Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Thanksgiving 2013: Eric's Family

For the first time in blog history, I totally forgot to get a Thanksgiving post up on the actual holiday. Apparently I am no longer thankful in my old age. Judge me!

Not really though. In fact, I have lots to be thankful for this year. And one of those things is our new ability to celebrate holidays with family, which is what caused my posting "responsibilities" to slip my mind. So, to kick off Thanksgiving recaps, let me make it up to you:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
from our family to yours!

Thanksgiving 2013

Alright, then. Moving on.

We drove down to St. Petersburg Tuesday evening last week and stayed through the holiday until Saturday morning. During that time we were able to see all of our parents and most siblings, which was so nice. I'm going to split my recaps into two posts according to "side of the family," starting with Eric's family.

On Wednesday morning, Eric and Ellie went to Eric's stepmother's sister's house to visit with his dad and Suellen. I have said a million times over that one of the best things - nope, scratch that, THE best thing - about living in Florida is our close proximity to family, thus giving Ellie the opportunity to form relationships with her extended family. However, for various reasons, until last week we have been unable to coordinate a visit with Eric's dad and stepmom. Considering the last time we saw them, Ellie was a wee shrimp of four months, Eric was super excited to show off our bubbly, now-20-month-old toddler to that branch of his family tree. (I had prior plans with my sister so had to miss the visit this time.)

From what I hear, the visit went quite well and everybody had ample opportunity to see how awesome Ellie is (duh)! If nothing else, she sure was a lot heavier to hold this time around!

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Ellie and her Grandpa W.

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Hanging out with Grandpa and Grandma Suellen

We saw Eric's mom, Gramz, sister Kelley and Phyllis on Thanksgiving proper for dinner. Eric, Ellie, my dad and I went over to Gramz's house around 12:30 on Thanksgiving day, and before long we were dining on a feast largely prepared by Publix. (Thanks for handling the cooking this time, Publix!) We had a great time sharing what we were thankful for while we dined, and we enjoyed a lovely cake (expertly-marbled by Eric) in honor of Gramz's birthday. After dinner, Ellie had a blast playing with Aunt Kelley. Good times with good family!

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A gratuitous outfit shot, because BABY BOOTS ARE THE CUTEST THING EVER.

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The meal

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Ellie getting ready to throw a fit about the Thanksgiving food before her, demanding string cheese in its place

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Cake for Gramz! Unfortunately, we forgot the birthday candles, but don't worry. There's an app for that.

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She likes cake now. Not a moment too soon.

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Auntie Kelley is so fun!

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A little quality time with Nonnie

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Hugs!

Our Thanksgiving visits with the W. family were so nice, and we can't wait to see them again over the coming Christmas holiday!

Stay tuned for the rest of our Thanksgiving fun in St. Pete: tree trimming at my dad's house, and Busch Gardens with my mom!

1 comment:

Lauren said...

Looks like an awesome time with the family how funny about that candle app!!!!