Thanksgiving Part 2

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we got the chance to join my dad and Lianna for their Thanksgiving! It was a low key day full of great food and laughing kiddos!

Bailey ate her lunch before the rest of us, and she gobbled it up ;)

Ashlynn spent her day outside. She thinks Papa's yard is just as fun as any park!

After we ate lunch, we spent time catching up and enjoying the beautiful day!

Miss A skipped her nap AGAIN (are you sensing a holiday trend?), so she crashed out once she cuddled up with Papa to watch tv.

Before we left, we snapped a pic of almost all of the grandkids with Nonnie! (Poor A was still conked out, so I held her for the picture.)

It was such a relaxing day, and we are so thankful that we have so much family that we can love on and spend time with! 

Thanks for having us Papa and Nonnie!

Thanksgiving Part 1

This year, we spent Thanksgiving Day with Mark's family. It was nice to catch up with people we hadn't seen in a while.

Before we headed out, we had a little relaxing family day.  Ashlynn also moved her high chair, climbed onto the counter, opened a box of cupcakes and ate THREE of them! All in the matter of minutes. Crazy crazy girl. She climbed down and came to eat the 3rd in front of us.

Around lunchtime, we headed to meet up with everyone. Ashlynn was very excited to see "Gam-maw and Gam-pa!"

Miss Bailey was just happy in general!

Mark's parent's brought his old train set for Ashlynn to play with. She was thrilled. They kept her occupied for most of the day.

She even let her sister play with them!

The girls enjoyed all of the attention that they got throughout the day from their uncles.

Bailey and Grandpa Tony even got a nap in!

When Ashlynn wasn't playing with trains, she was eating. That girl loves her some good food!

Here are a few of the obligatory, but much loved group photos!

The girls

Our blessed little family

The grands with most of the kiddos

After our food settled, we took a walk. Uncle Mike carried A until we got to the park.

And then she played her heart out with Mark and I!

When we got back, it was time for dessert, and Christmas PJs!

A days worth of food and fun, plus no nap, equalled one very tired Baby A!

It was such a fun day, but even more so, it was a sweet day. One that was full of reflection on the past year, and how much Mark and I truly have to be thankful for. The past year has been really hard, and has been full of some of the hardest moments of our marriage, but the Lord has been good to us. He has given us one another, and 2 precious baby girls who we truly treasure, and we are beyond thankful for the lessons and blessing of 2013.

The Zoo!

A few weeks ago we took the girls to the zoo for the first time! It was so much fun!! When we first got there, both girls were asleep (and stayed asleep!) for a bit.  Ashlynn woke up once I took her out of the comfy stroller.

First up was the elephants. There were 2 new baby elephants, and Ashlynn was SO excited to see them. She kept say "Eh-phant!!"

Next up were the giraffes and ducks. Ashlynn was most excited about the ducks!

We made our way around to the birds, and Miss B finally woke up!

It is hard to tell in this picture, but Mark and Ashlynn went in the "bird cage". I was way to creeped out to join them   Bailey was sleeping, so I did not go in. Ashlynn held the bird food out and was not scared one bit.

We picked the perfect day to go. It was cool out, and the zoo was almost empty. We got to go at our own pace and really enjoy the day.

We went to see the tigers next. Ashlynn LOVED watching the tiger, until it came up to the glass. That definitely scared her!

After hitting up a few exhibits, we took Ashlynn to check out the "Texas" area. They had a lot of fun interactive exhibits for kiddos.

In the Texas section, there is a train that drives to the front of the zoo and back. We hopped on, much to A's delight. She has a love of all things "tain and pane" (Trains and planes) right now.  She kept smiling and saying "Choo-Choo"!

Our next stop was to check out the flamingos, on Daddy's shoulders of course.

And the rhinos….where I snapped one of my favorite pictures!

And lastly, the monkeys!

We were so glad that we took the girls to the zoo. Ashlynn was at a perfect age to understand and get excited about the animals, and we are hoping to make the zoo a regular stop from now on!