Thanksgiving in Lenoir

We spent Thanksgiving with Grandmom and Granddad on Saturday. Drew had a great time playing with his cousin Olivia. They both liked coloring in their new coloring books from Grandmom and having races in the hallway. They each got a ride on Granddad's 4-wheeler too!

Every year Chad has to turn Alan's deer into reindeer with a few decorations - this year Drew got to help!

Here's the two little ones with their Granddad.

And here's a quick family shot outside.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We took Drew to the Charlotte Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning (supposed to be the 4th largest parade in the US with over 100,000 people watching!). There were lots of marching bands, horses, motorcycles, fire trucks, dancers, buses, and even a helicopter! Check out his dance moves as a marching band performed infront of us.

He did really well staying in one spot for the whole two hour event. He liked waving to everyone. We saw someone we know from the Y in the parade, and Drew got a balloon from her. And at the end of the parade he even got a little Teddy Bear from Santa! He hugged that little thing all the way home and even took him to bed with him for his nap!

Here's Drew waving at the police motorcycles. You can see that it was really foggy at the beginning of the parade.

Closeup of Drew watching intently.


Mommy gave Daddy's arms a break for a few minutes. We had good seats, but a man at least 6'8" decided to stand infront of us, so we had to stand in order to see.

Drew was very concerned about the balloons that people had let go of and were stuck in the tree above us. He kept saying "Stuck! Get it!"

There was one "actual" float in the parade - it was the grand finale just before Santa. They had to maneuver it around the traffic lights and trees.

Then we did some family housecleaning once we got home. Drew loves to take parts to the vacuum and "help."

While I write this we are patiently (for now) waiting for our turkey... I followed all the instructions for thawing it and cooking it, but it seems to still be a little frozen or something. Hopefully I'll have this meal mastered by the time we host a bunch of people down the road! If our turkey is bad, at least we'll have some good stuff at Chad's parents on Saturday!

It's a girl!

Drew is going to have a little sister!! We are so excited to have one of each! Now, I'm searching for nursery themes, making name lists, and getting VERY excited to go shopping on the other side of the store (the pink side!) - where there's TONS more little clothes to choose from! Here's the 18 week picture from today.

Weekend fun

Last Sunday, Drew got to meet Santa! Yeah, it was in the 70s outside, but Drew's been saying "Santa" and "ho, ho, ho!" for awhile, so we took advantage of the free photos at Bass Pro Shop. They had part of the store set up like a winter wonderland, with games, trains, Christmas trees, reindeer, snow, and of course - Santa! The whole time he sat on Santa's lap, he was saying, "train? choo choo! train?" The first time he learned about Santa was in a dvd about trains, so I think he'll forever connect the two! But at least he wasn't scared of the bearded stranger! And later in the store we walked by an old man w/ a white beard (and he was wearing a red vest!) and Drew waved at him a whole bunch so he started talking to Drew. Then, Drew pointed and said, "Santa!" I don't think the guy minded too much though.

The past two weekends Drew has enjoyed helping Chad pick up the leaves! If I come out to visit and see how things are progressing, Drew points at Chad and says "helping!" He drags out his wagon, lawn mower, golf clubs and shovels - and really thinks he's helping! Very cute! Here he is taking a break on the deck and watching Chad work.

And playing in the pile of leaves!

Today, Grandmom and Granddad came to visit with Drew. They brought some old Christmas books of Chad and Grant's for Drew to borrow. I'm glad Drew was in to this Rudolf book - Rudolf was my absolute favorite as a kid! I'm hoping he likes my Rudolf movie - we'll wait until Thanksgiving for that though.

Then we went outside to enjoy the 75 degree weather in November!

And Drew spotted an airplane! He always sees them before anyone else - especially when we're in the car! Maybe he'll be a pilot...

Then we headed to the front of the house, so Drew could show everyone where we'd seen the snake... and we saw another snake!! This one was tiny...but still...another snake! I will be watching my step from now on!

And on the baby news... I think I've been feeling the little one moving around this weekend. The movements are still so small, it's hard to tell! And after Wednesday morning IT will no longer be an IT - hopefully! We have our 18 week ultrasound and I can hardly wait!! I'm still thinking it's a girl, but I'd be thrilled with either! Earlier today, Granddad was teaching Drew how to call the squirrels with a "come here" motion with his hands - and tonight Drew was rubbing my belly and we were talking about the baby, and he started doing his hand like that and saying "come here!" So, I guess he's ready to meet this baby already...too bad we have a LONG time to wait for that!!

Drew knows MOST of his ABCs

We've been practicing the alphabet quite a bit - Drew has some books about the ABCs and an ABC puzzle. And, of course, he loves Wheel of Fortune! He likes to sing the alphabet with me (he repeats each letter after me, one at a time)...and then he all of a sudden started taking the lead! Here's a video of him rattling off some of the letters (he forgot a couple of them - but I was still impressed!).

Our porch steps have been bad luck for us the past couple of days! First, Drew accidentally let go of his balloon from the grocery store. I was ahead of him carrying all the groceries, and I hear him say (real sadly!) "Balloon!!" And he was pointing to the sky! So, now every time we walk out the door, he says "balloon" and points up. Then yesterday, as I was locking up the door and Drew headed down the steps by himself, holding onto the railings (which he always does), he slipped and fell head first down the brick stairs. So scary! But I scooped him up and we ran inside to calm down. I checked him all over for scrapes, bruises or injuries, but somehow he only got a scrape on his temple from his rough landing at the bottom! So, then when we walked out the door, he'd point at the stairs and say "fell...boom!" Then today, we walked down the stairs (a little more cautiously), and about stepped on this little creature at the bottom! Yuck!

Halloween!

We played out in the leaves for a bit the other day. Drew wore his Ben Chappell jersey and did his IU cheer a couple times. He likes to say "I-U" and then a couple seconds later "go pack!" We've confused him!

Then all playing had to stop so we could watch the garbage truck pick up our trash!

We went to a neighbor's house and met up with Drew's buddies for some Trick-or-treating. Here they are getting ready to head out (Meena the devil, Kayla the pumpkin and Drew the monkey).

Drew always had to carry a piece of candy in one hand and his pumpkin in the other. Here he is getting ready to head up to someone's house.

Here he is walking around the neighborhood like he's a pro at this trick-or-treating business now! He wouldn't say anything when people answered their door, but he always said "thank you" when they dropped stuff in his pumpkin.

It was pretty hot (around 70 degrees) and humid, and when we pulled Drew's hood off, his hair was soaked! But fortunately, it started to rain on us and felt great! We ran to our friend's garage b/c it started really coming down. We also took that opportunity to change Drew into his backup costume so he could cool off! Here he is taking a break in the wagon with a cold drink.

And then we braved the misty rain and headed out for some more candy! Our neighborhood was packed, despite the rain.

We got home around 8:30 and Drew had to bust into his candy! Luckily his favorite (and really the only candy he knows) is suckers! (I dug all the chocolate things out so he wouldn't even notice they were gone).

We only had one group of Trick-or-Treaters show up at our door, but luckily it was a large group so we were able to get rid of quite a bit of our candy. After that group left, the rain picked back up and I think everyone was done. I'm pretty sure Drew had a great time - and the hour and a half of Trick-or-Treating wore him out enough to keep him on schedule despite the time change!