Our Thanksgiving Holiday & Visitors

We had a full house for Thanksgiving!

 

Aunt Gena & Julia flew in from CT on Tuesday the 24th, while Mum Mum & Granddaddy made the trip from TN. We had a late-night Italian feast, and then pretty much headed to bed.

 

The kids were raring to go on Wednesday, and asked Aunt Gena & Julia to entertain them non-stop. Thank goodness they were good sports :)

Battleship



Learning how to braid (Creepy Barbie's) hair



Aunt Gena got a high pony!



Mum Mum came bearing gifts :)



She decorated her umbrella?!

The highlight of Wednesday was Aunt Gena busting out the selfie stick. The kids and I have never used one, and it was quite  hilarious! Abby, not surprisingly, took hold of that thing and did not let go all day! #diva

Greg treated me to some great food for my birthday on Wednesday - breakfast in bed, plus carryout from one of my favorite sushi places for lunch. AND, my sweet sisters conspired with Greg to buy me a new fancy camera!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so surprised. Then, some of my girlfriends planned a GNO at Chuy's, so margs, chips, and salsa were on the dinner menu. Best birthday ever!

Late Wednesday night, Uncle Kevin and his girlfriend Rocio flew into town. They shared with us some great news - they got engaged a few weeks ago in Colorado! So excited to have Rocio join our family; though she's been dating Kevin for 8+ years now. That pretty much makes her family already.

 

Thursday, Granddaddy came over bright & early to help get our Thanksgiving meal started.

I'm so grateful for these two chefs!

While those two slaved away in the kitchen all day, the rest of us were free to play outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. Aunt Molly & Shan arrived from Memphis with a new jump rope and frisbee, and we did basketball, played on the swingset, and picked flowers too.....

 

 



Abby was quite smitten with Julia & Aunt Gena



Nate got a silver dollar from Aunt Molly, that used to be his great Grandma Givens'.
 It's from 1891!

Adult table



Kid table (plus 2 adults)



Our spread!



The chefs :)



Thanks to the selfie stick, we got a pic of all 12 of us!



Greg loves a turkey leg. So gross.



Abby is thankful for "family, food, friends, God, and singing."
Nate is thankful for "parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, and me."



A wild game of Pictionary!



Surprisingly, Greg is not napping here.
This is just a Nate & Abby sandwich :)

Uncle Kevin, aka Hulk

Friday, we went to our favorite place to take out-of-town visitors....the Space Net!



Nate climbed the Space Net with the selfie stick in his hand! Ha!

 

Nate & his BFF, Uncle Kevin

 

 

Even the grumpy old men liked the selfie stick :)

 

Seriously, she's obsessed

Julia hasn't had much exposure to the South - she's from Connecticut! - so we attempted to get some BBQ for lunch at Dreamland. Didn't know the 2nd location only serves ribs, not pulled pork. So we got some from Archibald's instead.



More beautiful weather + small kitchen = picnic lunch!



Julia went to town on Abby's hair.
She.could.not.stop.smiling!!!!



Aunt Gena figured out that Nate had a cross dominant hand (so he should close his right eye when he aims/ shoots) and oh my goodness he is gonna be the ringer on his basketball team this year.  He made like 30 shots in a row!



Worn out from cooking Thanksgiving :)



My girl loves a selfie!

Saturday morning, I cooked a big breakfast for everyone, and we treated our

guests to this beauties as well :)

Nothing like a little math lesson from Uncle Kevin after breakfast....

And then we headed to Verner park to enjoy yet another beautiful day!

She wasn't so sure of the zipline at first....

The Givens siblings.
 

Everyone had to head home on Saturday, and the kids were especially sad to see Aunt Gena & Uncle Kevin go. Nate even shed a few tears :( We really enjoyed having everyone here, and hope to do it again next year!