A different kind of Thanksgiving!

Every year we load up the car a day or two before Thanksgiving and head to Chattanooga to see my family! We make a tradition of helping my dad and brother "take the turkeys off" at the family restaurant.  After turkeys have been smoking all day, they have to be removed from the smoker and paired up with the correct pan and customer.  It's no easy task with giant turkeys and small turkeys and some just breasts.  This year they smoked so many Turkeys, Ken had to do it over the course of 2 days and one overnight!  But we were not there to help take them off.

Thanksgiving day, we always have lunch at my Aunt's house with my whole extended family.  We visit and have some coffee and dessert and then head back to Murfreesboro for dinner with Chris' family.  But this year, we didn't get to go to my Aunts or head to Murfreesboro.

(Lily and I had a craft project and created this Thanksgiving themed mantle.)

This year, we gave thanks at home.  

It will go down in history as the quietest (and warmest) Thanksgiving ever.

Chris' back was completely out and he hadn't been to work all week.  He was in so much pain!  They think he either has a bulging or ruptured disk and that it is against his nerve (more on that another time).  So traveling in the car was out of the question.  He was, for the most part, bound to the couch!

I was really disappointed not to get to enjoy all of the family traditions that we take for granted each year.  Then, I spoke to my mom on the phone and she said something that totally changed my perspective.  She shared with me that as she thought back over all of the many Thanksgivings that she has enjoyed, not a single one stands out in her mind.  They were all fun and enjoyable and delicious, but none of them were particularly unique or more memorable than the one before.  That struck me just right and I began to smile about our quiet Thanksgiving that was about to take place.  It was Ava Grace's very first Thanksgiving and it will stand out among all the others as a Thanksgiving to remember!

(Cornbread Dressing - made with my grandmother's recipe)

The day before Thanksgiving I headed to the grocery store with the masses!  I think I snagged the very last fresh turkey breast and was so thankful, because all the others were frozen hard as bricks and would not have thawed in time!

The day of Thanksgiving dawned sunny and warm!  We opened up all of the windows and enjoyed the fresh air!  I cooked all. day. long.  Fortunately I enjoy cooking.  I was determined to have all of our Thanksgiving favorites on the table for a big meal!  I brined and roasted a turkey breast, made corn bread dressing, gravy from scratch with my turkey drippings, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and rolls.  

For dessert, I made a chocolate chip pecan pie.

It was the warmeest and quietest Thanksgiving on record for the Hooper family.  Lily was at her mother's house and so Ava Grace, Chris, and I celebrated together, just the three of us.

(Gobble Gobble!)

We missed our families.

We enjoyed the peace, quiet, and time at home.

It was memorable.

It will stand out.

Ava Grace's first Thanksgiving was different, but one to be thankful for nonetheless.

Weekend Recap...

Big News!

Ava Grace has enough hair for a bow!!!!

You know I have waited a LONG time for this day.  :-)  Thanks to a hint we got at the Bell Buckle Craft Fair from the hair bow lady, we have had bow success!  For all you moms out there with hairless babies, attach some of the nubby non-skid pads (the kind you can use to line drawers, under place mats, and under rugs) to the inside of the bow clip!  Mom sent me some strips of extra she had and we super glued a skinny strip to the each side of her alligator clip bow, and viola! The bow isn't going anywhere!

Now... on to weekend news.

This weekend was our craft weekend!!!!  This is our 4th craft day and it was so much fun!  I have to say, our craft days might be one of the best ideas we have ever had.  It allows us to really be together to and to visit and catch up much more than a dinner in a noisy restaurant or sitting together in silence in a movie would.  Props to Lena for hosting the first one and starting our tradition last holiday season - we missed you this time!

This time Moo was our hostess and she chose to meet at the Mill out in Readyville!  It was so charming and they had such great food!!  Then we headed back to her house for our craft!

