Catching Up - Thanksgiving 2010

I decided I need to squeeze in our Thanksgiving post before Christmas Day so that I can finally catch up. We spent Thanksgiving in Lilburn, GA with Chad's family and enjoyed a good bit of football, food and family (you know, the typical Thanksgiving stuff).

Wednesday we spent some time at the Yellow River Game Ranch. This was our first trip and the best way I can explain it is as a petting zoo/trail with random other caged animals. Some animals roamed freely and would approach you for snacks, while others begged loudly from their respective cages. The saltine crackers Abigail had to offer them seemed pretty popular and she enjoyed feeding the animals while snacking on the crackers herself.

Abigail LOVES riding on Chad's shoulders but insists on "hanging on" by grabbing both of his ears. I'm not sure how that started, but she finds them to be excellent handles for her ride.

Hunter, Christopher's dog, got to spend Thanksgiving with us too and Abigail was THRILLED!!! He was such a good sport and let Abigail do anything she wanted to, usually without budging at all. I am sure he is used to it with Madison and Olivia, but Abigail didn't give him much of a break while he was there. These next pictures capture a glimpse of her admiration for Hunter.

Abigail enjoyed getting in on the cooking action as well. Grammy let her "help" with the green beans for the big Thanksgiving meal,

and Me Mommy needed her "help" with the biscuits one morning too. Everything turned out edible, so she didn't do too much damage in the kitchen.

Needless to say, after being away from home for a week and with multiple stops to see friends in Birmingham on the way there and on the way back, we had one tired little girl on our hands. This is what I saw when I looked back after being on the road for literally three minutes.

Tutu Excited - Birthday Post

Abigail turned two on November 24th! The weekend before her birthday we celebrated with family and friends at her Tutu Birthday Party. She was SO excited about her party and is still talking about it weeks later.

Here is the birthday girl waiting to greet her guests at the end of the driveway.

The party was filled with Abigail's favorite foods, so lunch included pizza, grapes and juice boxes!

Her face in this pictures looks as if she is saying, "Mom, lay off the pictures please...you're embarrassing me in front of my friends."

Thankfully it was a beautiful day - mid 70s in late November - so the kids were able to enjoy playing in the backyard. We are very grateful for a sandbox and play set as there was not much for them to do if we were forced indoors.

Abigail's Birmingham cousins drove over for the party and were decked out in their tutu attire!

The most important party of the party, if you were to ask Abigail, was the cake. This little girls LOVES cake (really any sweets) and wanted to just stare at her cake in the hours leading up to the party. A cute bakery here in Brandon did a great job with her cake and it tasted yummy too.
Here are some more pictures of the outside fun had by all. Sorry these are a bit out of order!

This is Abigail's sweet friend Mary Holland - or Princess Fairy Mary Holland in this picture. I love this picture my sister captured of MH during the blessing. She is precious!
Cousin Joshua got to come over from Starkville too and chowed down on pizza, cake and ice cream. He sat at the food tables longer than anyone else and savored every bite.


Cooper to the rescue! Abigail needed a little help blowing out her candles and Cooper was a pro.
Can you tell this little girl had a blast at her party? She left the ice cream on her face to prove it!
Happy Birthday sweet girl! We love you!