Blessing after Blessing: Thanksgiving 2014

WOW. Thanksgiving has come and gone and now it's officially the Christmas season. Russell, Jackson, and I were happy to be on our way to South Arkansas on Wednesday. We stopped to run an errand and Russell went inside Walmart to pick up a couple of things. Sooo.... Jackson was my buddy in the driver's seat for a couple of minutes. HA!

Do not worry, he was only there for a second. :) He's got his "on the go formula" in tow, of course!

Thursday was turkey day and that means the "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!" Happy to show Jackson. I know he doesn't understand yet (obviously), but it was still fun with him.

We headed over the river and through the woods (a.k.a. KK's house), for Thanksgiving dinner! Jackson was a perfect little helper in the kitchen. Lauren and KK let him help with the butter. He wanted to eat it but nope, we didn't let him, of course!

Jackson had his "Thanksgiving feast" before any of us. He had turkey, sweet potatoes, squash, and apples. I think he enjoyed it!

Love his lil turkey bib. He looked so big in his chair!

Uncle Eric and Jackson matched for the holiday. :)

We of course had awesome food!

Our family outside at KK's!

Logan and Kelly's "selfie!" Love this so!

The girls and Mr. J!

Russell showing Jackson a pinecone. Sweet, sweet.

More fun outside! Logan cracks me up!

Lauren is so good to Jackson. He was seriously happy the whole day even though it was so busy.

Logan and J. Can't wait for Logan to teach him all about sports!

At the end of the day on Thursday, I held our baby boy, rocked him and thanked the Lord for him. He means so much to me!!!

Friday, I got to ride in the car while Logan was behind the wheel! Watch out, everyone! :) He did a good job!

Lauren and I love going on little "adventures" together. We were glad to go riding around town and get everyone a Sonic drink! We were proud Sonic drink fairies.

\

Friday night, we had Thanksgiving at Russell's parents house. The food was great and Jackson got to meet new friends and family members.

He loved meeting Bo.

Dana and Todd with J.

Jackie and Ricky with their favorite grandson. :) R.J. is posing, too!

We went to see KK again, and then we headed home!

It was a fun time with everyone!

Hope y'all had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for everything God gives us. God is truly so so good!

From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. John 1:16

Blessings of Thanksgiving

Happy December, y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving. I cannot believe it's December 1st!

 The first recipe I made from Pioneer Woman's new cookbook was cranberry sauce. It was so simple. Anyone can do it! I made it two days in advance and chilled the sauce in the fridge, so it had time to thicken. Plus, I wanted to get it done ahead of time. :)

We left for South Arkansas on Wednesday and decided to make a quick stop to see special friends....

 I got to see the new baby, Ezra, and the proud parents Chad and Mandy. They are such good friends of ours and we are so so happy for them!

 My "pre-Thanksgiving" lunch. What is better than Braum's? Yummy.

We were so glad to see our sweet family.

 Lauren is 11 and we are so much alike. It's so crazy. We love to have fun, of course, as y'all can tell.

 My sister, Kelly, is so talented. One of her many talents is making homemade sugar cookies with yummy icing. It is a "labor of love" for sure. Lauren was a good helper.

 Logan is growing up so much too. Love my nephew and niece lots.

 See? What did I tell you? Wonderful cookies. MMM!

 Belle and Marcie loved hanging out at KK and BA's house.

 I also made brie en croute. So easy and tasty

 Kelly made parmesan rosemary crackers which were eaten up quickly.

 I am so thankful for him!

 Colton and Logan playing basketball while waiting on the turkey.

 The final result of the cranberry sauce. I love that Pioneer Woman. :)

 Yummy food!!!

 Kerrstyn, Colton, Logan and Lauren eating Thanksgiving dinner.

 This may or may not be my plate. :)

 On to dessert! Kelly made chocolate pecan pie. Divine!

 Mama made Italian cream cake. Heavenly!

 

So did you do any "black Friday shopping?" I did NOT go to Walmart, Target, or any of the "super stores." But Kelly and I had a sister adventure and went to Home Depot.

