Thanksgiving

What a busy Thanksgiving we had, but it was so full of fun and we were so thankful to get to spend at least a little time with almost our entire family!

It all started Tuesday night when we went to Grandma's in hopes of seeing Stephanie and Dan and Emory and Ellie as they arrived in town. A late start put a damper on that plan but we did have a nice dinner with Grandma at least! Wednesday Kenny and Jack took the day off and spent it having lots of fun with the Florida crowd while I worked. Boooo.





Look at how Jack is looking up to his cousin Emory! He couldn't have a sweeter look on his face and I could not choose anyone more perfect for Jack to look up to.







Wednesday evening we had dinner with Grams and Gramps and Granny! Jack loved having different people to read books with.









Thursday we went for a walk down to the lake in the morning. Jack saw lots of squirrels that he had to point out and we even saw a couple of deer!











And then after naptime we went back to Grams and Gramps' for Thanksgiving dinner!











Gramps lifted Jack up over his head over and over and over and Jack could not have smiled or laughed any more. He really smiled and laughed the entire holiday break and was very cooperative. He too loves being surrounded by his family!!





Uncle Aaron took him for a wild horsey ride too which he LOVED!



Friday morning we went to play with Emory and Ellie a little bit more before they headed out of town.









Then Saturday we hit the road to Manassas to visit the rest of the Lion clan. We played outside a bit...



and spotted plenty of airplanes!



Then the Lion boys put their feet up and cheered the Hokies to victory over the Hoos! Yay!!



We are so thankful that we got to see everyone and enjoy all that our amazing life holds. We couldn't be more thankful for our little guy and for each other and all of you. We hope your Thanksgiving was just as full of love as ours was!

Fun at home

We skipped the game this weekend to stay home and get a few things done. Jack has done his part to help out too!

He worked on the laundry...


And helped cut the grass! Don't worry folks, obviously the mower wasn't on...he just liked thinking he could push it.





Then he and Daddy worked on their homework...



Jack clearly was working on perfecting his circles...



Hope you guys had a productive day too and if you need any help getting things done around the house, just let us know and we'll send Jack right over to help!

Our new lake

The city owned park near our house once boasted a beautiful lake. Years of neglect and misuse left it a real overgrown mess. Fortunately, most of the park was well maintained and we were still able to enjoy it, as long as you avoided walking down the hill to the "lake," which contained no water and looked nothing like a lake but more like overgrown brush. However, earlier this year, our city councilwoman worked hard to secure a large sum of money and hired a firm to come and reconstruct the lake and all its glory, and wow did they do a fantastic job! Never in a million years did I expect the outcome to be so dramatic. I don't have any before pictures - we hadn't been down there in a few years because it wasn't somewhere you wanted to be at all - but I have plenty of after pictures. The past 2 weekends Jack has been to the lake 3 times and he just loves it, as do we! As if we didn't love our neighborhood enough, now we have even more great places to play!

There's so much to see from up here!







Walking back up from the lake takes a little while when you have such short legs.



The view from the top of the park...



Trying to catch Daddy speed up the walk home a little bit!



Oh but wait...look at this rock...



and this stick! He just loves exploring everything he can outside and cannot get enough!



Later that day he got to go back with Grams and Gramps!









He thinks this little stone house is his...