Thanksgiving 2016

Soon, it was Thanksgiving and we were excited to make our first trip home since moving to Dallas.  Living in Tennessee, we always drove home to Florida/Georgia but the 14 hour drive felt a little daunting considering we were only going to be there a couple of days.  

We arrived at Nonie and Poppie's house around dinnertime and as usual, Nonie had fun projects waiting for Kyndall.  Her first order of business was decorating her tiny Christmas tree....

Then on to decorating the big tree.....

The morning of Thanksgiving we woke up and watched the Macy's Day Parade on television just like we do every year. Kyndall nearly lost her marbles when she saw this gigantic Pikachu come across the screen

We left Matthew's parents' house and made the trip to my Grandma's house in Two Egg.  Wyatt was SO excited to see his cousin!  They love each other so much!

Many years ago, this is the table where my cousins and I sat to eat at Grandma's house.  I love that we get to see our own kiddos enjoy it all these years later.  

(I promise they love each other--They were just not too happy about me interrupting their Thanksgiving lunch for this picture)

My Mom always snaps our Kirkland family Christmas card picture on Thanksgiving Day while we're all together.  

This was not it, but I like this one better!

No trip to Grandma's house is complete without putting 4859 miles on the old golf cart....

.....Or swinging under the pecan tree....

......Or playing a little football....

......or sitting in Granddaddy's chair

I got some sweet baby snuggles from Jackson

We returned to Nonie and Poppie's late that night and woke up the next morning and headed to Valdosta where we'd spend the day at Wild Adventures.  No black Friday shopping for this family....We'd prefer to ride roller coasters!

Kyndall wore her Cairo High School shirt since we were in Syrupmaker territory.  It made her Daddy proud to see her wearing his school mascot.

The Hughes Family

See this ride?  I hate it and refuse to ride it....

....And it turns out I'm wise because guess which two riders got STUCK at the very top??

Stuck at the top and waiting to be rescued....

I also refuse to ride these horrid things.  Whiplash, violently jarring my innerds and a realigning my spine do not sound like fun to me.  Thanks, Nonie.

I also don't do twirling in thousands of circles either.  Thanks Poppie.

 Soap snow

Styrofoam snow....

Everyone LOVES the ferris wheel.....

 Except this guy!

My favorite animal in the whole world...the meerkats!

 Dippin' Dots to end a fun day

On Saturday my family drove from Tallahassee so that everyone could be together to celebrate my birthday.  It's been 8 years since I've actually been able to see my family on my birthday so they've resorted to just spoiling me over the Thanksgiving weekend since my birthday is just a few days later.

Sister, sister

You officially know you're a Mom when your kid gets to enjoy your birthday dessert at the restaurant instead of you...

After dinner I was treated to a "party" which Kyndall and Nonie had apparently been planning for weeks via Skype conversations.  She picked the theme and Nonie gathered the supplies and bought the cake.

You also know you're a Mom when you end up with HER favorite theme instead of yours.  I do love Gidget from the Secret Life of Pets and I do love all things PINK so it was perfect!

It also happened to be the night of the Florida vs. Florida State game, so some of the group was feeling quite tense

This makes me laugh!  So typical of Kyndall and Wyatt!

Kyndall always loves to give gifts that she's created herself.  I adore them!

Later that night when all was quiet, this little stinker grabbed the Toys R Us Christmas catalog and started circling her wish list.  I'm not kidding when I say she circled everything in the entire book.  She told me she was circling on behalf of Wyatt too, since he is too little to do it himself!

Always drawing, crafting and creating

The next morning we had to wake up at 3:00 a.m. to catch our flight back to Dallas.  Poppie took us to the airport.

Early flights are not our thing

The good news is we were back in Dallas just in time to catch a yummy breakfast.  We were tired, but thankful for a fun filled couple of days with our families.

The bad news is, while our dogs were at the kennel being boarded, they seemed to have picked up some kind of stomach bug.  They were both so sick and so pitiful so I took them both to the vet Monday morning.  I was bracing myself for the worst when I approached the receptionist's desk, fully expecting a HEFTY bill.  I almost cried when I saw that the sweet vet had given us a zero balance.  I still don't know why or how but we were grateful.  Kyndall made her a card and baked cookies for the whole office which we delivered the very next day.  

Notice the scripture at the top of the bill.....

Our Thanksgiving was wonderful, as always, but these times are also bittersweet for me.  I thought about my donor and their family all day long, wondering if after two years they were able to enjoy these special holidays or if they are still wrecked with grief and despair.  I am forever thankful to have experienced another Thanksgiving with my loved ones.