A Thankful Thanksgiving

A week late, but we had a wonderful Thanksgiving with my husbands family. I thought of Max and his family frequently but our family visit was so full and lively that it was impossible to linger on sadness. The whole crew was there, us, my in laws, my husbands twin brother with his (pregnant!!) wife and their daughter (my awesome niece) and my husband sister with her boyfriend, plus Big M came with us and my in laws dog. It was a very full house!

The girls had a blast. Normally when we visit my in laws we go to their 'cabin' in north Tennessee. They actually live outside of Nashville until they retire and then they'll move to the cabin permanently, but the girls had never been to the Nashville house. So I had to explain to Ali that we were going to see Mommy & Bobby at their other house. (She calls my in laws Mommy & Bobby. I know it's weird. I'm Mama, my mother is Amommy and my husbands mother is Mommy, it's confusing).

She knows about the cabin and the 'tree house' on the mountain, so I told Ali we were going to Mommy's running house. The little neighborhood they're in is one street with maybe 35 houses and behind the houses is a big open field, solid football field size, that my father in law keeps mowed and maintained. We set Ali loose out there with her 'running shoes' and we had the happiest little girl ever. She of course then wanted us to run with her, and so there was a lot of chase and tag and falling over, but she loved it. The weather wasn't perfect, it was cool, but we ran so much that it wasn't too bad, and she didn't mind at all.

For the late afternoons, when it really was a little too chilly, I had come prepared with holiday craft activities. I had hoped my niece would participate too, but she's only just two and not quite into it. Ali however, loved it.

Thankful.

I had come with the leaves and letters cut out, and Ali pasted them onto the cards, then we strung them with twine. My mother in law was thrilled to have Granddaughter art work for Thanksgiving decorations.

This was the Friday afternoon activity.

Trees

They did end up looking a little like party hats instead of Christmas trees, but they were still cute and Ali had a great time with the stickers and glue. My mother in law happily kept those too. I think this weekend I'll sit Ali down to make a few more because they are cute and I'd love a couple on my mantle place as well.

Sadly, I"m up two pounds after all the eating and drinking from Thanksgiving. So the last two days have been 'back at it' days and I've hit the treadmill at 5 am to do my thing. This morning I was actually pretty proud, I ran a mile in 15 minutes and 15 seconds! For me, that's pretty good. I had been at 20+ minutes with mostly walking. Now I'm at 15 with mostly a light jog and a little bit of good running. I do walk the first five minutes at a brisk pace. I hope to be able to get to a point where I can comfortably run two miles in the morning under 25 minutes.

I am excited about the holiday's. This year will be fun for Ali and Elle's birthday is on the 27th! She'll be a year old already!! How did it happen?? She is my sweet little snuggle bug though and i"m so glad she's still a snuggler. Ali was never one to cuddle much.

Happy December Everyone!