Thanksgiving In All It's Glory

Thanksgiving is just the best, isn't it?!  I know I have said it in the past, but I just really love it.  Mostly because it's about family + food and then more family + food.  With it being our first Thanksgiving with Ezra, my heart couldn't help but feel like it was bursting with so much love for this little family of mine.  I wish there was a word that could top blessed, because if there was...well, it would fit perfectly here.  We celebrated by keeping a pretty relaxed and chill morning by watching the parade.  Jude was actually pretty amused by it this year.  Every float and group came with several inquiries from him.  "Mommy, what is that one?", "Mommy, what does that one do?", "What are they doing, Mommy?", "Can I see that one, Mommy?"...I think you probably get the point.  We then proceeded to eat lunch with Matt's family, which if I haven't said this before well, Matt's mom can flat out cook.  It's hard to pass up any dish that she makes.  The meal was followed up with football and comas.  We then took our small troop to dinner with my family.  Which of course included a lot more over-the-top-delicious food and yes, guilt, because who can eat that much without feeling guilt?!  The rest of the evening included sitting around the fire, playing games, having long talks, and watching more football.  There was no rushing to grab the best sales and deals by us...just a lot of family time.  I must say that with all of the blessings and goodness we celebrated this holiday, it was difficult in that this was the first Thanksgiving without Mamaw.  My mom, sister, and I were all messaging each other all weekend...each of us with our own feelings of grief and loss.  However, we are glad that she was able to celebrate her best Thanksgiving yet with our Lord and Savior.  Hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful and fulfilling too!   Now on to Christmas... :)

Jude's 3rd Birthday Party

"Better late than never" should be my blogging motto...I mean, seriously.  I wanted to write a quick thank you to everyone for your birthday wishes to Jude and also to say how much he loved his birthday party.  He is such a precious gift to both Matt and I, and we are so grateful that he has such a wonderful support system around him.  We had a small, family birthday party for him on his birthday.  We picked a firetruck theme for the event.  He really loves all things transportation, but has a particular fascination with firetrucks.  We grilled out hamburgers and hotdogs + had way too many sweets.  But according to Jude sweets should make up the entire food pyramid. :)  If you would like to visit Jude's past birthday parties you can look here, here, here, and here.

 So he was a little frightened by our singing.  It took a few minutes to recover and blow out the candles.   Haha!

A Happy Thanksgiving

We hope your day was filled with family time and lots of yummy food.  That definitely sums up our day.  In total we have had four Thanksgiving dinners this week.  So yes, we have had our share of turkey and are striving to not go into a food coma.  The stage that Jude is at right now is such absolute fun.  He is talking non-stop (sometimes distinguishable...sometimes not so much). This made for a lot of entertainment at our family dinners for this holiday.  We captured some Thanksgiving moments at my Uncle Jeff & Aunt Mary's house, which is one of the prettiest homes I have ever set foot in.  They were such wonderful hosts today...and most of us know that preparing a Thanksgiving feast is no easy feat. We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and hope that you found time to thank God for the many blessings he has given.  And if you are daring enough to venture out on Black Friday...Happy Shopping. Now Matt is off on a four day hiking adventure and Jude & I are getting our house Christmas-ready.  :)

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. -John F. Kennedy

Friendsgiving

Gratitude.  Thankfulness.  Contentment.  Words to live by.  This holiday is such a great reminder for us all to reflect on what's important and realize the good that we possess.  We had our annual Thanksgiving dinner last night with Haven, and as I listened to friends and students express their thankfulness I found myself wanting to shout, "LET'S DO THIS EVERY WEEK!"  I mean, in a world that is progressively negative wouldn't it be amazing to get together with your friends, eat some reeeeally good food, and reflect & express our gratitude on a weekly basis?!  When we begin to realize how truly blessed we are, our appreciation of what we have will become a habit.  Beginning this holiday with amazing friends who have wonderful hearts was pretty fantastic.  Happy Friendsgiving!

Writing down our grateful thoughts.