Gobble Gobble

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday in Wimberely. Chris' entire family was there and my parents came in town for the holiday meal. It was so fantastic having everyone in one place to celebrate the many, many blessings of our family.

The three of us headed to Granee and Pa's house early in the week to have some extra time to hang out, relax, cook, and, what was that other thing I did??

Oh yes... Outlet shopping.

For EIGHT hours.

By hour seven, I raised the white flag, took my cute shoes off, and sat in a cozy couch at Starbucks and did some serious people watching. It was intense, y'all. My parents were shopping with me also. Although my dad has amazing stamina when it comes to outlet shopping, especially when there is a Samsonite store close by, that place is just too big to do in one day.

For our big meal, Chris erected the turkey derrick and he did some amazing frying of the turkey. It was the best turkey I've ever tasted. Poor little guy. Look at him.

He has no idea what he is about to be in for.

Josh spent most of the morning in his jammies playing around outside with the boys. I didn't want him to get his dress clothes messy before dinner, so this is what we went with. He looks happy enough playing soccer with Uncle Tim. Of course, my brilliant plan failed when only about 10 minutes after getting him dressed for dinner, he somehow managed to turn his khaki pants into a nice shade of brown.

Geesh. Boys, boys, boys.

After our big feast, which included some divine desserts, we decided it would be a good idea to go to a dessert party and eat some more goodness. Sounds crazy, but what would be MORE crazy would be missing a Pickles Party that includes her cooking just about anything. She had the UT/A&M game on, which was heartbreaking. What do you do when you are heart broken? Eat cake. And cookies. And pie.

So, that's what we did. My favorite was the pumpkin whoopie pies with cream cheese icing.

Good God Almighty.

The next morning, we had a super big treat arrive at Granee's door in Wimberely. Pickles, Matthewjones, Will and Tricia!! Josh's face was priceless when Pickles and Matt got out of the car. I love anyone that brings this much happiness to my sweet boy.

It took about 4 minutes for the boys to find this massive pile of rocks. They were rolling down it like a nice, soft grassy hill. Except it was a pile of ROCKS, not grass. They are crazy.

After rock play time, we all loaded into the back of Chris' truck and traveled down the hills to the river to go on a big adventure.

Matt, Josh and Will ran the river bank for almost an hour, skipping rocks (aka: throwing rocks) and looking for dinosaur tracks (aka deer prints).

It was a beautiful afternoon to be outside.

If I were lucky enough to have had sisters, these would be them.

I love these beautiful girls.

Sadly, we had to say good-bye to Matt and Will after nap time. Josh was UN. HAPPY. with their departure. He kept saying he wanted Matthewjones to come back and play. So sad.

But, wait 5 minutes and add mention of a Christmas Parade and maybe you will find the boy smiling again. No offense to Pickles and Matthewjones, but they were quickly replaced with Santa.

At dusk, we went to the town square to watch the Christmas Parade and welcome Santa to the holiday season. Josh loves him a good parade with lights and music.

And so it begins.

The most wonderful time of the year.