Thanksgiving 2012

November was such a wonderful month. It was the month of visitors in our new house and it all happened around Thanksgiving. We are so thankful for everyone who made the drive or flight down to see us. BLESSED is all I can say. Although I've never changed so many sheets in my life!

The first wave of visitors included Mamaw and Papaw! Note: I was corrected the other day on my use of Mamaw. I've been spelling it wrong for almost 2 years now (Memaw), haha. Good to go now, however one Xmas present will need a correctional sharpie! They came down the week before Thanksgiving to bring a load of goodies to us and to snuggle bug with Mr. Jude dude. This was Richard's first trip down and the first for both in our new house. It was so wonderful to see them. We showed Richard the area, including the Razorback stadium, downtown Rogers, and the lighting of downtown Bentonville.

Most importantly, we finally made the attempt to take some good pictures of all of us together. Usually it's one at a time with Jude making funny faces. I'm not sure if it was the perfect fall day or the perfect camera man (Mr. John Bennet), but we managed to snag a few new ones for our fireplace and maybe Christmas presents! And of course, the Christmas card!!!

Yes Yes Yes! 

Yes!!!! 

It's not fall unless you play in the leaves.

Couldn't be happier.

Daddy in the leaf pile!

The lighting of downtown Bentonville was quite a sight. We got there JUST in time. Jude loved all the beautiful lights and the choir singing Christmas songs. And afterwards, we even ate a little festive pasta at Carrabba's. What a fun night!

Thank you for coming Mamaw!!!

Love you Papaw!

And then....Aunt Vanessa flew into town!

Here she is!

I'm gonna get you

Jude was so happy to see his auntie Nessa and so were we. She brought lots of goodies from Chicago. Little man got some cute shirts and a big bear and we got a beautiful bottle of wine. But that wasn't the best part. THANKSGIVING FEAST.

We worked all night and day on quite a feast for the 4 of us. It was a blast! Let's see...we butterflied a turkey, made the most delicious dessert, and watched the Barefoot Contessa a gazillion times to figure out how to tie a piece of meat together. Coming from a vegetarian, it was worth it. 

We got this.

Just a taste of some home cooking.

Did I mention dessert?

I think everyone had a good time...lots of love.

Vanessa and I even took part in a friendly race or 29 on the good old super nintendo. She did get better, ha! Mario Kart is not for the faint of heart. Also, we had quite the experience at Kohl's the day after. We'll leave it at that.

Did I mention we decorated for Christmas?

Thanks Vanessa for making this holiday so much fun!

AND........Great Grandpa stopped by! It was so nice to see Ron and Nola. They brought some goodies for Jude (that he'll be riding soon, thanks!) and yummy things for us. Jude was thrilled to show them all of his cool things and a little bit of the area. But of course, we forgot to get a picture. Next time!

We are so thankful to have such a wonderful family and get to see so many around the holidays...especially since we've moved so far away. All of you made it an extra special Thanksgiving this year. We can't thank you enough! Hope to see you again soon.