Thanksgiving All Over The Place

Thanksgiving was crazy fun this year! It was quite the semi-planned extravaganza! With my brother, Brendan, now a Soldier, you never know which plan of the many will work out. Luckily, we kind of had it all!

First, my mom and youngest brother, William, came up on Monday before Thanksgiving. We had a lot of fun going to lunch, grabbing some Starbucks, and hitting up Costco.

Note: Thanks mom for grabbing some photos that I stole from your Facebook page! LOL Love you!

And, an added bonus - I was able to have lunch with Andrew on Tuesday!! He introduced me to all of his classmates and they are just the sweetest little kids. I was so happy to see his little face light up when he saw me waiting for him outside the lunchroom. Love him!

Speaking of Tuesday, that is when my Dad and the other guys showed up! Christopher and Sean, that is. Unfortunately, James had to work. Darn you, Black Friday! (By the way, every time I write my brothers names... I ALWAYS have to hit backspace because I keep typing in Brendan's name after Christopher. LOL It's getting annoying...)

All the guys hanging out in the kitchen. And, yes, I apparently have 2 small Soldiers-In-Training of my own!

Oh, and while on the topic of Soldiers... We found out on Monday on our way to Costco that we were able to see Brendan for Thanksgiving! So, Thanksgiving got moved to Wednesday for us here in Alabama.

Tired parents LOL But, hey, at least we got our First Thanksgiving in our new home photo!!

Love this guy! My youngest brother with my youngest baby! <3

After we had everything heating up in the ovens, I took some of us down the trail behind our awesome neighbor's house to the Cahaba River. Love it!

This guy. LOL He is so silly, but he is pretty awesome, too. This is another one to be proud of. He is headed to the Navy in April. He is going to work with nuclear subs!!! (I'll get his actual job title soon.)

Thursday morning we woke up, packed up and headed to Augusta, Georgia to Fort Gordon to have Thanksgiving fun with Brendan!

Of course, we couldn't leave with out grabbing a Thanksgiving Photo!

Oh, and we couldn't leave without coffee... Fun cups are found at Target, people! Ok, everything fun is found at Target!

Brendan!!!!! How awesome does he look?!

This photo must have been after we left to get the kids to bed. I can only imagine the jokes that were being cracked at The Huddle House! I mean, come on... Look at those smirkity-smirks. What are y'all talking about!?

Friday, we headed back over to Brendan with lunch (mom, dad, and the guys stayed just a few blocks from Brendan's barracks) and games!

Lunch time!

Game time!!

Afterwards, we all headed out to see the cool Army tanks and other vehicles. Very cool. The boys loved it!

I love this pic. Really. I mean this is the truth right here. Trying to get everyone together for a pic when you have this many people is hard. But, it is imperfectly perfect, ya know?

"Family: We may not have it all together 

but, together we have it all."

Of course, a picture will be had, people! So, snap to it and smile!

From the left: Dad, Christopher, Jason, Austin holding Brendan's hand, William, Andrew, Sean and I, Aria, and Alex

Wow, what a week!!
My family and fun times at our house!
Thanksgiving Day lunch at Fort Gordon's Huddle House with Brendan!
And, a fun weekend with Jason's family!

Graphic via casa de lewis

Note: I'm terrible... I know... We had so much fun with everyone doing everything that other than the few pics I snapped and the ones I stole from mom... I totally missed taking any pics of the rest of the week. Jason may have taken a few. So, perhaps an update to the post will appear soon. :)

Thanksgiving for Five

What a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving we had this year! I must say we really enjoyed our holiday just the five of us. It was perfect!

Tiny turkey's first Thanksgiving!

Our 3 turkeys!

Delicious food!

Football!

Christmas decorations!

It was so great to celebrate this holiday together. We had a few "firsts" this Thanksgiving, too!

This was my first time EVER to cook a turkey. I always talked with mom while she was preparing everything or we were playing games at Jason's family's home. Well, with her awesome turkey tips, I did it! Thanks, mom!!

Hello delicious!

But, before we get to the feasting, here's what the men took care of while I was in the kitchen and catching bits of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (which was so weird, by the way...what was with the...ahem...red boots? Not exactly family friendly these days...) and snapping pics of the living room progress. 

Top half: Unpacking and setting up the tree and Christmas toys

Bottom half: The sun rising on the Holy Family - love it! Austin's first Christmas ornament!! The two in the back are Andrew and Alex's. I put their baby hats from the hospital and their bracelet in an ornament. So sweet :)

 Now, you saw earlier in this post that they were wearing their Thanksgiving shirts... Well, the Packers were getting ready to play, so they needed to be fan ready. Those are their game faces... LOL Austin was informed that he needed to be wearing his Packer gear, too. There are some funny men in my house. 

Game over and it is now time to feast!! Mmm. Mmm. Delicious!

And, yes!! I carved my first turkey for the first time! LOL AND!! I even got the wishbone out for later! 

