Thanksgiving Week 2012

Dear Abigail,

What a great week off of school for Thanksgiving!  We have so many things to give thanks for, but I cannot say enough how thankful I am to be your Mommy.  

On Monday, you went to Gracie's birthday party at an art store.  It was VERY cool and Mommy is already thinking for your birthday and if I can't wait that long I may convince Ellie she needs an art party :)

On Tuesday, you went camping!  Well, to gymnastics camp that is, but you like to call it camping.  You LOVE gymnastics camp and were sad to leave.  I promised you we'd go on a walk if you came home and so we did.  You found "wishing flowers" to blow and were super excited to show Kate how to do it!

You also somehow convinced your sister to pull you in the wagon.  You are quite talented with convincing others to push/pull you and you never having to return the favor.  A talent that you may get from your Daddy.  I'm just saying...

 Wednesday was eventful with errands to run, an hour to 2 with the babysitter, and then dinner with Ryan and Jake and Miss Leigh at Mexican!  We had to be out of the house, and Mexican seemed appropriate.  We did have to go to a new Mexican because Miss Leigh doesn't like ours, but that's okay because we still got to eat cheese dip :)

On Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we woke up early and started stretching.  Why you ask, well because you had to run your first race!  We did the Turkey Trot and man alive are you fast.  Mommy took off first and ran the 5K and you got to wave and cheer me on with Daddy and Kate as I crossed the finish line.  Daddy said you kept asking "But why isn't she winning?" because lots of folks were in front of me.  Soon after my race, we drifted back to the starting line for your race!  They said go, and go we went!  You were running pretty hard there in the beginning and Mommy actually had to keep a decent pace to keep up.  There were a few times you slowed down, and a time or two you looked for Daddy because he had the water, but you did cross that finish line and get a 'medal' (a yellow bracelet!) that you were so proud of.  It was a 1k and while I want you to run a 5K with Mommy, I think we need a couple more 1ks under our belt.  I think you would have preferred your sister pulling you in the wagon for at least half of that race :)  

Being silly with your sister! 

As soon as we got home from the race, we all scrambled around like chickens with our heads cut off.  We were trying to hit the road before Katie Bugs nap so she could nap in the car but we all needed showers and of course, pack the car for a long weekend at Mimi's!  We did get on the road before the nap, but had to have a picnic in the car.  Mommy's intentions were to swing by McDonalds on our way out of town to grab lunch but at the very last minute I thought "hmmm, does McD's make its employees work on T-day????" and so I just called to ask and sure enough they don't!  Or well, not after 11 am - it was 11:05 when we left.  SO, Mommy quickly made sandwiches (turkey none the less!) and grabbed the grapes and some sunchips and off to the car we went for a picnic.  You hadn't had a snack and were starving and when you bit into the sandwich you said "Mom, this is delicious!"  If you only knew all the deliciousness we were headed to!  We made it to Mimi's with no trouble, but as soon as you go there you wanted to know where Nacho was (Clara Lee's dog) - not anyone else, just Nacho.  I asked Ash-ash when she would make it and she said not till a couple hours.  I passed the info onto you and you chose to wait it out.  On the roof of my car...

 Mimi had pretty much everything done and Mommy was in charge of the ham (i.e. I bought a ham from Honey Baked Ham!) so we had a pretty relaxing couple of hours.  We got cleaned up a bit more and took the time for a photo session...

 

 Soon enough the whole fam arrived and you were ever so excited!  Mimi had a kids table all set up for you four and you all enjoyed drawing all over the tablecloth!

 And of course the real fun was afterwards!  You four played and played and changed into princess outfits and even got John Michael prettied up!!!!

 Eventually you came for seconds, or what we call, dessert!!  Lynnie brought each of you a chocolate cupcake, so you were in heaven!  Notice you are wearing a flower girl dress (Em's from one of her 5 weddings she's been in!)

