over my head and food in the refrigerator/pantry
• Money to pay bills
• My health
• Air condition/Heat
• Running water/Hot water
• Conveniences that I often take for granted
• A job where I can stay home and be with my children
• My church family
• Salvation through Jesus Christ

I could go on and on. I guess I am especially thankful for the little things in life that I often take for granted at times.  The Lord has blessed us so much and I am truly...

Thankful.

Letters and Thanksgiving costume

Brayden and I have been working on his letters and he is doing really well.  A little competition always helps a bit though.  He isn't quite as motivated as his sister was at this age...I guess the difference between boys and girls.  

 Karis made this costume at school for their Thanksgiving feast...she was given the name "shining star."

And Lucy had to try it on too.  :)

One LONG Sunday, but a good one.

Sunday morning started off bright and early for our family because we got rained out when we were camping and were headed home by 5 a.m.  I had boat loads of laundry to do (the downside of camping) so since the kids weren't going back to bed, I decided to start on the laundry.  With washing all the sleeping bags, pillows, blankets and clothes, I ended up doing ELEVEN loads of laundry by the end of the day!!!  

After church we had Thanksgiving lunch with our church family. Of course the food was fabulous, but I am so thankful for my church family.  Some of my closest friends go to church with us and when you share your fears, struggles, excitements, and passions with people, it makes you close fast.  SOOO thankful for Riverbend!

We came home and all slept for THREE hours.  We were super tired from our long night of camping and we all needed a nap something serious ha!

Here are some pics I took Sunday of the kids before we went to church....

So thankful to have a beautiful, happy, and healthy family the Lord blessed me with!  I have so much to be thankful for!!!

Our first family camping trip

We have been wanting to go camping with some friends since Spring but was thinking Lucy might do better this Fall.  So we put it on the calendar and finally we were able to go.  We had actually planned to go Friday night but at the last minute changed our plans to Saturday night because the low at night was going to increase from 44 Friday night to about 60 Saturday night.  The kids were beyond pumped about going and I have to say I was pretty excited too. Jay and I went camping with some friends once before we married 9 years ago and we went once in Africa in a National Park but haven't been since or at all with the kids.

We did not have a tent so thanks to the Adkins and the Thompsons, we had tents to borrow for the night.  Thank you all so much!  We got our tent all set up and kids were beaming!

We camped out on our property down by the camp so we had the best of both worlds.  We slept in the tents but were close to a restroom so we wouldn't have to squat ha!  Maybe eventually but with a 2 year old, we thought it would be better to break them in softly!

We got out to the campsite about 2 hours before dark so the kids could run and play before it got dark.  The weather was beautiful and couldn't have been more perfect (for the evening anyway!).

Jay spent this time getting the fire going....

Jay helped Brandon get their tent set up.  They had the Taj Mahal...that thing was HUGE....enough room for at least 8-10 people.

The boys helped get fire wood and to get the fire going....they had a ball with that.  What boy doesn't like fire?!

The girls read books and hung out in the tent.

I'd say we have a fire folks!

Where's Brayden?????

We grilled out hot dogs for dinner over the fire...

And then of course we had to do smores....

Silly Brandon!

Brandon and Marybeth

Me and my man

The best marshmallows...burnt to a crisp!

Enjoying smores!

Shocker!  Brandon had never had smores before so I had to capture his first smores ever!

The kids played hard and were worn out and in the bed by 9:00.  The adults stayed up talking until about 10.  I went to sleep for about an hour and woke up because Lucy woke up needing to go to the bathroom.  Then I was cold and couldn't go back to sleep until after midnight.  I put Lucy in my sleeping bag because I was worried she was cold.  We woke up at about 4 a.m. to rain POURING on our tent.  I mean in no time, the sky fell out and it was too late to go anywhere.  Thankfully our tent was waterproof!  I never went back to sleep and about 5 all the kids woke up to the pouring rain and we didn't go back to sleep at that point, any of us.  Soon after when the rain died down some, we packed up and went home so we could get ready for church.  Even with the rain, it was a very fun camping trip and we can't wait to do it again very soon! :)  The kids are already asking when we are going again!!!