Though...later meant the NEXT night. It wasn't ready just yet. The boys had a ton of fun with this. Mom even sent a picture of my 2 younger brothers breaking their wishbone. Andrew and Alex thought that they were cool stuff to be just like Sean and William. Oh, and Alex won! He got he bigger half. Cuties! 

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We hope y'all had a great Thanksgiving, too! 

Next up: Austin will be ONE MONTH OLD this week!!! And, the boys went to a special school event that featured The Singing Santa. Very cool! More posts to come soon :)

Almost 3 Weeks Old {Happy Thanksgiving!}

Hello again! Just a quick update from the house!

We are all doing great here! Yay! Austin is sleeping pretty well during the night - getting up around anywhere between 2:30-3:30 in the morning. I know, it sounds rough... But, my amazing husband takes care of the first night-time feeding, usually between 10-11ish. I go to bed around 9 so I can actually function the next day. It is working out wonderfully!

I am back to making dinner again for our family. It has been absolutely wonderful to not have to worry about how or what Jason and I were going to make for dinner during those first 2 weeks home. The ladies at our church were FABULOUS! We had an amazing home cooked meal every night - and just finished the left overs this past Sunday night. We are so blessed to be part of such an amazing church family!

If you have been following us on Facebook or Instagram, you may have already seen these pictures. But, here is a look back at the past few weeks as a family of FIVE (!!!) for those that have not had a chance to check those out. We can't believe that he will be THREE weeks old on Thanksgiving - crazy!!

{WEEK 1}

 TOP ROW: Home Sweet Home / Reading to our new brother / Saying goodnight / Tummy time / Swirly baby hair

MIDDLE ROW: Alex loves holding his baby / Andrew is so happy to have another brother / Thinking how to keep mommy up at night / Sweet baby face / Going for a car ride

BOTTOM ROW: Alex says it's super cold weather / Playdoh fun / Train track building / Andrew keeping watch over Austin / Tiny snuggle bug

{WEEK 2}

TOP ROW: 3 kids = coffee drinker / 1st Mass / cozy / Alex talking to Austin

MIDDLE ROW: Baby voice / my 3 boys / big vs little / Moby wrap fun

BOTTOM ROW: 3 turkeys / Thanksgiving feast at school / sweet Alex / Alex loves his baby 

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My family came for a visit to meet their newest grand baby this past weekend! YAY! And, all of my brothers are now taller than me. They are younger. But, they are taller. All of them. Ugh. I knew that day was coming... We had a lot of fun talking and playing and passing Austin around. :)

 Happy Grandma! 

Somehow a bunch of men just happened to be at my house... WHAT in the world?! Where are my LITTLE brothers?! Crazy!! 

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Well, that is all for now. We wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!! 

Merry Thanksmas in Augusta

Did that title confuse you? Or have you been following long enough to know my mom and I? ;)

After Jason's family moved out-of-state from where my parents are, we had to split up the holidays. One year it's there, another year it's somewhere else. This year, we had Thanksgiving in Augusta - but also celebrated Christmas since we won't be seeing his family next month. My mom came up with that term "Thanksmas" last year. Isn't she hilarious!? I love it. So it's sticking.

Anyway, I did manage to grab a few pictures here and there. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving, too! Or, if you're like us - a very Merry Thanksmas!

 Alex and Andrew loved these Snowmen matryoshkas - they are pretty cute!!

Also, sadly, this is the ONLY picture I got of them on Thanksgiving Day with their turkey shirts...grr... I thought with mom brain that was a given that I would make them sit and smile together in matching shirts...ugh...I guess next year, right? These shirts were made by the fabulous, Chi, from our church! So cute, right?!

 Opening up some Christmas gifts! Thanks, Nana and Papa, for all the fabulous things!

 Andrew cooking us a feast with his cookware (this is going with a certain item from Mommy and Daddy they will both find on Christmas morning! YAY!)

 Speaking of feasts...yum :) I'd like to point out to all my brothers...haha! I got a leg this year, boys! They - meaning whichever two steal them first - never let me get one. Stinkers. Love you, guys!

 Being with family is great. Many of my mornings looked like this. Sip, sip, ahhhhh. 

 And many of our evenings looked like this - CATAN!!! 

If you have never played this game - 1st, what is the matter with you? And 2nd, put this game on your Christmas list. It is awesome. It is the ONLY strategy game I LOVE. 

This was my Thanksgiving card to my hubby. He cracked up with this one :) 

I don't usually do Thanksgiving cards, but this was PERFECT for him. He LOVES my mom's Candied Yams - that I have tweaked, which makes him ask for them all the time during this season. 

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with their families! Time to get those decorations up now!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Our House to Yours!

 Over the weekend we made a craft to share with everyone! 

Such a fun Saturday morning with my family!!

Merry Thanksmas!

Ok, just a note about that greeting: Jason and I switch the holidays off with my family and his. It makes life easier since neither side live in the same state anymore. So, when we go to my family's home for Thanksgiving, we also celebrate Christmas (since we will be with Jason's family for Christmas). My mom started saying "Merry Thanksmas" as a joke a few years ago and it just kinda stuck. It is just too funny to not let go of that one! 

