Happy Thanksgiving!

thankful for a wonderful trip!

Sunday November 20th, our family of five hopped into a very tightly packed car and began a 2 day journey to Tennessee.



All 3 of our little travelers were so good in the car!



Frequent stops made the trip more manageable. First stop was in Texarkana at McAlister's Deli. There was a wooded field next to the restaurant which was the perfect spot to burn off some energy.







The end of the first travel day Brock had finally had enough. After trying everything else I put in a Praise Baby and set the dvd player right on his lap. It worked! After a night in Memphis and another day of travel we finally arrived at our destination-Jeff and Ami's house!




cousin love : ) Keri with Hallie (3 months), Ellery (4), Addie, Brock, Kiran (6), Olivia (21 months), Doak



Our first day in TN was cold and rainy, so Ami took us up to the gym in their little town and we let the kids play with balls, ride bikes and scooters, and run!





Sweet Brock got to celebrate his first birthday TN style



happy birthday Brock Landry



after some initial hesitation he decided he was a fan of the cupcake





Brock's first birthday party was so special because we got to spend it with this sweet family. Living states apart means we almost always miss birthdays, and I love that we got to share Brock's first birthday with J, A, K, E, O, and H!



Brock and Olivia were room mates for the week and they played together quite a bit too. Brock is 9 months younger than Olivia and 9 months older than Hallie. I love that they will grow up together!



Jeff, Ami, and I made a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. Jeff smoked a turkey and it was the best turkey I've ever had. Ami and I were proud that we could manage to make such a big meal-it took lots of planning but we had so much fun doing it together.



Hallie, Ami, and Olivia-beautiful girls!



On our last evening in TN we went to play on the playground at Kiran's school. The kids had a blast and I loved playing hide and seek, chase, and teaching the kids to use the teeter totter.



Ami is an amazing mom and I'm so glad to walk through motherhood with her. Hallie is the sweetest, most laid back baby too.







Brock had a great time crawling around the play structures. Poor guy had hand, foot, and mouth disease while we were gone and was pretty fussy til we figured out what was wrong with him! After we started giving him tylenol and motrin he was back to his happy self.



Can you find Livvy? Hide and seek time!



Sweet Ellery is so beautiful and has the best imagination. She and Addie are both girly girls and play so well together.



Kiran's school has a bog where classes do science projects and learn about nature. How cool is that. Ami and I took the chance to get a picture together with our littlest ones by the bog.



Our family (complete with wet feet of kids to jumped in the bog!)



Livvy, Jeff, Brock, Nat, Ellery, Addie, Doak, Kiran and Keri (Ami and Hallie took the picture).

This trip was wonderful! I don't want to forget:
-Man Up!
-late night ice cream snacks
-cooking with Ami
-Keri taking Doak and Kiran to see football practice at UT
-kids climbing trees in the front
-the sounds of feet running upstairs
-talking with Jeff and Ami late at night
-shopping with Ami
-warming by the fire
-snuggling with sweet Hallie
-hearing Kiran read
-seeing Ellery dressed up in various dress up clothes complete with accessories
-cousin slumber parties
-meeting Jeff and Ami in the hallway in the middle of the night to see whose baby was crying
-Jeff and Keri's 'guy time'. Lots of times when we travel to see each other the guys have to stay home to work. So this trip was especially sweet because we were ALL together!
-Percy!

Thanksgiving parties

Addie and Doak both had parties at school the week before Thanksgiving.



The first graders lined the halls with their Indian head dresses, paper bag vests, and homemade place mats. They sampled foods that might have been eaten on the first Thanksgiving like popcorn, beef jerkey, and dried fruit.



Emma and Haley have been such sweet friends to Addie. They all go to church together and this year they are in the same class!



best buds Addie and Haley



After leaving Addie's school, it was time to party with Doak. He also wore a feather headband, but his snacks were nothing the Pilgrims and Indians would have eaten!



He made a turkey from an oreo, reece's pb cup, chocolate chips, and candy corn.



Doak and his buddy Kaden have been in class together for two years.

so much

so much

to be

thankful for . . .

Thanksgiving Feast

Addie invited us to share in her Thanksgiving Feast at Kindergarten this year. Each class brought part of the meal and shared with the other classes. I helped serve the sweet kids and then we sat with Addie and ate in her classroom. We haven't had many opportunities to be in her classroom this year so it was a special time to see her in her element!



Doak loves Addie's school! He sat on the carpet with her and even got to be line leader with her. He loved all the pumpkins that were set up as decoration on the tables.



Addie read us a book she made about the first Thanksgiving.



After the meal was over Addie got some center toys and shared with Doak.



I loved watching them play together!

We are so thankful for all the blessings our family has experienced this year!