Ava Grace was along for the ride and did lots of "helping" in the kitchen!  She sure enjoyed being with the gals!!  We made Peppermint Sugar Scrub!!!!  It smells so good!!!  I made a couple to give as gifts and now I am wanting to make some for myself.  They were so easy to make and turned out so cute!

It was an action packed Saturday and it wasn't long before we were back in the car and headed to the other side of town...

...to visit with friends and host Jessica's baby shower!

Jessica is Chris' niece, but she is more like a sister to him - they grew up together under the same roof!

Ava and Silas ignored each other for the most part, but they did visit some at first.  Ava was much more curious about Silas than he was about her, lol.

Lily was SOOO excited to play hostess and did a wonderful job setting up and giving instructions for the shower games we played!

Aunt Jan co-hosted, letting us have the shower at her home.  She got some cuddling and reading done before the shower started.

Ava Grace also had to spend some quality time with the necklace Mimi.

It was unseasonably warm and such a beautiful day for the shower.  Ava grace didn't even end up wearing the sweater that went with her dress. 

Here are the kiddos with Jessica!

Ava Grace was very much interested in the gifts!  I think Christmas this year is going to be SO. MUCH. FUN.

After the shower we were off to pick up the new-to-us car (more on that later in another post) and then back to Megan and Web's for a bon fire with several other families - so fun!!!  

Sunday brought a little Christmas decorating, a lot of resting, and a nice end to a busy busy busy, but fabulous weekend!

Phone Photos...

Just a few recent phone photos to share.

Napping after church.

Notice the super cute pack n play sheet that my mom made!  It fits MUCH better than the ones you can buy and my dad picked out the girly girl fabric!  love!

 Sippy cup PRO!

We had NO trouble with transitioning.

(does blogger do this to your photos sometimes?  Wondering if it is my computer or blogger that keeps doing this!)

 "What you lookin' at?"

Bed Head

LOVE this little outfit from Anne!

Sisters and Best Friends already!

 Ava Grace LOVES shopping as long as she can sit in the cart!  We LOVE our cart cover with harness!!!

Reading the book Grandmommy sewed with her new fancy schmancy machine and sent in the mail as a surprise! 

Bathtime baby!

"HI!"

I have waving down pat! 

Driving on the driveway with Grandmommy!

I love to read!!

(Note: another custom pack n play sheet made by Grandmommy... she picked the fabric for this one. love.)

One morning I walked in the living room to this!  Lily had heard Ava Grace, got her, and they were snuggling on the couch! lol  Love these girls!

Halloween Recap

Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday.  I don't really get into spooky stuff or the blood, guts, and gore that dominate some decorations.  I prefer to decorate for fall or Thanksgiving and other than the fun of trick-or-treating for the little ones, I could pretty much do without Halloween and be just fine.

We do celebrate it though, and make the best of the holiday with as little spooky as possible, lol.  This year was special because it was Ava Grace's first Halloween.  We dressed her as a cat on Halloween and at the Halloween party we went to.  We had been given two different cat costumes as gifts.  Lily changed her mind several times on her costume.  At the last minute as we were buying costumes, she found alien glasses and decided she had to be an Alien and wanted to make her own costume.  I was blown away - that is so out of character for her.  I loved, however, that she picked it all herself and it was unique!!

On Halloween we went to Courtney and Brian's house for soup, sandwiches, and cider!  Friends of theirs joined us as did one of Lily's friends from her girl scout troop!  It was a good little crowd to trick-or-treat with and we had so much fun despite the cold wind!  I worried about Ava Grace being cold... and she was... but she could have cared less.  She had the time of her life!  (note to self: get the child a wagon)  She and Ben rode in Courtney's wagon.  Ava Grace spent the entire time bouncing up and down excitedly waving her arms!  She was beyond excited!

She figured out pretty quick that people were putting stuff in her bucket (which barely survived the week... it had been carried around, sat on, squeezed, filled and emptied about 200 times throughout the week).  We eventually had to get her out and let her carry her bucket and hold it out for treats because she was so interested in getting things out of the bucket in the wagon.

