Thanksgiving 2010

Dear Abigail,

What a fun filled Thanksgiving week! It all started on the Saturday before the big turkey day...

We had to make up a gymnastics class, so since both Mommy and Daddy were at home this weekend, we decided to make it up on that Saturday so Daddy could watch you. He's never been to your gymnastics so he was super excited! And man alive, is gymnastics a much crazier place on Saturdays!! Lots more people tumbling around and lots of kiddos everywhere! But you still got to show off your skills for Daddy. You showed him how you can do the balance beam and how you do straddles on the bar and even did back rolls instead of your typical forward rolls! And of course you loved jumping on the trampoline. I think Daddy was enjoying it himself, too! So after gymnastics we ventured home to find Mimi at our house! You were super excited to see Mimi and Mommy even let you stay up a little later from your nap so you could get some good playing time in. Of course, you will soon see you had PLENTY of Mimi playing time...

That afternoon/night, Mommy and Daddy went to the TN Vandy game and you and Mimi took your first of about 5 trips to Target & Toys R Us. On Sunday, Mommy and Mimi and you, sort of, put out all our Christmas decorations!! Okay, fine, Mimi put out our Christmas decorations while you played and Mommy did a little sewing. Mimi just does it so much better than me... On Monday, we went to another make up gymnastics class and guess who got to come this time -that's right -Mimi!!! Unfortunately, this week at gymnastics was 'camp' week or something so there were literally classes of kids everywhere. So, to say the least, things were a little different, BUT, I'm pretty sure Mimi got a good idea of what goes on. She at least understands now why you are always jumping and climbing on everything, and why you come home exhausted!! Which you did. Monday afternoon was spent with another trip to Target and Toys R Us and on Tuesday, we decided, in order to finish up our Christmas shopping, you needed to head to school. Of course, Mimi told you she would pick you up from school and we all know you have the memory of, well, whatever has a good memory, so at the last minute, ran to pick you up and then, Mimi realized that she told you she would take you to the Big Park. So we ran to the Big Park before it got too dark. You loved showing Mimi your Big Park and I'm pretty sure Mimi was impressed. (PS - no pictures - not a single one. We were SO busy!!!!).

On Wednesday, Mimi headed home and you headed back to school because you were having a Thanksgiving dinner with all your school friends, and guess what - Mommy got to come, too! (and Daddy!). It was nice to see you interact with your friends and you made the cutest placemat and hat! We had yummy mashed potatoes and mac n' cheese and green beans and of course, turkey!!! It was all so yummy and I think it was a good prep for the huge dinner to follow the next day!! Here are some precious pictures from your class...

Here's you and your friend Madilynn (i think...)
And your friend who I can't for the life of me remember!!

But you sure seem to remember her!!
And of course your teachers, Miss Sabrina and Miss Brittney! You love love love your teachers and so does Mommy - and I'm pretty sure they love you too!

After a full belly and a good nap, we got to cooking for our big meal. You helped Mommy make a cheese ball and a squash casserole and these yummy doughnut hole acorns, oh and the miniature carmel apples that will be the death of me!! DELICIOUS! We were able to get everything done that night, minus a few extra apples which just made Mommy so happy because now we get to play on Thanksgiving morning!! And, where did we head, to the park! It was going to rain all afternoon so we knew we needed to get in that park now - and boy did we! We decided to go to the school playground that's right down the road and what a great park it was (don't worry, it's not Big Park, but it's a great alternative).

You had so much fun climbing on these sort of monkey bars. They were like monkey bars with a floor. But you didn't care, you climbed and climbed on them.

Oh, and the net. We weren't sure you could do it all by yourself, but you did! And you did it over and over and over again - with each time screaming "I did it Mommy - I did it!!!".

You and Daddy had fun on the slides...

And then you figured out that you could hang from them...

Oh and the tire! You loved swinging on the tire and even convinced Mommy to get on with you!

And I don't know what you call this thing but we called it the "Spinner" because you sat on it and spun around. Now, you loved sitting on it, and begged us to spin you, but as soon as we would you'd start crying. I think you WANTED to spin, but didn't like the feeling of the spinning. Mommy tried it and got pretty darn dizzy herself, so I know it had to feel weird to you!

We were just about burned out of energy when we saw a man and a little boy walking up to the park. As they got closer, Mommy realized who it was - it was Jacob and his grandfather!! It had been awhile since you had played with Jacob but you didn't seem to care. However, he was a little shy and while you begged and begged "Come on Jacob, come up here Jacob, climb the rope Jacob" poor Jacob just stared at you. Finally we headed home and left Jacob to play with his grandfather. But don't worry, we're hopefully going to see Miss Kristin and Jacob this Thursday!!