 We love fresh Christmas trees, wreaths and swags. So festive! We were afraid that Home Depot would run out of greenery, but they had plenty for us. :)

 Kelly got wreaths and I got a swag and poinsettias.

We also stopped at Spudnuts doughnut shop. The best doughnuts in South AR! Our family was so glad to enjoy them.

 Mama and Lauren!

Russell and I had a great Thanksgiving on Friday night with his family. We finally got to meet sweet and happy Eve, who just turned one a few days ago! Oh, how sweet!!

The Prices and Lawson's had plenty of food and family together! It was so good!

 

So that's pretty much our fun time in Camden, El Dorado, and Magnolia!

So ready to now celebrate Christmas and the reason for the season!

 

*Side note: We are finding out our sweet baby's gender on Saturday! Just for fun, I added a little poll to the sidebar of this blog. Feel free to cast your vote! We are going to be THRILLED if it's a boy or THRILLED if it's a girl. This is strictly for fun. :)

 

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. Psalm 145:7

Christmas then Thanksgiving?

Oh, I don't like when I haven't blogged in a while. I have been busy, but just in a slight blog funk this month. I guess Russell and I try to rest up the whole month of November before December--the most busy time of year.

I was thinking about Thanksgiving. I am so very much ready to see our families. I can hardly wait. I am so ready to drive to Camden, walk through the house where I grew up and just reminisce. If you haven't noticed before, I love to reminisce. :) I have thought a lot about keeping traditions alive even when it comes to the tiny details. It makes me giddy with excitement thinking about next Thursday.

 

So, let me address the "elephant in the room" when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Are you big on the rule, "NO Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving holiday"?

Some people get so offended when others decorate their house any time before Thanksging. When I was little, my parents really were adament on the "first Thanksgiving then Christmas" rule. I am sort of in between. I LOVE Fall, and love Thanksgiving, so I try to enjoy that holiday. Russell and I always go home for Thanksgiving, so we were going to try to get a few Christmas decorations up this coming weekend. We aren't in a huge hurry about it though. I AM, however, listening to Christmas music and watching a few Christmas movies. I only do that because we have so many cd's for Christmas and too many movies for the holiday, as well.

Whatever floats your boat, y'all! Just take one day at a time, one thing at a time. Maybe after that, it won't seem so stressful. We will just soak in the memories that will be made.

 

Submit yourselves, then to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7

Thanksgiving Recap

Wow, I cannot believe Thanksgiving is over and now Christmas is almost here! Russell and I had a great time with our family. Look at this turkey! It tasted just as good as it looks!

 We had a new addition this year for Thanksgiving dinner.....

 Meet Marcie, Lauren's new puppy! Isn't she cute? We all enjoyed holding and cuddling her!

 Russell carving the turkey

 My sweet nephew, Logan and I before the Thanksgiving feast! Ha!

 This is the brie en croute I made. It turned out well and tasted pretty good. I also made green bean bundles, which I call bundles of love! Ha!

 We all loved the sign Lauren made for Thursday!

 Sweet Russell and I...I just love him!

 Lauren and her Marcie

 Logan

 Pretty Kelly and me

 With our Mama

Later that night, we followed tradition and watched "Christmas Vacation" and laughed til we cried. So fun!

 Russell and I just adore our nephew and niece. On Friday morning, Logan and Lauren rode bikes and I walked. They fortunately kept riding around me while I kept up with them! ha! It was fun.

 Lauren and me. Lauren is wearing her adorable Christmas shirt we got her. It's supposed to be scented and I think it smells like gingerbread! :)

Later Friday we headed to Russell's parent's house.

 Aubrey, Phyllis and Connie

 Aubrey had been singing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth". So cute!

 Lori and me...Lori is expecting her baby in a few weeks. We are so ready to meet Peyton!

Russell and Ricky after a huge meal!

We left this morning to come back home. Tomorrow consists of cleaning house and possibly decorating for Christmas! Christmas time is officially here, everyone! Let the season begin!

Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love endures forever. Psalm 107:1