Thanksgiving 2014

Let me first start out by telling you that it was a Christmas Miracle around here on Tuesday (monday) this past week. Philip was working thanksgiving and the 2 nights after. We always put up the tree together, and I told him I was not waiting until sunday night to put it up. So he relented and agreed to put it up before thanksgiving this year! yay! We attempted to put the tree up Monday night, but due to unforeseen circumstances, it did not officially go up until Tuesday. Anyway, more to come on that, decorating, lights and all of our pics in the next post. Today, is about our Thanksgiving:) 

Philip pulling out the decorations for me! 

My family was able to move lunch up to noon so that Philip could eat with us and then get home and nap before work. Ainsley had been developing a cough for the days leading up to turkey day, but she seemed ok so we decided to still make the trip to Georgetown. 

woke up happy and excited! 

ready for turkey mom! 

We had a delicious spread that Mom and Aunt Ellen made. I contributed mashed potatoes, and used a Pinterest recipe- it was tasty (or I thought so at least) ! Ainsley's cough seemed to be getting worse and she ended up only eating the oranges off of mom's cranberry jello salad. go figure :) 

We made a plate for Joy and took it to the hospital that night since she had to work. Ainsley was worn out and not feeling so hot, so she got to go to in her pajamas. She passed out on the ride home :)

Since Philip was working, I had planned to stay the night in gtown at Mom and Dad's. Which means Jackson got to go run on the farm and he was one happy pup. Mom and I played Scrabble and took turns putting A back to sleep after her coughing woke her up. The next day Mom made hot browns from left overs-- YUMMM.  It actually worked out well with her not feeling so hot. I have such admiration for single moms, especially when dealing with sick babies. it's so hard! so thankful for my parents and Aunt Ellen who helped me the past few days. 

She seemed to turn the corner this morning and hopefully is on the mend. 
I hope each one of you had a food/family/laughter filled thanksgiving!  

Birthdays & Random

We have had quite the busy last few weeks- celebrating Joy and then my Dad's birthdays! ainsley loves helping blow out the candles :) 
For Joy's birthday I had her and Brian over, and Philip and I made corned beef hash with egg on top. I was trying to decide what to make for Joy's birthday and Philip said 'well for dinner tonight can you make corned beef hash?' and I said 'i bet your mom would love that! we will make it then'. he got upset that I wasn't making that night and he had to wait a week to eat it:) and he even gave his mom our leftovers to take home- I was shocked and proud :) but glad Joy got to enjoy for breakfast the next day! 

For my Dads birthday, Mom cooked and had everyone to their house. Ainsley was able to say 'happy birthday pop'. actually we taped it that morning and then all day that's all she said :) Her and Anna Beth got to help with the candles for his cake:) 

2 weekends ago, Philip and I got to go on a real date- dinner AND a play! We went to eat at Table 310, had an amazing dinner, and then walked to the Lexington Opera House. Elf was playing and as soon as I got word of it coming to Lexington, i got us tickets:) 

We had such a good time. Ainsley got to spend the night with Nanny and Pop, so she had a great time too :) 
It snowed last week, making both Ainsley and I very happy girls. Philip made her a snowball and all day, all she wanted was 'more snowball please' :)

eating snow this time last year/ this year:) 

so happy! 

She has become quite the social butterfly and having friends over whenever she can. 

And she is still quite the hurricane… 

We are still working on the utensil-using, but she is getting a lot better :) 

She amazes us more and more at her vocabulary and language skills. She is very polite and usually adds please to her questions. She is also spiritual and loves to say (and sign) AMEN :) She is growing up so fast it makes my heart physically hurt. 

She still loves the moon and gets really excited when she can see it from her window. If its too cloudy to see the moon she says 'moon hiding'. :) 
I have convinced my hubs to let us put the tree up this week since he works Thanksgiving and the two nights after. I told him I can't wait that long to put it up!  So excited to get to decorate and have the tree twinkling in our new house :) 

Thankfulness

It's November. Which means men decide to not shave their face for a whole month (it's called no-shave november Grandma). people on Facebook start their '30 days of thankfulness'. We have 'fallen back' an hour, but our daughter has not (hence the early morning blog).  Halloween has come and gone, but the candy is still lurking. case and point below. 

she pulled the bucket off the counter, found a sucker and got to work. 

