Thankful

I did make it out to my Aunt Tami's last Wednesday afternoon to help with the Thankgiving prep. It was lots of fun and Tami's taught me how to roll out pie crusts and her mom taught me tricks for making the pie crust edges look pretty. We were able to pick up the boys from my mom and get home by a decent time.

On Thanksgiving we got up and turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The past couple years Riley really liked watching it and seeing all the musical numbers. This year, he just wanted to go to the living room and watch a movie so we watched the parade in our bedroom with Carter while Riley watched his movie in the living room. We met up at Tami & Todd's for lunch and it was a small group of just family and it was really nice. There was so much food and it was all so good. You can only get a tiny bit of everything if you want to be able to taste everything and have room in your belly for it! Here is a picture of the spread in Tami's kitchen:

Carter was the PERFECT age to eat his first Thanksgiving dinner! He got to have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole and canned cranberry. He LOVED it! I forgot a bib, so we tried to make due with a dishcloth, but it didn't really work and he ended up getting Thanksgiving ALL OVER himself...in his hair, in his clothes. He was a mess. Thankfully, I had a change of clothes in his bag and we bathed him in the kitchen sink and changed his clothes.

We left Tami & Todd's and headed to Chad's parents' house to drop off the boys. They were both napping so we headed up to the hospital to visit Mike & Christina and their new baby daughter, Caley Anne! Christina's water broke the day before and Caley was delivered that afternoon. She was so tiny (5lbs 11oz) and so sweet!

We then went back to Chad's parents' to watch the Cowboy game and to eat Thanksgiving Dinner #2. It was great time to visit with the Jung/Fuller side of the family and Riley ended up staying to spend the night. We took Carter home and went straight to bed, we were so tired!

On Friday we had a nice leisurely morning with Carter. We decorated our Christmas tree and then Chad had to head to work with KWC, where he met up with his mom and got Riley. I headed to my parents' house with Carter to help them decorate their tree. Memaw was still in town so we also got to visit some more with her! Chad & Riley arrived just as we were finishing with the tree and then I made eggplant parmigiana for everyone for dinner. It was really good and my mom was so thankful to me for cooking. They also bought a train to go under their tree for Riley and while I cooked Chad assembled it. It is awesome!

Saturday was such a great lazy day! I was in my pajamas until 2pm and Chad and Riley until 5pm. We only ventured out of the house for dinner at Chick Fil A and to run to Central Market. Earlier on Saturday we even got to skype (video chat) with Katharina & Lucas for 2 hours! It was great and Riley was a real talker!

On Sunday we had a lazy day again. My mom was sick so we cancelled lunch with Grammy. Chad & I took the boys to lunch and then we went grocery shopping before heading back home for naps. That night the Lovelady's came over for dinner and the kids got to play together. It was nice to see them again.

On Monday, Kate came and picked me up for lunch and that was really nice. The boys were obviously not used to school after being out for almost a week, because they were both practically delerious when we got home. Carter had only napped for an hour in the morning and Riley was just really tired and cranky, and he had a hard day at school with some of the boys picking on him about his Aunt Kate. Saying that she wasn't his aunt and upsetting him.

Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of Jake's death. I woke up at 2am to Carter crying and went upstairs to soothe him. I shed a few tears then and it took me awhile to fall asleep again. Yesterday was a good day at work so it took my mind off the day. We had a big lunch for my boss to celebrate her last day as interim President of our company. It was a great lunch at Ellerbe's and she told such fascinating stories.

Last night we met up at my parents house and drew the raffle tickets for the quilt and the fire pit. Jake's best friend's parents won the quilt and my mom's best friend won the fire pit. A bunch of Jake's friends came over and it was nice to visit with them all. His old roommate, who adopted Jake's dog, Sampson, even brought Sampson over to visit! Riley really liked talking to everyone and was so extroverted! It was surprising!

It's honestly amazing to me that two years have already gone by. Sometimes it seems like more and sometimes it seems like just yesterday.