Ava's First Thanksgiving

We are having a great time, celebrating with my parents and enjoying some days off.  I seriously love Thanksgiving...family, food, football and naps??  I mean come on, does it get any better than that??  Yesterday was a fun day, as we celebrated Thanksgiving with Ava for the first time :) 

Our glowing, candle-lit table.

Ok, does this not make you want to eat all over again??  Seriously, I might have to take a break and go make another plate of leftovers.  I am not kidding.  I heart everything on that plate.

Gobble, Gobble :)

So what do you make for Thanksgiving?  We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans (steamed, we were burned out on green bean casserole), stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and cranberry salad.

A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

My parents.

Ava spent most of the meal eating her banana puffs, playing with her toy and sucking on her highchair.  I think that means she had a good time!

Kind of loved that this was our first real holiday together and that we got to spend it in our own house.  Next year will be a serious adventure in trying to convince her to eat what we put on her plate!

Love this little monkey!  She was a wild woman all afternoon :)

She and Grandpa had a good time playing in her room.

But her favorite activity of the day was chasing Ryley, after he came home again from being in Iowa.  She LOVES him!  And speaking of him, can you see that his left eye is not quite as open as his right one?  When we woke up yesterday, I noticed that he wouldn't open one eye and sure enough, it was because he had an infection.  So, Travis and my Dad spent 2 hours at the emergency vet on Thanksgiving day, and $200 later, they came home with some eye drops and a much happier dog.  Not the ideal way I hoped to spend our morning, but at least it was not a major problem, just an eye infection!

Ava was thrilled when he came back so that she could follow him around some more.

After we ate at home, we went to my cousin Jenny's house and all of my cousins and their families came over too.

There was not a shortage of arms to hold Ava!

Her cousin Ryan was thrilled to play with her :)

The guys ate and watched ESPN :)

And the women ate, talked and ate some more!

Don't worry, Travis was with the guys all night, not the ladies :)

He just couldn't pass up a little playtime with Ava!

All in all it was a wonderful, low key kind of day and I think Ava had a great time with all of her family in Minnesota!

I know it goes without saying, but she is our greatest blessing and what we are most thankful for this year.  We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday and today has been lots of fun too.  I can hear my Mom getting the leftovers ready in the kitchen and tonight we're going to put up our Christmas tree!!  This may be my favorite night of the year.  I hope you have had a blessed day!  We have so many things to be grateful for, don't we?

Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas too!!