Thanksgiving

I suppose I should blog about Thanksgiving before December gets here, eh?

Thanksgiving was nice.  Brittany and Jason drove up from Philly to join us for the occasion.  It was really nice to have some family around and it gave us the excuse to actually cook and make a bigger to-do than if it had just been us.  The girls were very excited to have both of them (and their attention) most of the weekend.  

While we waited on the turkey to cook, Abby and I sat down to make a thankful chain.  We did one last year and still have it.  Last year, however, Abby just told me what to write.  This year - she did a lot of the writing herself.  I was so proud of her.  She knows how to spell a handful of names and words, and I told her how to spell the others.  Her hearts look a little bit more like peaches at this point - but I just love that she wrote as much as she did.  She was pretty proud of herself, too. 

Kyle was a big help with all the food prep.  I think he cooked just about everything with the exception of the turkey and the Armstrong-staple sauteed mushrooms.  It all turned out really well.  We had quite the feast.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Macy's parade and football and vegging out rubbing our bellies.

The next day, we decided to all venture into the city to show Jason around.  It was a beautiful day - just a little chilly but really nice out overall.  We decided to let Abby try her hand (feet?) at ice skating for the first time.  I will say - ice skating on frog pond is a little iconic to me, and apparently I'm not alone, because it is not cheap.  I had a good long convo with Abby before going in that if we went she was not allowed to back out.  But she went, and she loved it.  She was nervous and rarely let go of the wall (only to hold on to our hands of course) but you could tell she was happy and proud.

At one point, as we're skating, Kyle said "careful, you don't want to fall"  And Abby responded, "Daddy, it's ok if I fall, remember?  If I fall, I can always just get back up!"  An old man we were passing heard it and laughed and smiled at her.  She's a sweetie.  And she didn't fall.

We left the ice rink and grabbed some lunch before heading home.  I had fun shooting pictures of the city and just being out with everyone.  It was exhausting too, and we came home and all settled into a lazy evening.  

The next day Brit and Jason joined us for a big brunch at the station diner and then headed back to Philly.  We spent the rest of the weekend cleaning and running errands and checking things off our to-do list.  

All in all, it was a nice holiday.  It was nice to have family around - and nice that we could video chat with the family back in AR, too.  I think we made some good memories.