Thanksgiving weekend

In the past, we have always had Thanksgiving lunch in Tuscaloosa or Berry and then headed to Fairhope for the rest of the weekend.  But this year we decided to just have Thanksgiving dinner in Fairhope.  We left Thursday morning around 8:30 and we were in Fairhope by lunch time.  Mom and I had made a few sides and Mom made dressing and we put it in the cooler to take down.  A guy that works with Riley smoked us a ham and turkey. 

 

The weather was PERFECT!!!  Thursday and Friday was just gorgeous...it turned cooler on Saturday but it was still nice!  We ate outside, let the kids play, rode the golfcart and just relaxed!  Mom and I went shopping on Friday morning for a little while.  We did not do the traditional Black Friday madness (or Black Thursday?! now).  We went to a few places on around 8 am and did get some good deals and it wasn't crowded at all and then came back to the house and enjoyed the rest of the day. 

 

I love having Riley's Dad and my parents down at the same time.  I love that they get along so well!  The girls love having all the attention!  Riley and I both only had one set of living grandparents so I hope ours girls cherish these trips! 

Riley and I even got to go on a date after the game on Saturday!  We went to Camilla Cafe. I had been on my girls trip but he had not been yet.  

 

 

Hollyhand Thanksgiving

We always do Thanksgiving with Riley's family a few days early so we did it on the Sunday night before Thanksgiving.  My sisters-in-law and myself hosted a baby shower that afternoon so we decided to have dinner catered at Mr. Doug's house.  What a great decision! 

The grandkids always enjoy playing together.  Anna Riley follows Brilyn and Ainslee around everywhere.  Ainslee couldn't even go to the bathroom by herself bless her heart!  Ava Kate wasn't feeling good so she cried the majority of the time we were there. 

 

Trying to get a picture of the grandkids is never easy!

Sweet cousins

"Baby Dunc" as AR calls him

These two play together good too when AK is being mean
to sweet Duncan!

The little drama queen!

Riley's brother Brian, Leigh, Ainslee and Brilyn

Poor Duncan was done!

Our attempt at a family picture... at least one child is smiling

13 months

 

 

 

I am just a little behind on posting this but Ava Kate turned 13 months on November 6th.  

Here are some things she is doing at this age:

-She wears mostly 18 months cloths and the shoe size varies.

 

-I have given up on a hairbow for now...she wont keep them in and they end up in her mouth.

 

-She now has 4 teeth...two on bottom and two on top and I think she is cutting more now because she hasn't been herself the past couple of days. 

 

-She sleeps great most of the time.  She takes 1-2 naps a day.  Unfortunatley being the 2nd child and on the go with us, we don't always get that morning nap but she does pretty good when we don't.  She takes a great afternoon nap at the same time as AR from around 1-4 every afternoon.  This is pretty clockwork for the both of them!   And back to bed around 7 for bedtime.  She is doing much better about staying up a little later if we need her to but she is always ready for bed at 7 if we are home.

-She is completely on whole milk sippy cups and has been for a while.  She doesn't always have to have her milk at night before bed anymore but it is a must when she wakes up! She also had her first taste of juice this month.

 

-She eats anything and everything!  Do NOT leave food sitting out if you don't want her to eat it!  AR is finally starting to get this!!

 

-She is still not walking a lot but she is taking steps.  She knows she can get places faster if she crawls so that is what she does.

 

-She loves playing with Anna Riley and they are really starting to do more things together now. 

 

-She is like a little cat ready to pounce!  She studies and watches whatever she is going to snatch (ie. eyeglasses, ARs hairbow, etc.) and then when she does it she is QUICK! 

-Ava Kate thinks Anna Riley is SO funny!  And Anna Riley eats it up!

 

-Ava Kate is such a Daddy's girl!!  She squeals and screams everytime she sees him and cries when I take her away from him.  He usually comes home for lunch and when he has to leave, she cries and cries!  I love that she loves him so much...it melts my heart!

-Ava Kate "talks" all the time and has said a few more things this month but has only said them once!

A couple of the ones that stick out were "Ava" and "Hey Sissy!"

 

-She likes pointing to your nose and mouth.  She can blow kisses and give high five.

 

-We have been bad and have always made AK sit in the tub bath ring because she was all over the place and it just made bath time easier with the two of them.  But now she can officially climb out of it and then proceeds to climb out of the tub also.  She is my little climber!  She might not be walking yet, but she will climb on anything!

Trick or Treat

Anna Riley had so much fun this year trick or treating!  We went went with a few friends from church and they did a hayride through Forest Glen which is a big neighborhood.  AR had so much fun running up to all of the houses.  Once she got the hang of it after a couple of houses, she told me to stay back and not come with her this time!  Really?!  When did she get so big??  There were a couple of houses that were "spooky" and one that had thriller music and people dressed up like warewolves and such and the bigger kids were even scared and wouldn't go up there and she went right up to them and laughed at them and said "you look funny!" haha!  Then proceeded to ask where was the candy!  I am telling you that is ALL she cared about was getting the candy!  Ava Kate, of course did not care much about it but to my surprise she was a trooper and hung in there and wasn't too fussy even though it was reaching her bedtime!

We cut things a little short (or actually probably at the perfect time) because while out, we got a call from ADS security!  Really??  When they called I immediately remember going out front and NOT locking the door back.  We set the alarm when we left so apparently a little trick or treater tried opening the door and off went the alarm!  I keep meaning to go look at the video footage but I haven't had time.  I am sure that was not what he/she was expecting!  Thank God everything was ok and it was a false alarm!  I just hate the cops had to come out!

This was actually during the day...
Riley's office had pizza and invited us
to bring the kids.

 

 

AK on the left (almost 13 months)
AR on the right (almost 9 months)

We ran into one of my High School friends
and her little girl