To me, November represents thankfulness. It's the month of Thanksgiving. and while I enjoy ( to an extent) the 31 days of thankfulness, I think it should be more than just 31 days one month of the year. 
My dad told me a story about the day the boy came to the house to give the news that his brother Henry had died in war. He was a pilot in Vietnam so they had someone come to the house. He said they were sitting at the table for lunch when the man showed up to tell them. His dad, my grandpa JC, came back to the table. No one was sure what he would say. But he did this : He prayed. and you know what he prayed? " Thank you God." because he didn't understand why this happened. but he knew God did. and he knew in any circumstance, no matter how gut wrenching hard, he should thank God. and know that it is happening for a reason. 
In the book "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom, Betsie makes Corrie quote scripture, specifically on giving thanks in all circumstances. She has her give thanks for the things in her new barrack in the concentration camps. Corrie looks around and thinks 'what is there to give thanks for?!". but they find things; being there together, having their Bible, and even the fleas.  "Give thanks in all circumstances", Betsie quoted. "It doesn't say, 'in pleasant circumstances.' Fleas are part of this place where God has put us." And so we stood between tiers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. Little did the two girls know, that those fleas kept the Nazis out of their barracks that day. They refused to set foot in their barracks because they were so infested. This allowed God's Word to be shared. for Corrie to survive the horrible Holocaust. but who could have known at the time that something so foul, such as fleas, would save her life? 
I think of both of these stories so often. When things are hard. when things happen that I don't understand. But there are times when I don't have to understand. When all I have to do is know that God Is. When I can't wrap my head around the difficult questions and situations, all I really have to do it let my Father wrap His arms around me. and Thank Him. 

16-18 Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

1 Thessalonians 5:18The Message (MSG)

Halloween 2014

Hands down, best Halloween ever:) I mean, could there be a cuter dorothy than this? 

And of course, Jax, the best boxer ever, cooperated. well, long enough for pics at least. but he was not happy about it. 

such a good sport 

I thought it would be fun to have people over to our house for Halloween. Ainsley's first real trick or treat and in our new neighborhood. I made vegetable beef soup, mom made potato soup, rachel brought corn bread, brian made the most amazing jalapeño poppers in his smoker, and I also made some fun halloween treats. 

spiders! 

mummy weenies 

Brian's pre cooked jalapeños. I was too busy eating them to take a post pic. 

So the company and food were amazing, duh. But the absolute best part was taking Ainsley around to a few houses. It was FREEZING. but she was seriously so happy. I mean look at this face. 

actually look at both their faces. :) pure bliss right here. 

She finally got the hang of walking to the door and holding her bucket. she attempted "trick or treat" but couldn't quite get it. She did however say thank you to each person. And would not let go of her bucket for the world. "ainsley's bucket" 

 

Poor girl was literally shivering at the last house. but had a huge smile on her face.  Dorothy had an entourage of 6 people. Many people commented on it:) But they also stated she was the cutest Dorothy they had ever seen. AGREE! 

love that aunt whitney was here to celebrate!!!! 

Not many kids stopped by our house; nasty weather! So we have lots of left over candy. come get some people:) Ainsley is attempting to help with this problem. She had at least 5 suckers last night and was asking for "more sucker" as we carried her to bed.  After trick or treating, Donielle and I went to the Garth Brooks concert. Somehow she talked me into going to a show that didn't start until 11pm! but it was awesome and we had such a good time. 

Getting home at 230am made for an early morning when A got up at 7. So I thought i'd be productive and blog while A watches Mickey with Daddy :)  Oh, and we woke up to snow on the ground this morning. I am one tired, very happy girl:)  Happy Halloween!