I hope you have your glass of sweet tea handy - you will be here for a bit. Enjoy the pictures!

 On the road to Florida! 

 

 Thanksgiving morning - All the decorations for Thanksgiving AND Christmas are up and gorgeous! I love my parents house during the holidays! :)

Thanksgiving Treats Menu

Have y'all been into Target lately? To the Dollar Spot? You know, the black hole where your wallet gets sucked into because of all the amazing goodies for super cheap. It's amazing isn't it? Well, Disney's Family Fun has their mini holiday book for Christmas in the Dollar Spot. YAY! So from that little book of amazing ideas, I will be make 2 treats for our Thanksgiving with my family. If you don't have the book, don't worry. Click here or here. Enjoy!

Holiday Comforts #clevercomforts #spon

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Traditions
When my brothers and I were growing up, we couldn't wait to eat the amazing meal that my mom worked on since 5am (seriously!). The biggest turkey ever - I have 5 brothers who love to eat! Candied Yams. Stuffing. Cranberry Sauce. Green Bean Casserole. Yeast Rolls. Pumpkin Pies. Cookies. I'm starving now! It is amazing.

After the feast and clean up, we would be staring at our parents waiting for the green light on Christmas decorating! There are a lot of trees in my family's home to decorate, too. I remember that it was more fun once we were all a bit older and we had "races" to finish the trees. That was so much fun. I don't think Mom was too thrilled with the end product though. LOL! Good times.

Somehow over the years, a new tradition between my brothers, my husband and I began. Nerf Gun war. I mean all out war in the year. We divided into 2 teams and terms from Halo and Call of Duty are thrown out. Exciting stuff!

Christmas Cards
I love the mail. Jason and I started sending out Christmas cards after we were engaged, I think... I can't remember. But I do know that we have grown in the number of Christmas cards that are received and mailed out. I sent out like 45 cards last year! Now with our two children, we have made more friends and have teachers. I love it though. I really do! It is so much fun to see all the cards and read about how everything is going. It's nice to go back to the times before e-cards and whatnot. I'm thinking about how to display the cards, too. Year after year they were on the mantle, but they overflowed last year. So I am not sure what I will be trying out. Maybe I will just stick them in the tree!

Christmas Magic
There are really no words to explain this. Even though being woken up by my little brothers at 5 am was NOT cool when it was Christmas break...seeing their eyes light up when they saw what Santa had left was priceless. Now, I get to continue the magic with our boys. Last year, Andrew's face was so sweet. I can't wait to see what this year will be like with 2 little boys!

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Thanksgiving!

I think we are settled back into the swing of things! Jason is playing his computer game, Andy is sleeping soundly, and I am running every machine possible in this house!

We had a great time in Georgia this past weekend. Lots of food, lots of games, and lots of fun! Since we have one set of grandparents her and the other there, we celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas while visiting one or the other. It definitely helps cut down on the traveling!

So, I didn't get to take as many pictures as I thought I was going to - I only got these 3. Seriously. But, luckily we have Dave! Maybe I can get some of those picture from him - I swear he took like 400 pictures. I may not even be exaggerating. He just knows a photo op when he sees it. But they are all candid, of course - which is awesome! No fussing with getting everyone to have their best smiles. That's hard to do with a little kid who likes to go go go!

This is one of the games that we played twice, like every day we were there - Settlers of Catan. I won't lie. I hated this game at first. I had no clue what it was last year...not a clue how to play it. Nothing. I'm not good at strategy games either. So, this game was way way way down on the the bottom of my list. But, now... I don;t know...I just can't seem to get enough of it! And, Justin even showed me a trick of the trading part of it all. Mark and Jason totally called us out on cheating though (jokingly...but hmmm....lol). It's a good game. I'm not really good at explanations so just go here to check it out, if you want.

This is my little man in his version of Daddy's chair. You've probably seen that big blue monster of a chair in some of our living room pictures...ugh. It's growing on me... But I can't wait for the funeral. Sorry, Big Blue. Luckily, the sofa set I chose, had a very tiny hint of blue in the threads. I suppose that is the only reason why it works there right now. Anyhoo! Off topic. This is the BEST little chair in the world! And, yes - POTTERY BARN KIDS!!! WHOO HOO!! I've been waiting for the day to get this chair for Andy. And, Nana saved the day! He really likes it! We watch Toy Story 2 after dinner tonight and he sat in it most of the movie. Such a little man :) Oh! And it is totally personalized - it say "Andrew" of course but with a cute little football embroidered over his name. Awesome. Thanks, Nana & Grandpa!

Speaking of Grandpa - here he is watching a football game with Andy. This might have been the Alabama/Auburn game... I just remember one of the days we were there, Mark and Jason were saying "Roll Tide" all darn day. Really, guys? I don't even think Mark cared too much about that game. And, Jason was just doing that to make me crazy... He claim he really is a Bama fan, but I'm still not sure of that. The world may never know!

I hope your Thanksgiving was just as fun as ours! Everyone done eating until Christmas? Good times, good times! :)