Giving of Thanks

This year we had a great Thanksgiving. It was our first time ever staying at home. Since we've been married we've been to London, Mesa, A Caribbean Cruise, New York City, and Jamaica. Each year has been so fun but with nothing really planned and two little ones, this year we settled on our home in Florida. It was great for a change, I really liked the feeling of having Tyler at home with us with no distractions for the whole break.

Trying Hot Chocolate, he wasn't so sure about it...

I have loved baking with pumpkin this year. I kind of went a little overboard actually... I made pumpkin cookies (4 times) pumpkin bars, pumpkin bread (2 loaves) and then finished it off on Thanksgiving morning with some Pumpkin Pancakes. Jackson had 5 I think... and this was a after his first obligatory banana he has every morning.

Tyler played some football with guys from our church at 9 am and Jackson and Abbie played at the park and watched. When we got home we watched the parade! Last year we weren't able to watch it so this was my first time watching since we'd been there. Not going to lie it made me tear up. I always loved watching the parade growing up (other than that year in high school I slept in until noon and missed it). Now watching with Jackson and Abbie at my own house was too fun.

Pumpkin Pancakes on Thanksgiving Morning

He loved all the marching

Shady boy had 5 pancakes and came and stole bites from me!

And she thought she could read a book in peace...

He loved the rockettes and tried to kick like them with his arms behind his back. You've almost got it buddy!

Loving the "basketball guys"

For Thanksgiving dinner we got together with 2 other families, the Whites & Farrars. Both have a 9 month old baby so there was lots of rolling and babbling. The Farrars have a 5 year old girl so she and Jackson were able to play too.

This rug was THE place to be for babies on Thanksgiving this year.

Tyler made the turkey & gravy, I made mashed potatoes and yams and apples. The Farrars brought two kinds of stuffing, rolls & pumpkin pie & the Whites brought green beans, cranberry sauce and chocolate pie. It was a great dinner that all happened way too fast. Jackson would not sit down to eat dinner but it was a different story when I put 2 slices of pie on a plate :)

The only picture I took of myself.

 The last guest didn't leave until after 10 and I was exhausted. It was great to have it with other families and split up the cooking, but I was left with a lot of cleanup. There was no way I was heading out for Black Friday shopping. Jackson didn't take a nap that day so by 8, he was so exhausted he fell right asleep. He slept in until 9 the next day! Too bad Abbie woke up at 6:30 when it was still dark outside. She was ready for a nap by the time he woke up. But Tyler slipped out early that morning and did a little black friday shopping, got some good stuff for us and the kids, but a few things were already sold out... you snooze (til 6 am) you lose I guess.

He woke up pretty dang happy!

 That day we hung out at home and went on a walk around our neighborhood. The weather was perfect! That afternoon Tyler went to see the James Bond movie with some guys. The movie was a little long so here is Jackson and me waiting for him to have our leftovers dinner! I think I took this picture to text him and show that dinner was ready but never sent it..

 The next day we went to animal kingdom and had a great day!