So, after the park, we headed home for to watch the Macy's Day Parade, which you didn't seem to care too much about but Mommy loves and is pretty sure we will make a family trip there sooner than later. Anyway... so after a quick lunch, we headed for nap time!!! We had to get our rest because we were headed to Uncle Jaybee's and Aunt Steph's, or as you like to say "Ellie's House"!!! You slept and slept (which is super awesome and has continued for multiple days) but finally woke up and we headed on over. Boy were you excited about seeing Ellie AND boy did you guys play SOOO well together. Mommy was so pleased with the way things worked out. You kiddos ran around like crazy, but Mommy and Aunt Steph didn't have to stress at all about where you were or what you were doing. You went up to Tent City and played forever and then you'd play in Ellie's room and when Caroline got there, it was even better. She was the perfect little babysitter. She loved playing with you and you for sure loved you some Caroline! We hung out with everyone and by 6ish it was time to eat! What a delicious meal, too! Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving Dinner...

Oh, yeah, you and Ellie occupied yourselves for a LONG time in the guest shower. For some reason both of you loved just sitting in there. Of course, you eventually found the soap, which found your eyes, which caused tears and screams, but it all turned out okay...

Look at you sweet cousins! You all played so well together - I can't say that enough...

Papa and his girls!

Okay, so I have to take it back a little. I said you got along so well, but I should have said that you got along 99% of the time, with that 1% being when that terrible singing duck was present. And it would appear out of nowhere, too. This duck drove us crazy for more reasons than one. First off, it sings "Splish Splash" over and over again. But, for some reason, both you and Ellie love it. But, neither of you are real good with sharing it. Now, I will say that you are a little better than Ellie as I saw her multiple times take it and just run for her life, however i did actually get YOU on camera running away with it...

So, all in all, that duck went to 'bed' multiple times. And I'm pretty sure Aunt Steph let it fly away after we all left! So we all spent the night and had a big breakfast and soon after we had to make our way to the Big Park to go on our annual after thanksgiving hike. It was freezing, but we still decided to go, just with a couple extra bundlings up! First though, we had to get a few pictures of these cutie pies!!!

And how about this one with Uncle Martin! How cute are you all!

So off to the park we went and what a ball we had...

Even Aunt Steph tried out the park...

We played a little on the park but then decided to start making our way on the hike. After pushing you in the stroller for a good bit, we reached a 'mountain' and decided to carry the stroller up this mountain, as we didn't know what lied ahead, and with you in it... Well, of course the second we reached the top we realized there was no need for the stroller, so we just left it there and let you run around!

After the refreshing walk outdoors, there was nothing better to do but pull out all the leftovers and eat some lunch! And of course, what came next - naps!! We put you girlies down for a nap and the rest of us watched Toy Story 3, and by watch I mean we all took naps while the movie was playing! After everyone woke up and played a little more, we decided we needed one more group outing before we ended this great Thanksgiving adventure. What better place to end it than at Goofballs! This was our first time at Goofballs - it's a bit like Chucky Cheese but for older kids as well. It was nice because we could let you run around and they even had those inflatable houses and lots of slides for you to climb and go down!!

poor Daddy tried over and over again to win you a bear...

After a bite of pizza, we decided we weren't ready to end the family fun (although Auntie Amy decided that basketball practice was more important than hanging out with us :) so we decided to stay yet another night at Uncle Jaybee's! We headed to their house, put you kiddos to bed and just chilled for the rest of the night. What a great Thanksgiving, huh!

And then to make it even more exciting, we had the gang over for hamburgers to watch the game on Saturday! You had an Ellie overdose and loved every minute of it!!! Both of you were very sad to see each other go, but I'm pretty sure you'll see each other soon enough!!

Again, what a great Thanksgiving, Abs! It was so nice to see you play with all your cousins and be so independent! And such a good time spending with family!! We are so thankful to have such awesome family!

A day at Papa Robs

Dear Abigail,

This past weekend, we headed into Memphis for Uncle J's big 4oth birthday party - I know, 40! Mommy and you decided to head in on Thursday after gymnastics to help Aunt Ash-ash get ready for the party at their house. But, as usual, we had a slight change of plans, but more on that later... More importantly, we got to spend the night at Papa Rob's house!!! We got to Papa Rob's around 3ish and what a pretty day it was. There was no way we could go inside and play, even if Papa Rob cleaned those floors for us! As soon as we got there, you wanted to swing, which is the typical case, and, being typical, that lasted a total of 2 seconds because then you saw the horses...

So we walked over to feed the horses an apple, but the second that horse started walking our way, you started walking backwards. You were a little scared of it, even after Mommy and Papa Rob both petted him. It didn't matter anyway because for some reason that horse was not too interested in our apples!! It was the craziest thing. He ate one piece, but the next piece he just spit out and walked away. Hmmmm, maybe he was feeling your vibe. Anyway, Papa Rob decided to take you down to the woods at the back of the house to show you where he's going to build you a treehouse (hmmm, we'll see about that...). Treehouse or not, you loved that area!!

