She She and Poppy's

We left Charleston around 10 and headed to the Upstate for Thanksgiving. Traffic was pretty bad for about an hour but at least we were moving. Henry was getting fussy and spitting up a lot which means he had some dairy somehow so we stopped to give him some medicine. He calmed right down and went to sleep. Evie did not sleep again.

Mary and Lucy were waiting for Evie to arrive and Evie was so excited to see everyone. All the girls went downstairs and Henry visited with She She and Poppy for a bit. We had dinner and Evie went straight to bed.

We woke up on Thanksgiving and hung out around the house. Carl helped his Dad prepare a Maple Bourbon turkey that Tony had been planning for weeks. He found the recipe in Country Living. I usually prefer the sides to the turkey but this was an incredible turkey. Sheila suggested that we rave about it if even it was not so good but it was delicious! It was so juicy and moist, one of the best turkeys that I have ever had. Oranges and limes were in the cavity which may have helped with the wonderful flavor. We all worked on some stuffing with lemon zest and sausage that turned out pretty well. Henry slept through the preparations and the girls kept busy playing. Mary and Lucy are terrific at entertaining Evie. Kurt and Lollie arrived later that day. They brought loads of hand-me downs for Evie which is always appreciated. Evie has had a ball playing in those clothes all day. She has changed clothes nearly 30 times and has dressed for all four seasons.

Henry and Evie were ready for naps so I put them down for naps which gave us a chance to really enjoy our Thanksgiving meal. It was almost like Thanksgiving before kids except the monitors were close by humming away. It was a delightful meal and Carl's parents did a fantastic job hosting us all for Thanksgiving. It's a lot of work preparing for Thanksgiving but it was nice to spend the holiday with everyone.

After naps, we headed to the park for some playtime and then had a few snacks before bedtime. Lollie brought lots of snacks and some dairy-free cream cheese from Trader Joe's that was really good. Cream cheese is a pretty important part of the holidays for me so I am thrilled to have found a substitute. We sat outside and kept warm by the fire.

Friday morning, Kurt and Lollie took their kids to Cashier's and the rest of us stayed home. Carl and Poppy took Evie for a boat ride. She loved it! Carl and I really wanted to go to Cashiers but we knew that Evie needed a nap so she could be on her best behavior at dinner. She slept 3.5 hours which is a long time to nap in a pack and play. Evie woke up just in time to get dressed and wore one of her new dresses to dinner.

We stopped at the Market to have pictures with Santa. Evie was not impressed with Santa and kept telling me that she wanted to stay home. I told her that she needed to let Santa know what she wanted for Christmas. Evie wanted Henry to tell Santa for her but finally at least stood next to him for a picture. Evie refused to sit on his lap and we did not want to force her to do it just for a funny picture. Maybe next year! Henry did not seem to mind Santa one bit. That may be a different story next year too. I have a cute picture of Carl's parents with all the kids but they may have plans to use it for a Christmas card so I will post it later. After pictures with Santa, we had dinner at the Orchard House. It was a delicious buffet and the server was kind enough to have the chef prepare some fish and veggies for me. Evie did fairly well at dinner. Way better than expected and we can thank Lucy for that. Evie was most interested in dessert which is no surprise - that girl loves her cake! We headed down to see the Christmas tree and Evie thought it was beautiful. The girls had fun running around for a bit and then we made a bee line back to Carl's parents for bedtime. It was a really fun night!

Evie was still awake when I put Henry to bed but she was quiet. We got a middle of the night wake up call from Evie regarding her nose not working. She went back to sleep easily after a quick cuddle. Evie woke up ready to punzle with brother the next morning!

We always drive back on Saturday after Thanksgiving but especially this year because we had been gone for so long.  We left around 10 and were sad to go but know that we will see everyone this coming weekend for Henry's baptism. Thanksgiving and Easter are my two favorite holidays. We have so much to be thankful for and Thanksgiving gives us the opportunity to take time to remember all the blessings in our life.