Here are our Halloween girls!

They got A LOT of candy between the two of them.

We also went to a Halloween Party at Chris' sister's house last weekend.  It was fun seeing family and some close friends we haven't seen in a while!  Our family is growing and so there are a lot more kids these days!  It's fun to see them playing and having fun at family events.

 "Don't touch me sister, I'm a big girl... I can do this myself."

"This is Silas, right here."

"Let's keep watch Silas, I got this way, you keep an eye out the other way."

I am certain that the kids had as much fun as the grown ups.  As always, they had a spread of wonderful fall foods and sweets!  It was a great party!

The week before Halloween we met Aunt La and Aunt Moo for lunch one day!  I had to share this picture of Ava Grace and La.  You can't tell, but Ava Grace is wearing her pumpkin "boo" shirt!  :-)

I hope you all had as happy a Halloween as we did!

Now, down to the serious business of the Holidays I LOVE... Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!  :-)

Growing like a weed... 9 months

Ava Grace,

You are growing like a weed.  A beautiful, incredibly smart, and wildly active weed, lol.  You are all about exploring and want to look at, in, and under everything.  You inspect everything, big and small, and have a knack for taking things apart!  You tear the doors off your toy barn and hippo off your play table.  You like to bang these together and against the wall and the couch and the table.  You are a little on the destructive side, but for now we think it's funny.

With the addition of some hair, a total of 4 teeth, and several new skills, you are looking particularly grown up bigger. You love to walk behind your stroller!  You haven't figured out how to turn it, so you walk it across the room until you run into something and then you sit down and play for a while.

Speaking of strolling, you love to stroll.  Actually, you love to do anything outside!  We really like taking you to the park or the lake and enjoying outside time with you.  When you are outside you never ever fuss or sleep!  You are busy looking at everything there is to see.  You also like when the wind blows... you always smile and sometimes even giggle.

You are so very expressive!  Your eyebrows work overtime and seem to change direction and angle with every look.  You furrow your brows, scrunch up your nose, pucker your lips, and breath really loud when you aren't getting exactly what you want.  It's pretty funny.

You have been pulling up and cruising around furniture for a while now.  Your most recent accomplishment is standing up by yourself and you are getting better at it with every passing day!  This big achievement came on the heels of...

...waving hello (more than goodbye) and clapping your hands!  We are adding table food to your diet.  You would have none of it until Dr. Johnson told us we needed to start encouraging table food.  I guess you were waiting for doctor's orders, because now you are excited to try new things.  You really like Ritz crackers and yogurt.  You also seem to like puffs and yogurt melts okay... I think the real attraction is feeding yourself.  You also like to drink water and diluted juice from your sippy cup.  You have mastered that skill so well, that Daddy and I are discussing putting your formula in your sippy cup so that you can start feeding yourself your bottle sometimes.  We tried it the other day and you liked it just fine!

Koozies and cook books have joined the list of your favorite toys.  You have a new love for baby dolls and you go crazy for Minnie Mouse.  You saw a large stuffed Minnie when we were in Walmart the other day with Aunt Sarah and Grandmommy and we pretty much thought she was going to have to go home with us!

You still love your sister more than life itself and when the two of you are together it is like no one else exists.  You squeal and giggle and babble as soon as you see her and follow her around everywhere.  You get almost as excited when Daddy gets home from work.  You kick your legs and swing your arms excitedly and reach for Daddy to pick you up.  Sometimes you even give a hug and kiss, another new skill you have picked up.

You are still a Mama's girl though... my sweet doodlebug.  We spend our days together.  You are my little sidekick through laundry and cooking and games of peek-a-boo and story time.  My days and my heart are full of you and I wouldn't change a thing.  I would tell you to stop growing so fast, but as much as I want you to stay little forever, I am enjoying each an every new stage and new accomplishment as they come.

We love you doodlebug!  You fill our life with Joy!

Love,

Mommy

(and Daddy and Lily)