So Very Thankful

This year's Thanksgiving was one for the books!

With a 19 pound turkey and lots of family in town, we were ready to give thanks

Potatoes loved having Uncle Craig and Doo-Dee-Doo-Dee-Dah (Aunt Heidi) in town.

She got this nickname a few months ago when Potatoes couldn't remember her name and just came out with Doo-Dee-Doo-Dee-Dah and it stuck.

On Wednesday, Alexander's school had their Thanksgiving potluck.  Daniel, Craig, Heidi, and Jan had gone to Biloxi for a day trip, so Grandmomma and I got to soak up some time with Potatoes at school

Alexander was very excited to have us eat lunch with him!

Daniel was sad to miss the lunch, so he video called to say hey

 We are so very grateful for Ms. Shelia

The night before Thanksgiving, we went to the yacht club for dinner.  We love that they have a room with toys and no judgement where kids can play.

It was so wonderful having so much family around.  I kept finding myself thinking, 'Why can't this be real life?  All the time?'

After dinner, Daniel and Grandmomma took Potatoes home, and the rest of us moved into the bar for a bit.  It was cold, but we enjoyed a quick walk around the yacht club to check out the clear sky reflecting off the water.

Thanksgiving morning started early with prepping our 19lb turkey.  We then went for coffee, and headed over to Jan's townhouse to see her for a bit before heading back to continue Thanksgiving prep.

Grandmomma was excited to watch the parade!

Daniel's dance instructor from Fred Astaire, Natalie, was in the parade!  We tried to catch sight of her, but with dancers from numerous Fred Astaire studios around the country, we weren't able to find our favorite dancer.

The day was perfect, continuing my feeling that this is truly the best holiday.  I did not pick up my phone, and thus did not take many pictures, but we were blessed to have Jon and Laura over and to all come together for good food and better company.

After a group effort to clean up and most of the group taking a post feast snooze, we loaded up the car and headed to the outlets in Destin.  Though we are not crazy Black Friday deal hunters, we have made it a family tradition to partake in this part of Thanksgiving.

Potatoes loved the Disney store, but this hat, not so much

On Friday, we headed to Pensacola to check out the mall, since our local mall is a bit lacking

We enjoyed Cinnabon, pizza, and other food court food to fuel up for our shopping bonanza

Craig and Heidi spoiled their nephew the whole trip, and he was soaking it up big time

Potatoes loved every minute of having a full house

He was sad to see Craig and Heidi off after a full week of time together, but Daniel and Jan quickly put him to work around the house, as they are painting the exterior.  Daniel was quite impressed with Potatoes's focus on the job.

These two!

Since Thanksgiving, we've had some rainy, cold days, which means 

getting creative with our busy guy

We are truly Thankful for our family and friends and all of the memories we are making in this season of life!

Grand Times with Grandmomma!

We were so excited when grandmomma called us and asked us to buy her a one way plane ticket to come see us.  She flew in two days later!

The night she was supposed to fly in was stormy, with lots of lightening and thunder.  Daniel said, "No planes are going to be landing in this," but when we looked at the airport and the airline websites, they both said flights were on time.  With Grandmomma not having a phone, we headed to the airport to see what the status was.  After an hour of waiting, we found out that her flight was diverted to Birmingham and now due to land near midnight.  Potatoes and I had to go to sleep, but Daniel stayed up to greet his momma.

The next morning, Alexander got out of bed and saw his Grandmomma, who he had not seen for over a year.  Usually, he takes time to warm up to people....not this time!  He ran to her, hugged her big and exclaimed, "Grandmomma!  We were looking for you but your plane wasn't there!  We made you a room with a bed, and a couch, and a TV, and a fridge filled with snacks.  You can stay here FOREVER!"

I can't lie, y'all.  I cried.  We worked hard to make Grandmomma her own suite in our bonus room and wanted her to feel welcomed in our home.  The set up we provided could not compare to the warm reception of a nearly three year old who speaks his mind without holding back.  

We love you, Grandmomma, and are so happy to have you!

We have had tons of fun since Grandmomma came to town!  

On one of our first nights, we headed out to Buck's Fishbowl for bowling fun.

After bowling, we headed into the arcade for some games before heading to Mellow Mushroom for dinner (even though there is a restaurant at Buck's, we always take advantage of being near Mellow when in Destin).

Later, we met up with Serena and Lucy for some trampoline fun.  While Grandmomma didn't venture into the ball pit or off the high jump, we all enjoyed watching the kiddos, Daniel included, burn off some steam.

 Daniel was able to push Alexander back and forth as he hung on and swung from the rings.  He is getting stronger and stronger!

Then Potatoes laid in the ball pit while Daniel swung over him.  The look of awe and joy on his face was priceless.

While not a great picture, I have been so impressed by Alexander's recent skills in following plans as well as creative building.  He pulled out his magnatiles recently, and found the pieces according to the legend, working hard to build the structures as described in the instructions.  He also built elaborate original structures.

On Saturday, we headed to the Tech Toy Preview day at the Science Center.

Grandmomma and Potatoes were ready to explore!

One of the coolest things was a room sized interactive board, where Potatoes was able to sort, match, and play.  His favorite was the dinosaur memory game.

The tech toys included racing cars through a tablet...

...and building robots

We also thoroughly enjoyed the regular exhibits of the science center

Did I mention Jan came back in town!?  We are working hard to convince ehr to stay year round and abandon her summers in Michigan....I don't think we have been successful yet, but we sure love having her!!!

We are soaring high being surrounded by our family!!!