Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year and we enjoyed spending it with lots of family. Russ and I feel incredibly blessed with our precious children and our wonderful families. We always enjoy being together with our families and thanking the Lord for all of our blessings.

We celebrated last Saturday with Russ' family here in Charlotte. We spent the day with them and enjoyed good food and lots of laughs. However, we did miss having Brad, Anna and Roane there with us! Next year will be our year to celebrate with them.

On Wednesday afternoon we left for Greenville, SC to go to my parent's house. We left for Atlanta on Thursday morning to celebrate Thanksgiving at my aunt and uncle's house. We always have so much fun getting together with my mother's side of the family. There was a group of 20 of us including some of my cousin's that I haven't seen in a long time. We had a great spread of yummy food with lots of desserts. We even had Turduckin for the first time. Yes, that is a turkey, duck and chicken all in 1! It was very good, and very different! Caleb and Kathryn did wonderfully and were such a joy for everyone to be around. I was so proud of them! We left Atlanta around 8:00 pm and drove back to Greenville. It was a long day, but very fun!

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving celebrations. We hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving as well!

An Afternoon at the Park

I took Caleb and Kathryn to the park this afternoon to enjoy the weather. It was absolutely beautiful outside, we even got hot! We wanted to take advantage of this weather before the cold comes again tomorrow. Caleb enjoyed going down all the sliding boards and running around. He loved having Kathryn go down the slide with him too. She didn't quite know what to think! Caleb also loved getting to walk Tuxedo (or sweet dog) all the way back home. He looked like such a big boy walking him. Here are some pictures:

Check out my hair - it is all sticking up!

Just walking the dog!

Verse of the Day

Chuck E Cheese!

Russ called me this afternoon with the idea of taking Caleb to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. We thought about it for a minute and then decided that we definitely needed to go because Caleb is now at the age where he loves things like that. He had only been with Nana and Papa 1 time about a year ago, so Russ and I got very excited about taking him tonight. We met our friends Jared, Elizabeth and Jack there for an evening of pizza, games, rides and lots of fun! Now one of the last times I was at Chuck E Cheese's it was called "Showbiz" pizza and Billy Bob was the main attraction. I know that really shows my age! Since then the name has changed and the main character is a big mouse! I was impressed that Chuck E Cheese is still going strong! There were tons of people, games, rides, pizza, etc. for everyone to enjoy. I thought the pizza actually tasted good and the place was kept much cleaner than I expected! Caleb loved to ride the little rides. His favorite was the monster truck in the picture to the left. He loves to watch the beginning of the Monster Truck show on tv in the mornings, so he was so excited to see this ride. He enjoyed riding on it with Jack! We had so much fun with our friends and really had a great evening. We will definitely be taking Caleb back when he we need something to do on a Friday night to get some of his energy out!

Caleb and Jack having fun on the rides and games!

Trick or Treat!

Caleb had a great time trick or treating this year. He loved getting dressed up in his monkey costume, carrying his candy corn trick or treat bag, and getting all kinds of candy. Actually, mainly just M & M's. He must have at least 10 bags of them. They are his favorite! Kathryn didn't go out trick or treating, but she wore her pig costume even though she didn't like it!

We started out the evening eating a quick dinner and then out the door he went. Caleb got all dressed and then went trick or treating around our neighborhood with Daddy and Mimi. After getting lots of candy, we loaded up our monkey and piggy and headed over to Nana and Papa's house. We spent some time with them, plus Uncle Greg, Uncle Brad, Aunt Anna and cousin Roane. Roane was also dressed as a cute monkey. We played and got pictures at Nana and Papa's and then we loaded up the car again to go over to Ron and Patti's house (some friends of the family) to trick or treat again. We got back home around 9:00 and needless to say, Caleb was wired! We finally got him to bed around 10. When he woke up this morning he wanted to go trick or treating again! He'll just have to wait for next year!

Mimi with her sweet monkey and piggy

"Trick or Treat!"

2 monkeys and a piggy

Nana and her piggy

Papa and his 2 monkeys!