thankful

we spent a wonderful thanksgiving with family and friends! it was a relaxing day at brian's parents' house with his side of the family, along with my mom and our dear friends kim, james, and their son isaiah.




these two turkeys were supposed to be cutting the turkey, not sword fighting! ha!


love these people!!!!


yum. yum. yum. we may have had a little bit leftover...


a beautiful ham on a beautiful table!


it's beginning to look a lot like eggnog season!


while most of us were comatose on the couch after stuffing our faces, the kids burned off some energy outside. love these fall girlies!!


caroline sporting her birthday boots!


cornhole fun! the two first-born cousins may or may not have duked it out a little… look at those stares!!



it's not a holiday dinner at pappy's unless there's shooting involved.


for the first time in forever, another sweet potato pie recipe was on the scene… you see, brian's grandmother's sweet potato pies were THE staple for the holidays. i started hearing about these pies pretty soon after brian and i began dating, and once i began joining his family for holidays, it was clear. the pies WERE the holiday. they were on a pedestal with spotlights, complete with a soundtrack of angels singing that played anytime you stood near (but not too close to) the pies. (i didn't dare tell grandmommy that i was a pumpkin pie girl.) when kristie became a part of our family, grandmommy passed the sweet potato pie torch on to her, and the tradition continues. so enter kim, who 1) is pretty much family and 2) says that she makes a mean sweet potato pie. there was only one thing to do:


have a pie-to-pie match-up.

all the guys closed their eyes for the blind taste test… (though i'm just now noticing that brian looks like he's cheating!)


the brothers were taking this very seriously…


that's some DEEP concentration. a lot was on the line here.
(what is james doing?!? #ihopeipicktherightpie)


well the verdict was… they were both great pies! everybody wins! no seriously, some of grandmommy's faithful pie lovers actually voted on kim's pie, and kim's husband voted on kristie's pie. so it really was a tie. we are way too nice to each other, i guess!

hallie says she will eat whatever pie you give her!


these aunties love my girl!


closeup on her cute lil' shirt! (bought it last year and remembered i had it the day before thanksgiving! whew, that was close!)


after all the pie hoopla, nana taught the kids how to make turkeys out of oreos, marshmallows, candy corn, and whatever other treats she has hidden away in nana's secret sugar stash!






the kids' blood sugar levels weren't quite high enough yet, so they pulled out some m&ms for a little thanksgiving bingo!



love those boys! :)

pappy and his DD wardrobe! doesn't uncle si kinda look like he's gonna jump off the shirt!? 3D si… now that is frightening, jack!


after a late night run with kim to toysrus for early black friday deals, we pigged out again on leftovers and then headed home. it was a fantastic day of family, fellowship, and giving thanks to our Father. we are so incredibly blessed to have the love of friends and family who live out the love of Christ in our lives. we are so incredibly blessed to be loved by Almighty God, who gave us The Greatest Gift of Love when we deserved death. all other blessings pale in comparison to the riches we have as children of God. we truly do have so very much to be thankful for on thanksgiving and every day!