Happy Thanksgiving 2019

We had a fun and full Thanksgiving break.  We actually started it early with a birthday trip for Susannah.  She wanted to go to a cabin in the woods in lieu of a birthday party so we made that happen the weekend before Thanksgiving before heading to Grammy's in Knoxville for the holiday.  Here are the pictures from our last few weeks:

Before Thanksgiving came another important holiday, Veteran's Day.  Peter went to speak to Sarah Avery's kindergarten class. 

Susannah finished up a great soccer season.  She really loved her team.

And had a great breakaway for a goal in her last game!

Peter was traveling for over a week in November so the girls and I had lots of snuggle time on the couch with holiday baking shows on the television.

After school is always full of folder emptying, agenda checking, and sight word practicing.

One day we had after school conferences with the girls' teachers and we went out for cookies afterward to celebrate all of their good reports.

Everybody was excited to see this guy when he came home from his trip. 

 Lots of snuggles were in order.

On the Friday before Thanksgiving week, Peter and I checked the girls out of school early and headed to a cabin on the creek in the heart of the Shenandoah Mountains.    

We were there to celebrate this girl turning 9.  And this trip was the perfect example of our girl; unique, creative, full of love and lots of fun.  She has been planning this trip to a year.  She wanted to recreate one of her favorite book series, The Boxcar Children, and stay in a cabin like their boxcar.  Peter and I refused to look for a place with no electricity or running water like she originally requested, but found this awesome cabin on 27 acres instead.  It was the perfect weekend.  

These were some of our neighbors.  We bought some delicious maple doughnuts from them. 

We drove the 17 miles into town one day to have lunch at their famous diner.  

The girls had the best milkshakes of their life. 

Delicious!

When we weren't outside exploring, we were inside by the fire playing games and doing puzzles.  

This was our cabin.  The building behind it is the maple shack.  The property owners use all of the maple trees on the property to produce their own maple syrup.  They were so sweet and even let the girls make some maple candy in their kitchen.  

It was so quiet and peaceful.  None of us wanted to leave.

A creek ran behind the cabin and one day we crossed it and hiked up the mountain a bit.  

We also tried out the hot tub.

Before we knew it, our cabin weekend was over and we were in Knoxville with Grammy.  Our first order of business was to go see Frozen 2. 

Grandmama made spaghetti and we celebrated Susannah's birthday with a cookie cake and presents. 

It's always fun to celebrate with family.

The next day we took advantage of the mild weather and headed to the zoo.

We had the best day seeing all the animals.  

It wasn't crowded and all the residents were out in their habitats. 

We made fun memories with Grammy.  

Thanksgiving day was really nice.  We celebrated at Grandmama and Jim's house.  We didn't get to see everybody because several family members had a stomach bug.  And we had pink eye that we didn't want to share.  But it was a great day with the people who could make it.  

These girls.  So thankful for them.  

And how silly they are.

And how much they love each other.  

Four generations!

It was a great day with delicious food.  Thank you Grandmama and Jim!

We drove back to Alexandria on Friday so that we could do this on Saturday.

Peter dug the tree out of the ground with his bare hands, Clark Griswold style.

The girls were so excited to see their Christmas books.

It's the most wonderful time of the year. 

Then on Sunday, it was time to don our best Christmas plaid and light the first Advent candle at church.  

We didn't even catch the stage on fire or trip on the stairs! 

An Advent miracle.  ;)

And now we are settled back home and ready to soak up every minute of fun and festivity that is December.  We hope all of you had Happy Thanksgivings!   Thanks Grammy for a fun visit!  We look forward to seeing more of you as the holidays continue.  We love and miss you all!