Thanksgiving at last!

My favorite day of the year always comes and goes so fast!! But this one was really one for the books!

It was so great to spend the holiday at Wintergreen (where I've spent all but three Thanksgivings) and to have both Adam and Olivia there to celebrate with us! There's something about having the whole family in one house together, staying up late reminiscing and waking up early (thanks to the kiddos) and enjoying coffee together in our pjs (some nicer than others, wink wink)! ;)



Of course one of my favorite parts of the day is the parade. I still get chills when I hear "Let's have a parade!" though sadly Adam didn't quite share in my excitement. He was too busy being a toddler I suppose, ha! There's always next year!

Aside from parade watching and lots of food making, we did take some time to get the whole family outdoors for a bit. We headed back to the park and while it was a little chilly, we all enjoyed getting out of the house for a bit. Not to mention it made coming back into the turkey smelling house that much better! :)

We did some reading and playing and Adam and Olivia even joined us for dinner! We had even taught Adam how to "cheers" with us, so he even took part in the family toast!

We have so much to be thankful for and it's great to spend an entire day devoted to just that!

Thanksgiving presents...

A few years ago my mom started a tradition of giving us Thanksgiving presents to kick off the holiday season. Typically we get a nice holiday scented candle, Mistletoe anyone?! And some ornaments or decoration for our homes. But of course those are only fun for the big kids.

So for the little kids it was Christmas pajamas and books that were recorded by Grandpa...AND Grandma! :) The last recordable book Adam got was just read by Grandpa, so it was a fun surprise to hear Grandma's voice on there as well!

Adam's eyes just light up when he hears Grandma and Grandpa reading him his new "Frosty the Snowman" book! He especially likes the part where Grandpa's deep, yet jolly, voice says "Thumpity thump thump, Thumpity thump thump.." and now it will be in my head for the rest of the season! ;)

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

(and yes, Adam is seen above wearing a snowman wreath, guess the big kid gifts were also fun for the little kids)

Playing at the park...

While we were at Wintergreen we spent tons of time outdoors! While we've certainly had snowy (and icy!) Thanksgivings up there before, this year we had sunshine and temps in the high 50's, which allowed us to let Adam and Liddy do lots of running around in the leaves!




The park was definitely a highlight and brought back some fun memories for me as I used to play on that same playground when I was a kid. Adam loved exploring everything and there were more sticks out there than Liddy could ever need, so it made for some pretty perfect afternoons!

Uncle Mark even got to come up with us one day and he had so much fun taking Adam on the slide and pushing him in the swing! He also was able to snap some photos for us (bonus!) :)

It was fun seeing Adam and Liddy continue to play with one another. At one point Adam had found a huge stick, which Liddy promptly took from him, but she's a good girl and brought it back to him. It was a cute little game of tug and war! :)

Picnic at Wintergreen Winery

Andy and I were off all of last week for Thanksgiving and we had such a great time! We started off the week at Wintergreen, one of my most favorite traditions, and had so much fun. To kick things off we enjoyed a great picnic at Wintergreen Winery.




Adam and Liddy had so much fun chasing after one another, as Andy and I enjoyed a glass of their Viognier and nibbled on yummy cheese and mini-roast beef sandwiches. Adam even joined us at one point at the picnic table. It's amazing what a big boy he is becoming!

It was a great start to a great week!

Visit with Great Aunt Mary-Jo and Cousin Meghan...

Saturday we got a special visit from my aunt Mary-Jo and cousin Meghan! Mary-Jo traveled down from Connecticut and Meghan came from Baltimore to meet Adam and Olivia.

We had a nice time catching up and the kiddos both put on shows!! Adam was dancing and doing his tricks and Olivia was talking up a storm and flashing smiles left and right! They are too funny!

It was so awesome getting to visit with both of them and we're so thankful they made the trip.



Loooooooooooooooooove you MJ and Meghan!!

Fall photo shoot...

On Saturday we were able to get Uncle Lee to take some pictures of Adam playing in the leaves. Adam loves to be outdoors so it was easy to catch lots of smiles on his face! :)

Thanks Uncle Lee for snapping such great shots! You can check out some more of his pictures here: http://leediehrphotography.smugmug.com/