Thanksgiving Week!

I haven't posted in almost a month, and I apologize! I haven't had much exciting news to report, but now that Thanksgiving is behind us, I wanted to document our wonderful week! :)

Our Thanksgiving plans were really tentative for the last few weeks, because Rena had shingles and couldn't be around Anna. Thankfully, she was feeling better by the beginning of the week, so the plans we had made were still a go. I had also planned on going to see my mom and her boyfriend Dave at the beach house they were renting. So with much excitement we entered Thanksgiving week.

On Wednesday, we went to the beach. The drive was supposed to be about 2 hours, but we missed a few turns, and the GPS took us down some strange dirt roads. I was really skeptical, but they ended up getting us where we needed to go, with a little extra adventure. :P We met Dave's son, Dalton, and chatted for a while before lunch. Some of Dave's family members were going to eat lunch at a local seafood restaurant, so we gladly joined them. We thought that Anna was going to be good and play, but she ended up nursing the whole time. I only spilled a little bit of ketchup on her! :P

The rest of the day, we hung out around the town. We went and looked at a Christmas tree vendor, but decided to stick with our plan of getting one from the mountains on Friday. Dave showed us his favorite place to sit and paint, and we watched the sunset over the marshes. That night, we went to Dave's family reunion. It was an oyster roast at another beach house just down the road. I had never tried oysters before, and it took quite a bit of convincing, but after a while I was an oyster-shucking (and eating) pro! They were great with cocktail sauce! We stayed for a long time, and Andrew found two different ways in which our family is connected to Dave's! We were welcomed very graciously, and it was an excellent time.

Somewhere in the course of the day, we decided to spend the night at the beach house. We were totally unprepared to stay the night, so we had to go and buy a pack of sposies and a sleepy outfit for Anna. We also had nowhere for her to sleep, so she slept in our bed. We're not regular co-sleepers, but I wasn't expecting it to be all that hard to keep her sleeping all night like she usually does. I nursed her to sleep like I always do and went to hang out for a while. When I came to bed, she stayed asleep, but as soon as I moved next to her she woke up. Needless to say, I was awake for most of the night, either dangling off the edge of the bed or trying not to breathe too loudly. Who knew such a small person could take up half of a king bed all by herself?!

The next day we had to leave early, so we got up and left around 7:30. The drive home was really uneventful, and we got home to prepare for lunch/dinner at John and Rena's. Around 12, we went over to help her cook and get ready. We both puttered around and did little busy tasks, and we were ready to eat around 3. Rena's sister Kim and her daughter Randi joined us, so we had 6 people and about enough food for 20. Anna had a ton of sweet potato all by herself! It was a wonderful lunch, and left us all feeling quite stuffed. :)

On Black Friday, we ventured to the mountains to get a Christmas tree. We planned on leaving very early so as not to be home too late that night, but we were so tired from the night before that we slept in. We took a few pit stops, like the baby store in town to get some legwarmers for Anna. We got on our way, and were making great time until we got near Pleasant Garden. Pleasant Garden is where a very sweet old friend of Andrew's lives; her name is Mama Chachi (at least I think that's how you spell it). She had been asking to meet me and Anna for quite some time, so we made an impromptu stop to see her. She was thrilled that we were there, so we stuck around for a bit and let her enjoy some baby time. :) After that we went on our way again.

We got to the mountains around 3, had to stop for a poopy diaper emergency, and then found a roadside tree farm. It was very chilly, so I wrapped Anna on my back, put her warm hat on, and put my jacket on over her so that she was just a pair of eyes poking out. It was quite adorable and I wish I had a picture of it! We hiked around amongst the trees until we found one tall enough, and had ti cut and dragged down for us. After a 5 hour trip, the whole tree-getting process took about half an hour, but it was still quite fun. :) We drove home quite uneventfully and were very ready when bedtime came.

The day after, we planned on having John and Rena over to help us decorate. William and Hannah were on their way back from Georgia, so I made a spur of the moment decision to have everyone over for dinner and decorating. A few hours later, after I had the spare key retrieved because mine was locked in the truck, I had a pork roast in the crockpot and all the Christmas dragged out of the attic and dusted off. After the husbands finally finished cutting soybeans, we all gathered to eat. The roast was just barely enough, but from the reviews it was well-enjoyed. After coffee and dessert, Hannah and I got started on the tree, Andrew put up the decorations around the house, and John and Rena got some baby time. :) It was a wonderful evening spent with wonderful people, and reminded me how truly blessed I am.

The whole week was such a beautiful one! I spent so much time with my husband and sweet baby girl, and with so many other people as well. Time with family is so precious, and even though I didn't get to see all the people I love this week, I hold this time near and dear to my heart and I always will. How blessed am I!

I apologize for the lack of pictures, but in the busy-ness, nobody thought to take any! I also apologize for the long stretch without a post. I promise I'll try to find things to write about more often! Good night readers. :)

Psalm 107:1: Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!