Gobble Gobble

I think I am officially stuffed! We had such a fun Thanksgiving, sooooo much yummy food and tons of leftovers over the past couple of days. DeeDee, Papa and Uncle Court braved the traffic on 85 from Atlanta to come spend Thanksgiving with us in Charlotte. This was one of the few times we have spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte and the weather didn't disappoint. Everyone arrived on Wednesday night and Ella was so excited when they arrived. She of course went into performance mode and put on a dance show for us. She needed a dance partner and Uncle Court couldn't turn her down.

Ella showing Uncle Court her sweet dance moves.
We spent Thanksgiving morning being lazy in our pjs, the best kind of mornings. Ella recruited Papa to read her the Tinkerbell book. Papa has learned more about Disney and princesses in the past 2 years than he probably ever thought possible!
And lots of cuddling with Uncle Court on the couch.
We heard there was a big Thanksgiving parade in Uptown and since Ella usually loves parades, we decided to check it out. It was pretty interesting to say the least and the music was really loud so Ella buried her head against Daddy. After the parade we asked if she had fun and she replied, No, it was too loud."
We escaped the crowd and walked around Charlotte and got to see the Christmas decorations. Ella was all about the reindeer, who are all named Rudolph incidentally.
While Mom and I stayed home to prepare the big feast, Daddy, Uncle Court and Papa enjoyed the gorgeous weather we had and took Ella for a walk to the park.

After a nap for Ella and cooking for us, dinner was almost ready. While we waited the last couple minutes, we took some pictures on the back deck. Our little turkey hamming it up for the camera!
Ella is obsessed with Uncle Court! She wanted to know where he was at all times and would request him to play with her all the time. At the park, she made him climb up and slide down with her over and over again.
She also loves her DeeDee and Papa. DeeDee would get her up in the morning and then take her in their bed and they would play together.
Family pic and yes, the bump is definitely popping out now at 28 weeks! Hard to believe in less than 3 months, we will be a family of four (plus Dakota!)
Our feast! Unfortunately we didn't take a picture of the turkey out of the oven but I wish we had because it was really pretty and tasted delicious. Like I said, I have been eating nonstop all weekend!
After dinner, the turkey was making us all tired (except for Ella who didn't touch the turkey!) so we decided to watch some Shrek and football.
On Friday, the guys golfed and the girls did some shopping. No crazy black friday sales or anything, just Marshalls which at 10:30 was not crowded at all. They all went home that night and Ella was very sad to see all her playmates go home. This weekend was pretty quiet and back to our usual routines, lots of walks and park trips. Today Ella discovered a dandelion for the first time and was trying so hard to blow it.
Tonight, we walked to the church up the street from us to see a live nativity. They had camels, cows, sheep and mini horses. They also had a short play with Baby Jesus, the wise man and angels. At first, Ella was terrified of the camel but after some time, she thought it was neat and kept going up to it's cage to get a closer look.
The weekend was perfect and we know we have so much to be thankful for. Amazing family, great friends, health and happiness. Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are in full on Christmas mode and I can't wait for it. Ella is obsessed with all things Christmas right now, Santa Claus, elves, reindeer, christmas trees, etc so I know this one is going to be extra special. Now, time to start decorating the house!