Thanksgiving

Obviously the big even this week was Thanksgiving, though Evie got a big treat on Tuesday when it was Daddy's day off of school and they didn't make it out the door in time to go to daycare so they stayed home togethrer and played.  On Wednesday when neither Evie nor I had school so we went to Grandma Jeanne and Kathy's house and I helped cook while Evie was entertained by Uncle Rickie.  Evie really loves her uncle, well, he's her great-uncle, and they had a good time together.  Wednesday night our friends Cristal and Matt came over with their baby, Nathaniel, and we had dinner together.  Evie enjoys seeing "Baby Nathan" and gets concerned about his whereabouts and any sound he makes.

Thursday morning I went to church with my Dad while Seth and Evie had the morning together.  Then we met at Grandma Jeanne's house for lunch.  My cousin who Evie and her cousins call Tia was in from Texas and she brought her black lab, Boston.  The first thing that happened when Evie opened the door to come in the house was Boston licked her face.  That memory stayed with her because every mention Evie made of Boston after that was, "Bosson lick Evie's face."

At first, Evie was skiddish around Boston and wanted to be picked up.  But after watching Rickie throw the ball for Boston several times, Evie decided that Boston was okay and she started throwing the ball for her too.  She quickly gave Boston the seal of approval and even gave Boston the first hug and kiss when she was told it was time to go bye-bye.

For dinner, we went to Granna and Grannadaddy's where Granna's side of the family got together.  It was a big group, and my aunt Kristy and her family were in from Atlanta.  My cousin Lydia will be 5 in a few days, so Evie is' almost exactly half of Lydia's age and the two of them got along great.  Lydia was very, very patient with Evie who had her own ideas about sharing.  But Lydia was great at going along with what Evie wanted to do and they enjoyed looking at the iPad together.

Here's Evie hugging my cousin Aiden, and Lydia hugging her biggest brother Zach

 Now, anyone who knows me is going to have a hard time believing that I actually went to a store on Black Friday.  But it was because we needed pull-ups and I had been eyeing a storage bench they had there for a while and when people said it wasn't bad, I decided to break my tradition of not entering a store between Thanksgiving and New Year's.  Evie came along for the ride.  Literally.  She rode in the bottom of the basket for a while, then in the normal child's seat, but by check out she was antsy and decided to ride in the bottom of the basket.

Friday night, Granna watched Evie while Seth studied and I went to game night at our church.  Kristy and her family were staying at my parents' house so later in the evening they got home from an outing and Lydia and Evie enjoyed playing with each other again.  I am told that at one point Lydia was playing in the kitchen at a tiny hutch my mom has that the kids like to pretend is an oven, and either Zach or Aiden (I don't remember who) was pushing Evie around the house on the trike.  Then Evie stopped the trike next to Lydia and said, "Ummmm...  I want.... muffin, tah-tee (chocolate) milk, and hashbrowns."  I love hearing about times when Evie's imagination is blossoming.

Saturday morning, Evie and I went to visit with Grandma Jeanne, Kathy, Rickie, Tia, and, most importantly, Boston.  We brought over some donuts and in the car on the way, Evie said, "Not Bosson eat donuts."  I said, "No, we don't feed doggies, do we?"  Evie said, "Uh uh.  Not Bosson eat donuts.  Not Rickie eat donuts."  I guess Rickie and Boston have a close association in Evie's mind.  Which is fair because Rickie is Boston's favorite person too.  As Olivia said, you always trust someone who is loved by animals and children because they can sense good character.

I loved seeing Grandma Jeanne and Evie play together that morning, especially when Evie asked Grandma Jeanne about her hair curlers and Grandma put one in Evie's hair.

Saturday night Evie and I went to my friend Amanda's house to see her and Rachel and Megan who were in town from St. Louis.  These are my friends from high school and we only get together twice a year: Thanksgiving and New Year's.  Evie had a blast playing with all of Amanda's instruments and especially liked the keyboard.  She declared, "Evie singing!" and pounded the keys and sang.

Today is the first day of Advent so Evie and I dressed in purple.  It was unseasonably warm today, so I snapped some pictures in front of one of the bushes at church and I just couldn't pick my favorite, so here are three favorites instead.