Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Nanny & Pa's house.  As always, we had a good time as you can see by the big smiles.  I'm thankful to have such great in-laws.  Tessa went swimming every day and is now at that wonderful age where we didn't have to get in the pool with her.  It was still warm in Texas but the water was too cold for me.  We still think it's funny that Tessa named Ryan's dad "Pa" but on this trip she made up even funnier names for him.  At one point she was calling him Grampie which made us all giggle.  So, of course she kept saying Grampie, Grampie, Grampie just trying to get us to laugh more.       

While Paula was cooking, Tessa set the table.  She had a grand time pulling out every piece of silver.  Most of the utensils were in the right place but we had a few extra surprises.  Grampie, for instance, had the usual forks and knives plus a bonus pie server.  You just never know if you need your own pie server at Thanksgiving dinner.  Everything was delicious. 

After dinner, we went over to our friends' house.  Tessa was fascinated with their new baby.  And I was fascinated by how my baby looked like such a big kid next to their baby.   

The kids all played together and then we snapped our annual photos of the mommas and the kiddos. 

On Friday we visited Grandma Bobbie and Aunt Dana.  My grandma looks really good, you would never know she's had such a rough couple of years just by looking at her.  She is glad, as she put it, to be "on this side of the dirt."     

Our same friends came over on Friday night for one last visit.  These two swam and played and totally wore each other out.  Tessa just loves B and we wish we could see him more often. 

We opened a few early Christmas presents.  Tessa was so proud of her handprint tree, each grandma got one this year as a present.  Thank you Pinterest!

The trip went quickly and soon it was time to make the long trek home.  We made good time on Saturday and, when we got to Alabama before dinner, I hinted to Ryan that we could just drive straight home.  He wisely said that we should stop as planned and just take it easy.  He had work to do and we had all been in the car long enough already.  Our night in the hotel was relaxing and sweet.  Tessa and I watched a teeny bopper movie on the Disney channel while Ryan worked.  After all the excitment, it was nice to get a good night's sleep.  The next day while I was driving, our car died in a seedy part of Atlanta.  We had overwhelmed the car battery by simultaneously running the dvd player, the laptop, the navigation system and maybe even charging a cell phone, we're such a suburban family!  We all said a prayer of thanks that it was daylight, that the Auto Zone was open and nearby and that there were two cops in the parking lot with us, just in case the locals got rowdy.  Ryan changed the battery and we were on our way in no  time.  Unfortunately it wasn't just a battery problem, the alternator was bad too.  Only thirty minutes away from home, we died again.  This time next to an Advance Auto Parts and a PlayNation dealer.  While Ryan charged the battery, Tessa & I played at the "park."  God really took care of us and we made it home safely.  Just one more thing to be thankful for.