 After dinner, dessert, and LOTS of playing, you begged and begged to spend the night with Clara Lee and Nacho.  Of course I gave in, and off you went.  You told Ash-ash that you were going to stay up ALL NIGHT LONG because you were at a sleep over and she told you that part of a sleep over is to actually sleep!  At one point she had fallen asleep and woke up to see you and CL playing in the playroom.  Silly girls!  The next morning, I came to get you but did a little exercising with Ash-ash.  While we were walking, Uncle Jay took you and Em and CL (did I mention Em spent the night, too?!) on a four wheeler ride (with Mommy's permission, of course :) and you loved it!  You loved it so much that after I returned from our walk you cried the whole way home because you wanted to ride the four wheeler!  I think you were a smidge bit sleepy, and soon discovered that, as usual, I was right...
The good news is that I took CL and Em back with us to Mimi's.  You three played outside for a bit, got some lunch and then HAD to have a bath.  We all got cleaned up and went to see a movie at the local theatre - The Guardian Rise or something like that.  You were doing good for the first 30 minutes, but then I looked over and saw Emily put her head in her hands and fall asleep and I saw your eyes fluttering, so I put you in my lap and within minutes, you were asleep!  So asleep that you spilt Mommy's drink all in her purse!  You slept the whole movie (as did Em, but none from CL!) and were ready to roll afterwards!  We headed back to Mimi's and sooner than later went to Mexican - I mean, it was Friday night and all.  Of course, this Mexican was a party of 16 or so, but hey, whatever, we roll with it.  Well, Mommy doesn't really, or at least your sister didn't roll with it.  She did NOT prefer the high chair but instead preferred walking all through the restaurant, so Mommy was burnt out before our food even arrived! Fortunately for you, you were heading to ANOTHER sleep over!  Aunt G asked if you could come spend the night with them, and, well, why not.  She did promise me that you would be asleep very early and you were VERY excited to go, so off you went.  The next morning (Saturday) Mommy and Daddy went with your BFF to the Memphis football game and did a little tailgating at her fancy smancy Tiger Lane.  While there, I got this picture from Uncle Bubba...

Yep, that's you and a deer.  A dead deer.  A dead deer that Uncle Bubba shot.  All I thought was Lord Have Mercy we are about to have a million questions coming our way.  I yelled at Uncle Bubba as much as I could via text and told him if he made you not be able to sleep in your bed when we got home that I would haunt his children like no other.  He assured me you were fine and that, and I quote "We told her it wasn't Rudolph because she kept saying it was."  Yep, you kept calling him Rudolph.  And even when they convinced you it wasn't Rudolph, you still kept calling it a reindeer.  Good times. When I pieked you up (eventually!) your told me "Uncle Bubba shooted a reindeer in the peep and it had blood!!" all excited, nonetheless.  Apparently Uncle Bubba took you to the meat market, which I have since learned is a place where a lot of 'reindeer shot in the peep' are, well, hanging out.  You seem fine with it other than the fact that you remind me constantly about how he shot it and it bled.  Everyone (including Mimi) said you were having a blast being a country girl so we let you keep going. Aunt G and Em and John Michael couldn't get enough of you so you spent the night again! Mimi was a little upset about this (even if she didn't act it) because this would mean you didn't spend one night with her while visiting!  I reminded her that she spend 4 straight days with you last weekend and this next weekend she's getting you while Mommy goes on a girls trip.  She nodded, but I don't think she approved.  But you did have a blast at Ems and JMs!  Aunt G sent me a text saying that she gave you Cheetos and you said "What are these? I've never had these" and then when she gave you chocolate milk for dinner you said "I won't tell Mommy!"  I think they had fun with you and your fun personality! And you got to sleep with Em two straight night!  What fun!
Sunday morning came too soon and we had to pick you up and take you home.  You were so concerned with "What are we going to do today?" and just could not get it that we were going to go home and chill!  I did let you go grocery shopping with me, which seemed to please you, but sure enough on Monday morning you were asking "What friends are coming over today?"  You LOVE you some socializing, just like your momma!  Can't sit still!
A great Thanksgiving with family!  It makes me sad to think you are growing up so quickly and are already spending nights away from us like it's no problem, but man alive you love your cousins!
Happy Thanksgiving Abs!!!