Thanksgiving Adventures Part 1

Our Thanksgiving family tradition is to head up to the Page family farm just outside Hillsville, Virginia.  Mike and I headed up with the boys on Wednesday (we were quite dreading the drive, but turned out to be a delightful drive :-).  We got to the house around 9pm and after getting the boys settled in, we hung out a little with Papa Witt, Brenda and Ken (friend of the family) before heading to bed ourselves.

Liam did not sleep well.  The side did not attach well on his diaper and slid down into his pjs so he wet himself and his mommy.  It was quite a night.  After not much rest, we were up at 6 and put in the ham.  Lucy and her crowd showed up around 8 a.m. and we truly started getting ready for the Thanksgiving feast.  

Unfortunately, it was not much later that Liam went and grabbed the handle on the wood stove that warms the house and burned his hand.  After running his hand under cold water and going through all the expired first aid kits in the house for burn cream (we didn't find the current first aid kit that was in the kitchen until the next day), he finally calmed down.  The best medicine for him was the cool weather and time outside.  So we put on his jacket and he stayed outside until lunchtime.  Except for the redness, he has thankfully never acted like he was burned at all.  Definitely a reason to give thanks!

Other adventures include a favorite activity of the kids is sledding down the hill while still covered in dew or frost.  Here are some fun pics from Thanksgiving morning . . . 

Graeme thinks this is a lot of fun

Rob goes down surfing (he did it best the first time, busted big the next)

Liam hung out with his favorite person A LOT.  He was a Papa seeking missile the whole trip :-)

The cousins were really great about taking Graeme down the mountain.  The next trip Graeme took with Sarah, they went FLYING and Graeme flew off rolling through some brush leaving him scratched and very briefly upset.  I took a little longer to recover.

Liam was ready to go for a ride

Finally time for yummy Thanksgiving food.  Graeme had a great time with his cousins!

His sweet smile completely outshines his scrapes

Hopefully next year his smile will be because he ate all the yummy food

Liam loved the turkey

The boys finally got to go for a four-wheeler ride with Papa Witt

Most of the crowd go for an after lunch walk

Liam smiling cause he's still hanging with Papa

Another fun adventure for Graeme and Jadyn, being tossed in the air by Mike

Look, a tractor!

My handsome fella

After Liam woke from a nap, we headed down by the stream and along the road with Neal and Jadyn with a quick stop at the tire swing.

The first stop at the stream was fun.  The kids skipped stones (okay, Neal and Mike skipped stones, Graeme and Jadyn threw stones into the water)

And we're off for more adventures

Liam was released from the backpack carrier

Lucy and I used to love to climb the mountainside using the tree roots and now a new generation starts climbing

Graeme also used Jadyn to help himself up the mountain

Neal and Jadyn

On our way back to the house, we stopped at the stream again.  Graeme threw more rocks in and then threw his hat in.  I had to step in the very cold stream to grab it.  When we got back to the house, Neal went inside and told Sandra (friend of the family) that "Auntie Em had wet herself."

Liam thought the cold water felt great.

I hope you enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day adventures!

Remember November?

Yes, I am talking about that month that was here and then gone.  The end of the year really seems to go so much faster than the beginning.  It was October, we went on two trips, we got home and now it's already the middle of December.  I do have a few pictures and memories that tell me November really did happen.  Hope you enjoy the trip!

These pictures actually are from the last Saturday in October, but are celebrating birthdays that fall on November 1 so I decided to include them in the lost month's post.  Jadyn, my sister's youngest who was also born on her 30th birthday, turned 5 this year.  She had a fun dress up party.

Party kids (if you look closely under the slide you'll see Graeme playing in the dirt :-)

Lucy's middle daughter Sarah 

Graeme likes dirt

We didn't know it was a dress up party until we got there (Graeme decided to turn himself into a smurf)

The birthday fairy and her fairy cake

Graeme found lightsabers and see-saws-much fun discovered!

The other birthday girl and my sweet Liam

Nanna and Liam

November quickly passed by and all of sudden it was Thanksgiving weekend.  One of the great privileges we have is the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with Papa Witt and the Melby clan at the farm in Hillsville, Va.  Though the trip took a little longer than normal (I really hate driving in holiday traffic), we finally arrived at the house where Liam played and Graeme decided to finally take a nap.

Happy 1st Thanksgiving Liam!

Papa Witt and his posse (and also one of Graeme's last moments with a pacifier-he's been free of them since this weekend!)

Graeme was not as much a fan of the tire swing as he had been the year before.  He actually ran right at it a little while after this picture was taken while Jadyn was swinging and busted his lip.  He then started taking sticks and hitting the swing back.

Started last year, a fun family tradition-grass sledding down the mountain right outside the house

Graeme got great practice saying "one, two, fwee"

Thursday brought the yummies out.  There was plenty of food from which to choose!

Graeme is a great fan of sword fighting.  Neal very kindly indulged his little cousin in a battle of sticks.

Liam was a cutie hanging out in the tire swing

Broke out the Christmas shirt to work on our Christmas photos.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get one of the boys together.  I guess that is a few years in the future when they'll stay still long enough at the same time.

Mr. Mischievous in his Christmas sweater

Sarah read Liam a story

Graeme loved all the toys the Melbys had left at the house

On Friday, we headed into Galax where we took the kids to a country museum where they had a two-headed calf on display

After we returned from town, Papa took Graeme and I out to look for a Christmas tree.  Graeme enjoyed walking through the trees, but most of all the four-wheeler ride around the mountains

On our way back from finding the most awesome tree, we ran into the hunting party.  Sarah, who is 7 1/2, would actually shoot her first deer a few hours later.

We had a great November and can't wait to see what the rest of December holds for our family!