We decided we needed to take full advantage of the beautiful weather so we headed on over to a park before the sun set. You and Papa Rob had so much fun swinging and sliding and him chasing you and you running - lots of good energy burned! You also impressed Papa Rob with your ability to swing on the big swing. You always scare everyone (except Mommy that is) because you lean back as if you were about to fall out, but you don't! I'm not sure Mimi has seen it yet, but she will get really scared!! So we played and played, and then the sun started setting so we grabbed a pizza and headed back to the house.

Soon after we gobbled our pizza down, Gramma made it home and was she so happy to see you! You played a little bit more but then it was time to take a bath. Of course, as we all know, these days when you get out of the bath you insist on "get my hair done". Well, Papa Rob being the best Papa Rob around, decided he'd do your hair. Yep, Papa Rob did your hair...

Let me just tell you something Missy - that man, your Papa Rob, has NEVER done my hair. As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure when he heard Mimi say "Niki, come get your hair done" I'm positive he made a mad dash to the door! He must love you is all I can say!! And he did a pretty good job at it, too! After your hair was did, Mommy let you stay up a little bit longer cause low and behold your BFF stopped by for a quick visit, and a mega sugar high!!! She brought us a cupcake, that you are not supposed to like but you kept sticking your finger in and licking!! While Mommy and Sarah got to chatting, you and Papa Rob ventured to the back to play. Papa Rob is just dying for you to play on the bed with him like Madison does, but you just aren't buying it yet. Gramma and I both think he's just a little too rough for your for now. So eventually, he figured out that you liked to watch tv, so he settled for that. When it was time for bed, Mommy was going to put you in the bed with her, but you insisted on sleeping on the floor in the playroom! Fine by me!!! I made you a pallet and got you settled in with the help of Papa Rob, but then you insisted that Papa Rob lay beside you. Oh, how I've seen this trick before. But Papa Rob went for it, and I'm pretty sure he fell asleep before you did!

The next morning was a bit quit because, long story short, Mommy had to drive to Texarkana to pick up Mammaw and Pawpaw and you got to spend the first part of your day with your BFF!! That's right - Sarah came to Mimi's and played with you until Mimi got home from work. She said you two had a blast, including a trip or 2 to the park and then lots of hide and seek! She even got a round of your poopy diapers! That's what BFFs are for though, right?!! Oh, and she tried teaching you "Go Tigers" but instead you just kept saying "Go Titans!!". Daddy was quite proud!!! Your BFF is a good babysitter and had no trouble with you, minus a small kitty litter incident. Once Mimi got home from work and you woke up from your nap, you went and got Clara Lee and boy did you guys play, play, play! Clara Lee loves her some Abby but I'm pretty sure you are loving you some Nanner! I had a total of 20 seconds to get home from my Texarkana trip to head out on another venture (with your BFF nonetheless) but in those 20 seconds of getting ready, the 2 of you were jumping and giggling and hiding and sitting in each others laps and hugging and just loving each other! Don't worry, that wasn't the only CL you got for the weekend. On Saturday, Mommy finally got to help Aunt Ash-ash with a little bit of the party that night for Uncle J and so CL came back over to Mimi's to play with you. Well, we needed a little extra help watching the 2 of you since I wasn't there and Mimi was trying to get ready, too, so we called in your new buddy, Bebe! She's Sarah's little cousin and what a good babysitter she is! She immediately took to both of you as if she'd been watching you for years. I wasn't around a whole lot when she was there, but Mom said that you three played and played. Unfortunately, this weekend should have been labeled the weekend of babysitters because not too long after Bebe left, we had another babysitter come and stay while we went to the party. And oh boy, this babysitter is so special to Mommy. Her name is Audra and Mommy has known Audra since she was 1 years old! (Audra that is, not Mommy). I heart this little girl and think so much of her and was sooo happy she said she would babysit! Now, there wasn't too much babysitting going on because you did have to go to bed, but I'm pretty sure you girls played for a little bit!

On Sunday, Mommy wasn't feeling that well... so we played it low key for most of the day and went down and visited Mammaw and Pawpaw and Aunt Lynne. You took you a nice little nap after a nice smack in the face by a toy thrown by Pawpaw and then a bit of drama due to where you wanted to sit on the couch, but nonetheless, a nap it was. And, by the end of the day, Mommy was still not up to par, so we decided to stay another day at Mimi's! It was well worth getting up super early to drive home baby girl. What a fun fun fun weekend we had. And all thanks to your Uncle getting so old :)

Love you baby girl!!!!!!