Once Upon a Time: 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!