Happy Thanksgiving!

I'M SO THANKFUL FOR MY FAMILY!

Thanksgiving started on Wednesday night and three days later it is finally over. We went to three Thanksgiving celebrations, survived and managed to have some fun! We are so lucky to have our family so close. But honestly, tonight I'm just plain tired. My body is worn out. It can be very stressful at family events, especially with two small children. This is when my parenting style really comes back to haunt me. They are not used to sitting still and eating until everyone is finished. (I can take part of the blame for this.) I also have to keep Cole from running in the house and jumping off of furniture, which he is allowed to do at home. And by the third day both Cole and Ella were getting tired. Cole gets really silly when he is tired. At Grandma Frances' house I heard him say, "Hey Grandma thhhhhthhhh (spitting while sticking his tongue out)." Ella just gets whiny and wiggly. We really did have fun and it was nice to see everyone and I know they were glad to see us.

Nana B. and Papa Lewis' House

We seem sweet don't we? Don't let us fool you. Crazy things happen at this house. You can see where I get my parenting style from. This picture was very hard to take. I only got two shots and everyone was done. Mama said, "Well Michelle, there is always Christmas."

From top left: Scott holding Cole, Joseph (my brother in-law) holding Parker, Papa, my brother Steven, me holding Ella, Dalton, Lisa and Nana

The kids had a blast and the adults got to relax and talk while they played. Nana B. served delicious turkey and fixins. The kids enjoyed turkey cupcakes which I did not get a picture of. And Papa said he made the pecan pie, which I had and it was surprisingly good.

Chocolate plus a sucker, can't get much better than this.



Nana has all kinds of toys. For some reason these teeth were a huge success.





Thanks Nana and Papa for a fun night!

Nana Wina and Papa Rudy's House



From top left: Geoffrey and Amanda (Scott's brother and his wife), Nana, and Papa, Grandma Frances, Grandaddy and Grandma Holt, and us.

Nana served breakfast which was a nice treat!

Thanks for my dress Nana! (Mrs. Oliver made Ella this dress and she wore it on Thanksgiving.)


Grandma Frances' House

Here we are sitting in Grandma Frances' swing that she got for her ninetieth birthday. Can you believe that this special lady made a complete Thanksgiving meal by herself for all of us? She had turkey, fried quail, butter beans, rice, homemade macaroni and cheese, chicken salad, peas, homemade biscuits (which I love), stuffing and lots of homemade desserts. We loved the food and enjoyed seeing everyone. We also celebrated Papa Rudy's birthday which is December 5th. She made a cake for him too. After he blew out the candles, Cole stuck his finger in the icing right there in front of everyone. Papa said that was fine. But I wondered what everyone else was thinking. Oops. Thanks Grandma Frances for having us!

The children loved playing the piano at this house.



Happy Birthday Papa!




My words exactly. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving. Goodnight everyone!

Cole and Ella's First Fight

I know I shouldn't laugh at this but it really was funny! Cole and Ella had their first fight the other day in the car. I was talking on my cell phone and Cole was holding one of his McDonald toys, when I see Ella swipe it right out of Cole's hands. (She is very quick.) Then he starts yelling at her and tries to get it back. They are pulling at the toy back and forth. Eventually Ella lets go and I really think I saw a smirk on her face. Pretty mild for a sibling fight but I know that it is only a sign of times to come....

I guess they made up because later that same day they were playing with each other. Cole would chase Ella and she would run, well, crawl away. And then she would chase him. They both thought this was hilarious. I guess they are going to have a love/hate relationship like most brothers and sisters.

I'm trying to teach Cole that he cannot wrestle with Ella like he does with his daddy.

And about how much Ella looks up to him and how she will copy whatever she sees him do.

Thanksgiving Feast

Tuesday of this week Cole's preschool hosted a Thanksgiving Feast. When we walked in everything was decorated so cute and the teacher had placed Cole's work at the table where we were suppose to sit. Then all of the classes came in and lined up on stage. We didn't see Cole's class. They were late. Finally Cole's class came in the door and he was first! You can tell they were hurrying because Cole comes busting in the door. His face lit up when he saw Scott was there!

