Thanksgiving and Black Friday

We had a wonderful time visiting with family in Atlanta for Thanksgiving. We always have a delicious dinner at a beautiful table with great memories. Here are a few pictures from the day...

Everyone helps prepare the meal.

What a beautiful bird!

The lovely fall table--minus the food (at the buffet)
and the people (getting food).

Jenna opted for Cheerios rather than the Thanksgiving meal;
she didn't know what she was missing!

Papu, my almost-91-year-old grandfather,
makes a wonderful pecan pie--and looks great too!

Part of our Thanksgiving Tradition is
browsing the Black Friday ads and developing a plan of attack!
We've begun training Jenna at a young age.

She especially enjoyed "shopping in the dark"--as I had described it--with her mom, her Mimi, and her Auntie Mary Ann. (We left later than anticipated, so it wasn't really dark.) We enjoyed some of her favorite treats-- a "clocolate" Dunkin' Donut and chick-n-minis at The Cow Place (AKA Chick-Fil-A). She had a ball, and we got some great deals too!

The Chick-Fil-A we went to is a Dwarf House,
so Jenna loved the miniature door!

We went home in early afternoon to make sure Jenna had a good nap before the family celebration of her 3rd birthday...more on that to follow!

Jenna's First Haircut

I've trimmed Jenna's hair here and there, but it's starting to grow too much and really needed a professional cut. We have a friend down the street who cuts hair, so we thought it would be less intimidating for Jenna if we just took her there for her first big girl haircut.

She panicked with the unknown, just as we thought she would, so it was a good thing we weren't in a public salon. She cried for a while, but ended up settling down when her daughter came out and began to sidetrack her. She then calmed down enough to eat the lollipop I'd brought for her, and all was well. Here are a few pics...

Her hair had gotten really long...

Here's a few shots of the haircut. Notice the little girl keeping Jenna distracted.



Here's the "after" shot. It looks really cute on her!

A Sweet Friendship

Jenna and Sophia have been best friends for a year now. They are inseparable at school and just love playing together. Here's a few pictures to show the progression of their friendship...

This was last year, right when they started to become good friends:

They've both grown up a lot this year...

I hope they're able to stay good friends throughout their childhood and into their adult years! It's a rare friendship that starts as toddlers and continues through life!

Our Big Girl

Well, our little girl has taken one big step to becoming a big girl. She's potty trained! A few weeks ago, she decided she wanted to wear panties to school. I talked to her teachers about it that day, and they seemed to think she might be ready. So we took some extra clothes to school and tried it that next day. She's only had two accidents the past 2 weeks, so she's done great! She decided she was ready and that was it! We're very proud of her!

Look how tall and lean she looks wearing her panties instead of diapers/pull-ups!

Birthday Trip to Chattanooga

For my birthday a few weeks ago, the 3 (almost 4) of us headed to Chattanooga. We went to one aquarium, enjoyed a relaxing lunch at TGIFridays, went to the other aquarium, saw an Imax movie, then finished up by shopping a little. We had a great family day. Here are a few pictures...

Random Fall Pictures

I always try to take fall foliage pictures to capture the beauty of Tennessee. Here are some from this year.

A Beautiful Fall in Tennessee

This weekend, we made our annual fall stop for pictures at the UT Arboretum. It's becoming a tradition, as this is the third year in a row we've done it. Here are a few pictures from the past 2 years, followed by some from this year. Enjoy!

2007 (almost 1 year old)

2008 (almost 2 years old)

2009 (almost 3 years old)

It's not a Girl; it's a Boy!

This is a few weeks late, but here's how Jenna was announcing Little Bit's gender to our friends. It took a while to get it on video then get it converted for web viewing.

Chocolate Fudge!

Early Birthday Celebration Weekend

Last weekend, Mom & Dad came to visit. We had a great time, but as usual it went too quickly. They arrived Thursday night so we had some time to visit that night. Then Friday morning we all went to my doctor's appointment where we found out we're having a BOY! It was a little earlier than I expected to know, so they were very glad they'd come in time for the appointment. I was very surprised, as I'd thought the whole time it was another girl. We're very excited--no names yet. Here's a few pictures of how Little Bit looked last week.



On Friday night, I came home to work to find Mom & Dad had prepared a yummy early birthday meal--Italian Beef Bake (one of my favorites), Rice, Green Beans, Yeast Rolls, and homemade Apple Pie a la mode. It was delicious! We then enjoyed some card games--something I've been wanting to do for a while now. It was a great early celebration!

On Saturday, Mom, Jenna, and I went to the CRC Walk for Life; it was a beautiful morning and they had a great turnout. Here's a picture of the three of us:

After the walk, we went to a church children's consignment sale and racked up on little boy outfits! It's so much fun to get good deals! All in all, we had a wonderful weekend!

The Alligator Store

Last Friday, I'd been telling Jenna off and on that we'd be going to the mall the next day. Later in the night, she began asking to go to the Alligator Store. I didn't know what she was talking about, but was really trying to figure it out.

All I could picture was this:
but what Jenna was picturing was this:
I had forgotten that I'd explained that the moving stairs was called an escalator, but she heard "alligator." I got quite a kick out of that association!

So we spent much of last Saturday shopping...in the pouring rain. We'd spent the previous weekend at home while she recovered from H1N1, so my errands had been piling up. We were pretty much drenched, but Jenna had a blast. Here are a few of the pictures.

Here she is enjoying the alligator!

Here she is riding the hippo!