Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite days of the year! This year, for the first time EVER, we were not with any family. It was a hard decision, but with the end of the semester and finals looming, plus being so close to Christmas, we found it too hard to travel back to back like we did the first year we were here. Last year Josh's brother and family came up here to spend Thanksgiving with us.

Thankfully, we have many friends up here who feel like family! We spent Thanksgiving at Dan and Rachael Davis'. Rachael and I were joking that we felt like such big girls being solely responsible for the meal! Here we are with our spread...ham, turkey, sweet potato casserole, hash brown casserole, broccoli cheese casserole, green bean casserole, macaroni and cheese and homemade yeast rolls. Yes, please.

Not to mention the desserts: homemade apple pie, pumpkin spice cake, chocolate pie and tipsy apple pie. Oh my.

My dad would be proud to see one of his grandbabies hugged up with some Coca-Cola!

The kid's table. Hudson couldn't part with Rachael's homemade yeast roll even for just a second to take a picture : )

After lunch leaf-jumping. I wish I had audio of the laughter!

Dan showed me how to use the self-timer on my camera! Fun group shot...

l. to r. Newton's, Davis', Reed's, and Mr. Blake Grubbs : )

A game of cornhole after lunch

Mollie doing what we all wish we could on Thanksgiving afternoon...

We have so much to be thankful for...

"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

Early Thanksgiving

With Mom and Daria in town for Carter's birthday, we got to celebrate an early Thanksgiving with them! We weren't making the trip down to Georgia this year, so it was a treat to still be able to do our traditional Thanksgiving together, albeit a little early.

Josh and Blake entertaining themselves before dinner with one of Carter's birthday presents. It's harder than it looks...you can tell by their concentration : )

My cousin Amy lives in Durham and drove over to spend the day with us. Great seeing her and catching up.

Molllie was fascinated with Mom's necklace. She's going after it with determination!

Mimi and my babies

Mimi and her babies ; )

Much to be thankful for...

Fire Truck Party

We had Carter's birthday party at the local WF Fire Station. It was really cool!

We had gone to a friend's party there last winter and I filed the idea away because I knew it would be perfect for Carter-bug's 4th birthday. They really are wonderful with the kids up there. They show them around and explain about all the different equipment, which is really interesting. And it's free! And awesome!

All the kids got a chance to sit in the truck, check out all the controls, try on equipment...

And then watch one of the firemen get into full uniform...

Guess what Carter wants to be now when he grows up?! You got it! That was an easy one.

Sweet little Mollie

What a fun group of friends!!

Then it was back to our house for cupcakes and ice cream.

And lots of playing outside in the absolutely gorgeous fall weather.

I was so thankful for the sunshine and blue sky, because I didn't have a back-up plan if it rained. We would have been nice and cozy inside, I guess!

But it worked out, Praise the Lord!!

Don't mess with Hudson and his cupcake. He'll mean-mug you.

Here is our friend Ashley Bruner, who is a very talented photographer, and for an incredibly reasonable fee, came to Carter's party and took pictures! I had seen a friend hire Ashley to do this at her children's parties, and thought it was BRILLIANT! Not only are you guaranteed to get great pictures and have everything documented, you actually get to enjoy the party while it's happening! Anyway, almost all of these pictures in this post are hers that she took and then gave to me. But I had to sneak in one of her so I could give credit for these great pics!

Wouldn't feel like a birthday around here if we didn't break out the singing Hamster.

I've heard that song enough to last me a whole 'nother year though!!

I endure it because it makes my son so happy : )

Hudson drank his weight in pink lemonade.

He had this cup to his face most of the time we were outside.

Daddy's girl.

My kids love playing with Blake.

Here he is avoiding Hudson's attempt to plow him over with the pushable fire truck.

Most would dodge to the side, but not Blake. He'll just leap way over his head!? Check out how high he jumped! I don't think I could do that if I tried!!

Me and my lovely assistant getting ready to pass out party favors

I know someone who is excited to be 4!!!!

Carter is 4!

I think part of the fun of birthdays is the anticipation.

And Carter has been greatly anticipating turning 4!

I think the main reason is because now he can chew gum.

We got to bring in donuts for his class to celebrate the day before his birthday. All the kids in his class took turns telling what they loved about Carter. Such a sweet time.

The next day we had a big birthday party, which will be a separate post. And because Carter's favorite thing to eat is quesadillas, we went out to On The Border for a birthday dinner. I would have never guessed this about my son, but he was really excited for the servers to come and sing to him! I would have said he'd be shy about that kind of thing, but he ate it up!

And his birthday sundae, too!

It's so hard to believe my baby boy is 4!? He's getting so grown-up, yet still has plenty of little boy left in him. He truly is such a joy...

Playing

Who needs toys to play with when you've got feet?

Cutie pie.

We love to put Josh's iPod on shuffle. With 4600+ songs on there, it's endless entertainment for us to hear what comes on. He and I both love music so much, all different kinds, and it's fun to expose our kids to music that we've loved for years. And it provides for plenty of laughs too...like when Guns N Roses's Sweet Child O' Mine comes on, and this is how the kids react...air guitars all around...you can see the tip of Josh's on the left hand side of the picture.

Look at their faces! Can't you just feel the high note in that guitar solo? If you lived during the '80s, you know which one I'm talking about. I'm hearing it in my head just typing this!

I love Kate. She makes me laugh so much. Yesterday, she was playing school with the boys. She was "Mrs. Courtney" (who is one of Carter's teachers this year). This was the note she gave me at the end of the day along with a stack of work they had done. It reads: "Dear Mom, Carter was good today. I hope he will be good all the time. Hudson was a happy boy today and very good!"

*The scribbled out part under the pictures (which are of Carter and Mrs. Courtney, hence the 'C's above their heads) says "Hudson was bad today." I guess she changed her mind about that after she wrote it, and decided he was very good!

Here is the Bible story they worked on. She had them lined up on their ride-on toys out on the porch, reading the Jesus Storybook Bible to them. Hysterical. And awesome.

They had 'class' again today, and this was the note I got afterwards. This one reads: "Carter was very good today. Hudson can try again to try to be good." You can see where she crossed out 'was' after Hudson's name. I think she was searching for something to say that would build him up : ) Glad to see some of this training we're doing is bearing fruit!

Playing before dinner...Carter loves to try and make Mollie laugh. And he also loves puzzles.

This may be one of the last pictures of Kate's smile this way. She has three loose teeth right now (2 on top and 1 on the bottom). One of her top teeth is really loose, and I think it may come out soon!

I love how my boys lay down to play with their cars. I have pictures of Carter doing this at the same age.

Pausing to pose for me.

And relocate, then pose again.

And resume playing.