Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving week. Jake's parents and little brother flew in last Tuesday morning, and we had such a nice visit. Besides just hanging out and enjoying each other, we had some Texas BBQ at Dickey's and played at the park. We went to see The Bee Movie (yes, with Tessa. My mother in law said she thought Tessa would be just fine. I guess I'd never really thought about it. She was fine. She watched most the movie amid going from lap to lap and munching on snacks. Yay!).
We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal and redefined the word "relax". I ate too much pie and unfortunately enjoyed every minute of it. Jake didn't let me forget one tradition he married into. When I was 19 and my brother was 17, we had Thanksgiving over at my sister's house. When we were nice and stuffed to the brim, we couldn't just go around and say what we were thankful for like Grandma D wanted us to --nope, not like nice normal families do. My brother instead punched me in the belly. (Not hard, folks, but it doesn't take much to create serious discomfort in the abdominal area when it's packed too tight) Needless to say, I wasn't going to take that without a fight, so it resulted in a stomach boxing match with both of us groaning and laughing (Grandma was appalled). I think that's a big reason why now I am a little more careful about eating too much on Thanksgiving, not because I just shouldn't, but because it hurts more when you get punched. Every year someone starts the punch war, which usually ends in a truce....and then after a few more punches and groans/laughs, a real truce.
Anyway, on Friday we had a pretty big day. We went to the Fort Worth Zoo --which I love. It was cold, but worth going. We enjoyed On the Border food later on and then made our way to McKinney for the Dickens of a Christmas festival on main street. I love that downtown McKinney, too. Tessa did not sleep much that day, but she did so well and seemed to have a lot of fun, especially when she got to sit at the restaurant table with us in a booster seat. Big girl. My hands stayed busy keeping her hands from yanking everything off the table... which got easier once I tied her to the seat with Jake's jacket. :)



We were so grateful that Jake's parents and brother were able to join us for Thanksgiving. Thank you thank you thank you thank you. I know Tessa loved it as well.
On Sunday, my good friend Katie and her family (from Utah) were able to come for dinner. That was so much fun. They were staying with family in the area and made sure to come visit us. I was grateful for that too. Semi off topic for a second....I wanted to make soup and have it in bread bowls for dinner, but neither Walmart nor Albertson's carries the bread bowls. What in the world?! Are they more popular in Utah, or have I never really thought about it before and shopped for them? We ended up getting frozen dough and doing our best to make the bread bowls. It worked just fine, but now I know what I'll do differently next time. Anyway, it was nice to have a friend who has known me for so long see where I am and get a feel for our life here. Plus, good people make good company.
I have been slowly but surely getting my Christmas set up. I have to have a strategy this year for my decorations, especially with two babies in the house who like to dump EVERYTHING on the floor. It's getting there. Tessa was enthralled with the decorations when I started to get them out last night. It's such a mess to have to practically empty the closet to get to the Christmas boxes, but she sure didn't mind.

Finally, Happy Birthday, Ashley! Twenty-nine for the first time! We'll see if it continues. :)