Thanksgiving 2011 Part 2

 We went to TN for Thanksgiving with Clay's parents this year. They go up there every year and host a party on Thanksgiving Day for their friends who all come into the neighborhood where their cabin is. We didn't stay with them because due to the party, they needed to be in the cabin (it's one bedroom) to prepare. We stayed very near them in a 3 BR/ 2 BA house that was HUGE. It gave us lots of space to spread out. Each girl had their own room and everyone slept like a dream! Ha!

Smiley loved the new place to stay because it had lots of low windows and plenty of space for her to explore.

 Audrey liked the stuffed animals the owners left! That precious girl can pretend and play with anything!!

The cabin we stayed at was within walking distance to The Watts's cabin but not with a baby on my hip. Clay and Audrey would usually take off early in the morning to go visit and Smiley and I would stay back at the cabin for her morning nap. Since big sister wasn't using her carseat on the way over to The Watts's, Shelby Claire made good use of it! She loved being able to see me and she "chatted" all the way!
*Now before anybody goes nuts because I have my "less than two year old" in a forward facing carseat, we were on dirt roads in a neighborhood in the middle of nowhere. She was in the seat for less than two minutes and the entire time I was there, we never saw another car sharing the road with us. But, to stir the pot, she is getting a forward facing car seat for her birthday in February!*

 Mr. Gerald and his newest Grandbaby..

 And Too, Too with Smiley on her First Thanksgiving.

 Audrey is in love with a show on Disney, Jr. called, "Jake and the Neverland Pirates". We pretend we are the characters and reinact episodes ALL.THE.TIME. Here she is pretending to be sailing in the sea looking for "Scurvy Pirates".

 Just a sidenote, my cousin, Kayla, made Audrey and Smiley the hairbows they are wearing. The one in the pictures above is my absolute favorite!! I just sent her a picture of the outfit I'd ordered Audrey and Kayla matched it!! I love that!!!

 Making smores....

 While we were there, Smiley learned how to pick up a puff and eat it all by herself. Now, that's all she wants to eat!!

 And Audrey helped Too, Too in the kitchen quite a bit too.

The trip up to the mountains was good and we had a good time while we were there. The trip home was absolutely crazy. The girls were not the problem. It was Clay and me. First, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast, then we decided to go to the Lodge outlet store because I wanted a cast iron muffin pan. Then we went to the Unclaimed Baggage store, then we stopped again at a Mexican Restaurant for lunch, 30 minutes later we had to stop to use the restroom, and then we had to stop because Shelby Claire was screaming and needed her bottom changed, and then we stopped because Audrey needed to use the bathroom... yadadadad!  We never once got on an interstate. We left Jamestown around 8:00 Saturday morning and did not get home until around 6:00 that NIGHT! I seriously thought that either Clay or myself would be left along side the road somewhere in the middle of the boonies if we didn't get ourselves home.  We we finally got home, I said I was never leaving the house again and certainly would not be going on any kind of long trip packed like sardines in my Toyota Avalon. It's been a week or so since then and I'm over it all ready. I'm thinking I need to plan a solo trip to Savannah to see my sweet friend, Sara's, new baby boy. Ha! Solo, as in, Audrey, Shelby Claire and myself of course. Anyone want to volunteer to go with me and help me with my babies?!? I know I've made it sound so appealing to travel with little ones!!

Thanksgiving 2011

We spent the weekend before Thanksgiving with my side of the family. My momma cooked THE BEST meal I think I've ever had. She made all of our favorites and as I am writing this blog post, I so wish I had some of it to eat right now. We had a fried turkey (fried by Daddy), white peas from their garden this summer, sweet potato casserole, collards from the garden, chicken-n-dumplings (chicken from the yard- haha- just kidding), and Miss Amy brought her famous lemon pie. We had a bunch of other stuff to eat but you can tell what were my favorites!


My sister and her big ole ten year old, Gracie. Gracie is going to be the perfect Mother one day. She is very loving and kind to all the little kiddies- especially babies. I think if I would tell her she could have an hour alone with Shelby Claire for Christmas, she would be in absolute heaven.

