Thanksgiving with The Falls!

We had a busy and fun Thanksgiving weekend! Mommy is getting bigger, and travel is getting harder so we decided to see ALL of of our family over Thanksgiving while the going is good. :)

Our trip started on Thursday night. We traveled down to Enterprise to spend time with my side of the family.

Owen quickly started playing with all of Mimi's toys! Mimi (my mom) has a daycare, so she has more toys than we do. Owen always loves playing with the toys. We spent all day Friday playing with the fun toys. Mimi and Poppy even got Owen some new Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys. He loves playing on his new guitar!

One of Owen's favorite toys was a fishing set. It has a little fishing vest, and he just loves dressing up. This particular day he decided to fish in just a vest and a diaper. He wore his vest while sorting some shapes on the shape sorting bus.

Saturday was filled with fun! Downtown Enterprise had a Christmas Open House. Owen was so excited to put on his Santa clothes and head downtown.

Our first stop was Milky Moo's for breakfast with Santa!!! Santa was having a bad hair day. ;)

Mommy needs to have a talk with Santa because he served Pancakes on a stick with a huge side of syrup and ICE CREAM for breakfast. What a treat for a sweet two year old boy!

After a fun, sugary breakfast we headed outside. Owen and Daddy were met by elves, Ms. Clause, and The "Grouch" (the Grinch-Owen calls him the Grouch). They gave him a peanut butter cup. More sugar...

Here are Owen and Daddy walking downtown...

We walked to "All About Art" down the street for Owen to do a "progret" (project). Owen picked out a coffee mug to paint for Poppy and an ornament to paint for Mimi's Christmas Tree.

He painted his items in "Santa's Workshop"...

Owen loved picking out his very own paint colors. He is such an artist. ;)

After painting, Owen insisted we ride the "carriage car". This sweet little boy waited patiently for over 30 minutes for his ride on the horse and carriage.

Petting the horse before our ride...

And we are off! Owen LOVED riding the "carriage car" pulled by a sweet horse named "Power Stroke".

Later that night we had a Thanksgiving dinner at Mom and Dad's with Dad's side of the family. Uncle Nekko was so sweet to get up at 3:50 AM to smoke a Boston Butt for us!!! It was DELICIOUS!

I've given up on getting a serious picture of these two. Pappy and Owen are just TOO SILLY!!!

Playing with his "Aunt Nina"...

After our bellies were filled and we had some play time, all the ladies took Owen to see the Trawicks' Christmas lights. He kept saying "WOW!".

As you probably know, our sweet Gangan couldn't be with us last year for Christmas because she was in ICU. She is such a fighter, and doing so well now. Mom remembered we still had her Christmas present from last year, and Owen had been begging us all day to "get Gangan a present".  He was so excited to give Gangan her picture coasters from last year! We are so thankful Gangan gets to be with us this year. :) Owen definitely knows how to open presents, so there will be a lot of entertainment for everyone. :)

Having a "nana" snack before heading over to Uncle Matthew and Aunt Julie's for mom's side of the family's Thanksgiving...

I thought *maybe* I could talk Owen into taking a sweet picture before we headed out for lunch. This is what I got....Boys will be boys! I wonder if Abe will take after his silly big brother....

Time for Thanksgiving with Mom's side of the family! Owen was so excited to sit at the big table (this lasted all of 5 minutes, so we let him for a while), and drink from a BIG cup. He is doing so well drinking from an open cup. I must say he is growing up too fast for this Mama's liking!

 

After lunch and playing with Spencer and Skyler, we took Owen over to Nana and Papa's house. Owen and Papa had a blast playing with these shoe boxes! Papa and Owen built towers, and then T-Rex Owen knocked them down. The boxes also served as a stage where Owen could sing his ABC's and perform. I am not sure who had more fun....Owen or Papa!

Owen also had fun playing on Nana's walker. I didn't get a picture, but I should have! He loved going on rides while Nana did her exercises.

After playing with Nana and Papa, we headed to Mimi's house for Brunswick Stew made with Uncle Nekko's leftover barbecue. We put Owen in the bath and in pjs and headed towards Arab for Thanksgiving with the Falls. I am so glad Matt is a night owl, because driving at night makes things so much easier. I did have to stop every hour and half, but we made it without any tears.

When we arrived in Arab, Owen woke up just enough to tell Grammy and Papaw good night. I can't get over how well he napped and slept at both sets of grandparents' houses. He did so well!

Owen woke up to a new Jake and the Neverland Pirates tent to play in. It was a lot of fun, and there was a fun game of "Don't Spill the Beans" waiting inside. Owen LOVES games!

Arab was COLD, and we went a little stir crazy. My Owen is used to going outside at least twice a day for a couple of hours. We are already used to this lovely Florida weather! Matt and I decided cold or not, we were going to take Owen out of the house.

Our first stop, bowling in Huntsville. It was so much fun watching Matt and Owen bowl!!!

Siting in the "Captain Chair"....

Riding the motorcycle at the Bowling Alley... (Owen wants a REAL motorcycle for Christmas)

Daddy's Turn!

After our fun bowling trip we headed to Newk's and Owen's favorite place in the world....THE MALL! He walked the whole mall upstairs and down, this made for a good nap!

Grammy was busy cooking up a storm while we played. She sure knows how to make a good Thanksgiving dinner! We had lots of visitors in Arab for Thanksgiving this year. Uncle Wayne came from New Hampshire, Aunt Susan came from Arkansas, Aunt Maedell and Cousins Chris and Clay came from Tennessee. It was great catching up with everyone. In fact, I got so caught up with talking and eating (let's be honest), that this is the only picture I got of my little turkey on Thanksgiving Day.

On Friday, we did one of my favorite things. The Park in Arab has walk through lights and a little Christmas village with activities for the kiddos. It is so much fun.

Owen and his Aunt Devon waiting our turn to see SANTA!

 

Making a Santa bag...

SANTA!

Enjoying a cookie from one of the houses in the village...

Making an ornament...

He wanted to put every sequin on the tree. :)

Waiting paitently for the helper to tie a string on his ornament...

Listening to the singers with Aunt Maedell...

He was really into it!

After the Arab park we drove to Huntsville for the Galaxy of lights at the Botanical Gardens. It is absolutely beautiful!

The next day, Owen had a VERY special visitor! Anna Scott came to play for a little while. I think they truly remembered each other and picked up where they left off. At the end, Owen was a little tired and had trouble sharing his toys. We are sorry Anna Scott! We promise to share better next time! Seeing them together, reminded me of how much I miss watching those two play. They are two special, precious children!!!

 Sweet Owen couldn't wait to throw a party for his Papaw's birthday. He had so much fun decorating on Sunday! He was very proud of his hard work if you can't tell by his picture with Grammy!

 Happy Birthday Papaw!!!!!

We were so blessed to get to spend Thanksgiving with ALL of our family. We have so much to be thankful for!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours!!!