Thanksgiving, Decking the Halls and Other Randomness

I've been meaning to write a post for weeks, but once again life has gotten in the way. It seems that we've been going non-stop since Halloween. We travelled twice this month and every time we come home, I'm amazed at how long it takes to recover from vacation. 

We "skipped" Thanksgiving this year and spent a wonderfully relaxing tow days in Colorado with Matt's sister and her family (a.ka. Carter and his parents). The kiddos loved spending two days straight together and since none of us are big turkey fans, we enjoyed a delicious non-traditional meal of Chicken and Dumplings, made by Auntie Morgan.

For the first time ever, I broke the "rules" and got into the Christmas spirit early this year. And by that I mean, we were listening to Christmas music a couple of days before Thanksgiving and I opened the Christmas box up on Thanksgiving Eve. Sometimes I feel like there should be a week in between November and December that is just spent enjoying all things about Christmas. There really isn't enough time between Thanksgiving and the 25th.

We got the tree up this past weekend and besides stockings (hoping to make some this year), we're all set! I even re-covered our pillows with a more wintery fabric. Sorry about the bad picture.




Addy isn't allowed to touch or play with the ornaments on the big tree but she does have two trees of her own that she can decorate over and over again. Thank you Pinterest for the felt tree idea!




As of last night, we have over half of our presents purchased, which means that besides a little Christmas shopping and crafting, we can sit back, relax and actually enjoy this season. Maybe I can get back to blogging again.

Addy is continuing to grow and change everyday. Her vocabulary is also expanding, although it might not be quite accurate. She has started referring to me as "me," which actually makes sense. I often ask her if she would like to come help me or go with me. Hopefully she'll figure that one out someday.



She's developed a small obsession with trains and goes around saying "choo-choo! choo-choo!" We've been watching some Thomas the Train Engine on Netflix but it usually puts Matt and I to sleep.

Matt starts a new job on Monday and has had the past three days off, so it's felt a little like a holiday around here. Yay for answered prayers in new jobs and days off!

There you have it, a little long post about what's been going on around here.

Happy Friday friends! Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday

Check out other Fridays here.

1. You've been taking good care of your girls this week, making sure we take our vitamins and eat well.
2. You bought going away plants for your co-workers
3. Your co-workers were sad to see you go
4. You've been such a hard worker this past year, thank you for that
5. You start your new job on Monday! Congrats! I'm so excited for you!

P.S. I love you :)

Five for Friday

Check out other Friday's here.

1. You sent out an "olive branch"
2. You have high expectation for your relationships
3. You made a point of being very "go with the flow"
4. You've turned me on to White IPA
5. When I came home last night, you were watching Parks and Rec... I told you it was good!

P.S. I love you :)

Meeting Baby Tate

Last week we flew up to Portland Oregon. It was our first time in Oregon and our first time to meet this handsome little guy:

Tate Jackson; Addy's newest cousin.

He was already six weeks old when we finally made it up there, but I think he was worth the wait. Look at those handsome eyes!

Addy thought he was pretty cool. 

We've been singing "The Wheels on Bus" song a lot lately and she loves the part where the baby goes wa wa wa. Whenever we would talk about Baby Tate or whenever she realized he was there, she would do the hand motions for that part of the song and say "wa!"

She loved giving him kisses and even got to "hold" him a few times.

It's hard to believe my "little" brother is dad!

What a pleasure it was to meet you sweet Baby Tate! We're looking forward to spending your very first Christmas with you!

Home Sweet Home

On Monday, we returned from our 10 day adventure to Portland, Oregon and back in my parents Motor Home. We came home to the kind of cold weather that leaves your skin dry and your hair full of static. It seems fall just decided to blow away while we were gone, which is a real bummer because fall is beautiful here.

We had a great trip but we are so thankful to be home, thankful for a beautiful city to call home and thankful for the people in it. And after the events of last week's election, we're thankful that ultimately our citizenship is in heaven and that someday we will really get to go "home," but in the meantime, this seems like a pretty good place to be.

Since I never got a chance to post these pictures before we left, here are some photos of of fun fall outings with some of the people that make the 505 so great.

We've fixed Addy's shoe situation since this photo was taken, no more socks with Crocs.

I wish I had a video of Carter "cooking" in the Mud Cafe, such a sweet giggle.