 My Daddy is always in charge of frying the turkey. If you've never had a fried turkey before, you don't know what you are missing! Gone are the days of dry old turkey for us for Thanksgiving! The only thing about it is that if you are not careful as you fry it, you could end up in the ER. Hahahh

 Another picture of precious Gracie. We will be picking out her car before we know it. Wait, I mean, Lesa will be picking out her car. I will be picking out a keychain or something!

 The kiddies at the kiddie table and Miss Amy. Clay always sits at the table with the girls! They love him for it.

 Smiley got her first taste of white peas and oh how did she love them!

It was a yummy, fun weekend. I filled my car up with leftovers and we headed back home after dinner. We went to Tennessee to visit with Clay's parents for Thanksgiving Day. That will be in the next blog post- for now I have to go take care of Smiley who is done with her nap. :)

Thanksgiving Feast at MDO

Audrey's preschool had a Thanksgiving Feast for the children to celebrate with their families. They've had one each year but this year was the first one we have been in town for. It was really nice! I was pleasantly surprised at how good the food was!!

 Audrey loves playing with this little boy. She talks and talks about him! He has a momma that is as sweet as can be so I know why Audrey loves him so much!

MDO Fall Program 2011

Audrey's been preparing for her little fall program at school for weeks! She was so excited that we were coming to see her "on stage" and she went on and on about what she was going to sing while we were watching her! Unfortunately, she wasn't so into it when she actually got on stage. Well, actually she enjoyed being up there, she just didn't care too much for the process of actually getting on stage.

Clay and I sat in the balcony so that we could see her well. The entire school filed in and filled up the risers pretty quickly. We were on the edge of our seats waiting for Audrey to come in. Finallly, her class was the last class to enter the sanctuary. She was the very last child. She didn't go willingly either- she was full on kicking and tantruming and the teacher had to drag her onto the stage. Once her teacher finally got her where she was supposed to be, she stuck her thumb in her mouth. She sang some of the songs and seemed to have a good time, but wasn't nearly as interested in it as we thought she would be!

 After she sang, we went and toured the "Art Show". Audrey had two pieces of art displayed and I think that was my favorite part this year!! She seemed to be a bit intimidated by the program but was proud of her artwork!

Ho, Ho, Ho!

For the second time, we went to meet Jingle and Jangle and Santa at a little shop in town. We went last year and Audrey was oh, so, tiny and oh, so, cute. She is just a little bit bigger this year but still just as adorable. We took Lyric with us this time so it was extra fun.

 Audrey told Santa that she wanted three toys. Last year she told him she wanted a soccer ball!

 We got there early and went to have our pictures made first. I knew that the line for Santa would fill up fast so I wanted to get the most important thing done first- just in case one of the girls decided they were "done". After Santa, we had our hands and faces painted, wrote letters to Santa, met Jingle and Jangle, and got a balloon animal. It was a small, cute little event that is perfect for the attention span of three year olds!

After we finished with all the activities, we loaded up and went to Chik-fil-a. We got out meals to-go and took them to the park where we picniked. Then we ran around for a good while and went home for naps. Audrey didn't nap at all and sweet Lyric slept for 3 hours!! She was the easiest child to babysit!! She and Audrey didn't get into any squabbles, they played well, ate well and then by the time Lyric woke from her nap, it was time for her mom to pick her up! Easy, fun day! Oh, Clay kept Smiley home that day because she wasn't feeling well- we will take her to meet Santa before Christmas!

Tumbling Observation

Audrey's tumbling class had parent observation Tuesday and Clay and I (and Smiley) all went to see what Audrey has learned.

At first, we did a little marching to the beat of our own drum.....

 ...while everyone else warmed up. :)

 Once the teacher started rotations, Audrey was all about it. First, she did a back bend on an octagonal type thingy...

 Then a hand stand....

 Lifted weights... ahhahaha

 Log roll....

 There were two other stations in between the log roll and the next one (lili pads) but Audrey didn't like them so she skipped them.

 Forward roll on the wedge...

... and some balance beam activity, hula hooping and cartwheel practicing. Between all of those there was a lot of running over to me and Clay to see if we were watching, wanting to sit with us, etc. Overall- she's learned a lot in the short time that she's been in tumbling! We are proud of our little girl.