Thanksgiving 2010 + a Flashback to Thanksgiving 2009

I feel like so many of us have already moved onto Christmas that it seems sort of silly to post about Thanksgiving. But it is still November for another day, so I think I am writing just in time. If you are one of those readers who mainly just scans our blog for pictures, please be sure to scroll all the way down for a collage of our first Thanksgiving (2009).

Of course, we had a ton to be thankful for this year, namely our sweet boys and their adoption finalizing just before Thanksgiving! Our precious Angel said it best here:

Just in case you can't read his writing, although it is much improved since this time last year, I will type it out:

1. Dad 2. Mom 3. house 4. dog Harvey 5. cat Snowflake 6. family 7. God

Soon he'll grasp the order, but for now he has all the important ones listed! It shocked me when I saw this....such amazing wisdom for his 7 short years! As adults we could take a lesson from his little grateful heart!

Wednesday everyone was home from school and I decided to take full advantage of my time with the boys while Daddy worked. We met up with my BFF, Jenny and her little girl, Ariana at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and some play time. Then we all went back to our house and made turkey shirts for all 3 of our little turkeys! Jenny saw the ones we made last year and loved them so I invited her to join us and make one for Ari.

Jenny was super excited to make it on the blog! I mean we are famous now, so who can blame her! HA! Here is Johnny posing with his future mother-in-law, Jenny!
We definitely benefited from Jenny's experience as a preschool teacher as she had developed a super secret short cut for tracing tiny hands! The mommas did most of the work as the project required a lot of cutting and ironing. In the meantime, the kids were happy to play together. It took a long time, but the end result was worth it! Jenny told me when Ariana wore her onesie on Thanksgiving, she proudly poked her little tummy out and pointed when asked where her turkey was! SO cute! I am happy to get my little girl fix from this sweetheart!
Our little guys were super handsome in their turkey shirts too! I am still glad I chose material over paint this year, even though it took longer and was a bit more work! I think they held up better too. If you want to try this project, I used this step by step tutorial from Treasures for Tots. I omitted the rick rack legs and used the boys' feet for the body, but otherwise I totally copied her idea! This year I even ironed on their names too since we are official!
My little turkeys got quite a few compliments on their shirts at the parade downtown. Here Jeff and Johnny are waiting for the parade to start. J had to be held up to see due to the crazed woman in front of us who brought a chair to sit in, but stood up and waved her hands every time a float came. She was trying to catch something, anything, free being thrown from the floats. Really, lady, I don't get it. You are grown, the whistles, candy, etc are for the kids. Whatever. I am fine with my little guys not blowing that crazy loud whistle all day or adding to their increasing sugar consumption.
These two were my favorite floats. I love the giant turkey and the kids were thrilled to see Santa for the first time this year!
After the parade we went to my parents' (Gran and Poppa D) house for a traditional Thanksgiving meal. Here is our family picture we took before lunch. I totally made the boys change shirts to eat so they wouldn't get their shirts messy.
It worked because they still looked great for the Uptown Christmas Tree lighting that night.
Angel was a little scared to be on Jeff's shoulders, but Johnny was dancing on mine. They are so different in that way. Johnny is a daredevil to the max and Angel would much rather have his feet firmly on the ground. But really, who can blame him?
It started raining during the event, but it didn't stop Santa and Mrs. Claus from making an appearance to flip the switch and start the firework's display.
We really enjoyed the Christmas Tree lighting and may make it a tradition. I LOVE white twinkle lights, but I love them even more when my boys are posing in front of them!

Saturday and Sunday we spent time with Jeff's parents (Meme and Papa) at their house. The boys helped Papa harvest pecans and loved every minute of it! They earned us 10 lbs. of pecans too! Yum!

As promised, here is a collage of our Thanksgiving last year. Sweet Ariana is in last year's collage too. She is in the bottom left corner with her betrothed, Johnny! Whew! I am glad to have done our Thanksgiving post, so now we can decorate for Christmas! I just love this time of year!