Thanksgiving 2013

We went on our annual Thanksgiving marathon this year and it was just as great as years passed. Thanksgiving is always a long day filled with yummy food, wonderful company, and two tired kiddies by the end of the day (the adults are usually right there with them too). We try our hardest to spend time with and make the most to enjoy each family stop. It just feels like there aren't enough hours in the day.  What a wonderful problem to have, right?!

We started our day with breakfast at Pepaw & Ann's house. We enjoyed our time visiting with everyone, chasing poor Barney around, and trying to catch glimpses of the Macy's Parade.

 Our first picture of the day. That is always a good indicator of the level of cooperation. Didn't look too promising, huh?

 Sweet smiles. Still no cooperation but I love their smiles!

 Over the last couple of years, the Garner side of the family has really expanded. Drew and Anna Kate have lots of new cousins their age to play with too.  And, to sweeten the pot even further, this is the only side of the family that has little girls for Anna Kate to play with!

Up next was Aunt Teresa's house.  We got there after they had eaten but that means Drew and Anna Kate have a captive audience. Sadly, this was our shortest stop of the day but we enjoyed seeing everyone. There was SNOW on the ground (ok... just in the flower beds) at Aunt Teresa's house so on our way tot eh car, we even got to have a snow... ball (there wasn't really enough to make balls)... fight!

 Sis found a few things she needed to nibble on.

Oh, Drew... such a mess!  He had a very cute sweater that he insisted on taking off as soon as we stepped inside. He was also quite upset that we didn't bring his hat with us so he had to wear his Daddy's.

Our last stop was DotDot's house.  We got there at just the right time! They were finishing up with the dishes and all of the kids were headed out to play!

 Drew loves to play with Price and Hayes.

 Hayes, John Caleb, Price, Drew, & Anna Kate. The "Jones" cousins minus Nathan.

 Sweet babies

 Anna Kate and Ashley doing a little coloring.  These two are peas in a pod.

 John Clay and Drew building a tower. Drew loves building with blocks.

Worn out and resting with Grandaddy!

Anna Kate taking a little break. She is such a queen. She put these chairs right in the middle of the boys' basketball game!

Fruits of the Spirit

Drew and Anna Kate are still loving going to their Parent's Day Out program on Wednesdays. The staff there is wonderful and they are teaching them awesome things like this....

Is that precious or what?!?

Back in the swing

We have been a little MIA but I think we are getting back in to the swing of things.  My poor girl was knocked on her rear end by a little virus last week.  She was sick for almost a week and it was oh so pitiful! Luckily, her brother didn't get it and she is back to her old self now! Knock on wood, my kids don't get sick very often but when they don't feel good it is so very sad!

 My sick girl sleeping on my lap. In the middle of the day! That is how I knew she was sick for sure! I can only think of one other time in her life that she has fallen asleep in the middle of the day when it has not been nap time.

 The night before she got sick she went with me to a Mary Kay party at Tami's house. She was so excited about going! Here she is with her makeup on. Isn't she beautiful! If you look closely, you can see a streak of blush across her forehead. She is creative too!

And I can't leave my handsome man out.  He is such a funny little character! He is quite insistent that he must always wear his socks, shoes, and hat. This day he was dressed up to play his "football game". That consists of getting down in the stance that linemen do, running toward the ball when we throw it to him, and then falling down. He needs a little work on his coordination.  I think the socks on his hands were his gloves...?

Happy Halloween!