They sang a few songs. It was soooo cute! I was so mad because I didn't have my video camera. I didn't know they were going to sing. I thought we were just eating. I'm going to video him singing at home when I get a chance.

Cole loved having Scott there. He didn't want him to go back to work. He tried to convince Scott to take him to work with him. His teacher had written what Cole said we do for Thanksgiving. Now I know he was two last Thanksgiving so he probably doesn't really remember. Still he was pretty close. He said we eat a turkey at Nana's house and it cooks for about 2 minutes and she buys the turkey at the Lion's Gate Food Lion. (Never heard of this grocery store.)

My Little Chief

We had so much fun and on the way home it started to snow. How cool! Cole had to go to the bathroom so I pulled over and about that time snowflakes started to pour out of the sky. I rolled down the window and let Cole and Ella look at the snow. Cole kept telling me to catch a snowflake so he could hold it.

I am so thankful for days like this. What a fun time!

New Stage

Just the other day I had mentioned to Scott about how Cole never really went through the stage of lining things up. I have seen several other children go through this stage. They line up animals, cars, shoes- just about anything. I had just assumed I was not organized enough to nurture this phase of his childhood. I promise, it was not even two days later, when Cole started lining things up. He lines up cars, tools, movies, long pole items (like rakes, swords, golf clubs) etc. I love it! He is occupied for awhile and it is so cool to see where and what he decides to organize. He has gotten so clever where he sets up because Ella is not far behind him. (She is in the tear out stage.)

Yesterday I laughed to myself because Cole asked me to tie his blanket around his neck because he wanted to be a superhero. Oh brother! I thought we were going to skip that stage. This one I know is not so fun to watch!

Boat Update

It's true. We decided to take the boat out again. Well, really Scott decided. I think the fact that the boat didn't run so well last time was bothering him. Good news though. This time the boat cranked right away and ran in reverse. User error last time. Something about leaving the choke on. Anyway, I really did have a much better time. At least it was not freezing. Besides Ella's lifejacket problems it went really well. I have learned a few things about boating. Here are a few tips:

1. Never ask what is that bumping noise while your husband is pulling the boat with his car. Apparently this is annoying.

2. Never go to a lake that has an awesome park too. It may be hard to get the children to get on the boat.

3. Never wear dangling earrings. When you are going so fast they swing back and forth and really start to hurt your ears.

4. Never take pictures of your son in his little sister's pink lifejacket and publish them for the world to see.

5. Never let your child run on the dock. I got in trouble with Scott on this one. I guess they could fall in.

6. Never let your husband see you roll your eyes because it is taking so long to unload the boat and load it back, after all this is his dream. Even if in the meantime you are trying to keep your 3 year old from running on the dock and your one year old from jumping in the water.

7. Never buy BodyGlove lifejackets. Picture is self explanatory.

Luckily Scott has to winterize the boat, whatever that means, so no more boating adventures until the Spring.

Cole was much more comfortable this time. He had on Ella's lifejacket and poor Ella had to wear his. The yellow life jacket is awful and we thought it might fit Ella better. We were wrong.

Ella loved it when we took her lifejacket off. We are docked in this picture.

See why boating can stress a mama out. They can lean over and fall right in. I'll feel better when we can find lifejackets that fit.

Remember to walk on the dock.

Boating wears you out. If I could have taken a nap too I would have. But unfortunately mamas don't get to nap.

My First Birthday Party

I had my first birthday party at a pumpkin patch. It was the perfect day for an outdoor party. All of my family came, even Great Grandma Frances and Great Grandma and Grandaddy Holt. We had cake, feed the animals, played on the playground, and went on a hayride. It was a fun first birthday party and I know my mommy was glad that it was not at our house. I don't know how she would keep it clean with Cole running around and me tearing out everything. Thanks everybody for making my day so special!

Birthday Cake Pictures

I don't think I have to share this Cole.

First a finger, then my whole hand.

Whee! Everyone enjoyed the slide.

Not quite walking yet.

But I love being carried around.

Papa and Me

Looking at the animals on the farm.

Hayride Fun

Come on Parker, you can do it.

My Nana and Me

This is my pumpkin.

All of My Friends

Thanks for making it a great party!