This Halloween was a little different because Drew and Anna Kate definitely "got it" more this year than in years past.  In understanding more what it was about, they also had their own opinions on what they were going to dress up as.  I don't know if I have fully explained their desire to be able to pick out what they are going to wear on here but it is a never ending battle that wears.me.out! I talk to other people about this hoping it is a stage that will pass but so far, I have figured out that this really isn't a typical 3 year old thing.  I guess I am just lucky enough that this is a Drew and Anna Kate thing.  It is a challenge (to say the least) to get them in clothes that match. We won't even get started on seasonally appropriate clothes or shoes and socks that also match.  The last few weeks have been particularly hard because the weather is warm one day and cool the next so I have not been able to rid their closets completely of summer clothes.  Drew especially is having trouble transitioning from shorts and short sleeves to pants and long sleeves. And coats seem to be out of the question lately.  He will only wear his tennis shoes and prefers his navy blue knee socks no matter what else he has on.  Anna Kate was insisting on only sandals until I finally put them all in the storage bin for the attic last week. I say all of this to preface the challenge I had before me when it came to picking a costume.
Anna Kate and I went shopping one weekend several weeks ago and happened upon a butterfly costume with wings, a wand, and a tutu. Pair that with some pink and glitter and the girl was sold. She was done with her costume quest over a month ago. Drew got a very nice football uniform for Christmas from Aunt Teresa last year complete with a helmet, shoulder pads, and it even had his name on the jersey. I thought we were set.  About a week before Halloween, he started to take notice when we talked about what he would be dressing up as.  And any time anyone asked him what he was going to be, he would answer with anything other than a football player. I would correct him at first without much thought but then noticed that he just was not convinced that is what he should be. I did not want to force a costume upon him so I made the mistake of opening up the lines of communication for him to decide what he wanted to be.  I got a wide array of answers.... a scary bear, an airplane, Buzz Lightyear, an alligator, a dragon, a rocket ship, etc.... Like seriously, you could ask him once and then again 5 minutes later and get a different answer. For a few days, it was a joke.  A couple of days before Halloween I decided I needed to get serious about what he was going to be.  Buzz Lightyear seemed to be his favorite so on Monday after work, I set out to find a Buzz costume. None under $40 to be found. On Tuesday morning, I found an alligator costume and thought I was in the clear. When I showed it to him and asked him about it, he informed me he did not want to be an alligator, he wanted to be Spiderman.  After talking with him about it, I decided he was pretty serious about Spiderman so Tuesday was a mission to find him a costume. I found not only one but two and thought I was set to go.  In the middle of all of this back and forth, Aunt Ashley's friend Meredith was nice enough to let us borrow a Mickey and Woody costume as a second costume for school on Wednesday. I had decided I was going to send Anna in her Minnie dress as to not damage her butterfly wings before the main event.  Tuesday night I came in with my hard fought finds of Spiderman costumes and he wanted to put it on right away. And then he took it off right away. He wasn't impressed and I wanted to scream!  In desperation of needing to find my sweet, indecisive child a costume, I pulled out Mickey and even though he had already seen it once, he thought that was a great choice.  We won't talk about the fact that he cried Wednesday while we were getting him dressed for school because he wanted to be an alligator or "Lighting da Queen" instead of Mickey. He ended up going to school as Mickey and his sister was Minnie and they were the cutest pair there if I do say so myself!

Thursday morning, it was still to be determined what he was going to dress up as. We had a Mickey, Spiderman, and Woody option.  He decided on Mickey again and Anna Kate was a beautiful butterfly.  We took them trick-or-treating in the neighborhood John Clay mows in Lenoir City. After we were done there, we went to DotDot and Grandaddy's house to trick-or-treat and eat dinner.  It was a fun night and they really enjoyed the trick-or-treating part. Anna Kate kept telling me she wanted to go to "more places".  They had a great night and I am sure next year will be even more fun and will hopefully have less costume drama!

 They weren't feel cooperative for pictures before we left Thursday night.

First trick or treating experience!  Anna Kate was really into it and quite cordial with people. She was also very polite and would always say thank you. Drew was more shy about the whole thing.

This house really gave out some good stuff!

 And they let us come right in!

 Someone was excited!

 Raiding the candy bowl. Notice the pile in his left hand? He was hoarding it up!

 She dumped her treat bag out right away.

 Checking out his goods.

A better view of her costume.