Thanksgiving in MS 2014

We were able to visit MS this Thanksgiving for 2 weeks! I was worried that 2 weeks might have been a bit excessive, but it turned out to be great fun. We were able to see lots of family and eat at all the places we had been missing on our previous trips... but it also means that now we have 2 weeks worth of pictures and adventures to share.  I'm not 100% sure I can share them all and feel satisfied that I covered it all.

Highlights:

• Ella's birthday! Since miss Ella turned 2 while we were driving home, we decided to throw her a small party once we arrived. It was fun to be able to have family there to celebrate with us. 

Picture of her baby doll birthday cake!

• My sister unexpectedly left for Marine boot camp at Parris Island. Since it was so unexpected, it took everyone especially our mom and dad for a surprise! I know it all happened very suddenly for them, but from my perspective I thought it was neat that I was able to there to see her off. My sister and I have never been close, and we have awkward moments where we don't exactly know what to say to each other, but I really did try this trip to make things better. I wrote her a letter which may sound silly, but I hope that in some small way it helped us.  

• Earlier before we left for MS, Haiden told Michael that he wanted to go hunting. I think it was a fun experience for my Dad to get to take Haiden and Michael hunting. 

• A lot of our mornings... or more like early afternoons were spent at Meme's house! We talked and hung out with her! The kids sure love 'going to meme's house!' There we got to see Aunt Donna and Pawpaw D. One afternoon Meme took time to give me some pointers and how to advise on making fondant flowers and a rose! I had such a great time and I hope to get better at making both.
• We visited with Michael's pawpaw! 
• My mom took me and the kids to a place called Global Wildlife in Folsom, LA. There is literally nothing there but this awesome place where you pay to ride in safari-style on their 900 acres of land feeding animals that literally come up to the vehicles to eat out of your hand or buckets. 

Do you have enough feed, Mom? ;)

• While we did that, Michael spent the day with his Pawpaw. That evening, we met up with the Ivy's,  or Michael's "bio-dad", "real dad"... I'm not super clear on what to call him yet. I guess Rick will work, but that seems too boring right? ;) But we had a great time and ended up visiting with them again the day before thanksgiving. It is really cool to see how much in common Michael has with a family that he hasn't ever known.  They not only look similar, but they talk and act similar as well. I love the idea of getting to know them better, and hopefully we will see them all again in the future! 

I've always thought that Kailey looks like Michael... And since Michael looks a lot like Rick, I guess it only makes sense for Kailey to look like him too. Below is a picture of Rick Ivy, next to a picture of Kailey.. now I just have to find a picture of Michael to add to this combination! ;)

• Michael and I got to go on several date nights! (Thank you mom for watching all the kiddos!)
• We were able to hang out with my Aunt and cousins....minus Marly. As it turns out visiting Aunt Cindy's house is not really the same without seeing Marly there too.  I sorely missed her.
• Thanksgiving was fun- we ate at my moms and then went to Michael's family's thanksgiving dinner! Keri plus Lillian and Case, Daniel, Margret plus Doug flew in and it was awesome being able to see all them plus other extended family! We ate, played card games, and enjoyed everyone's company! I hate that I didn't get any pictures from this night... I guess we were just having too much fun that we found no time for snapping pics!
• The following day, we had Thanksgiving with the McGowans at Meme's house! It was another house full of family and food! That afternoon before eating, we went with Pawpaw D and Aunt Donna to the gravel pit to rock hunt and after dinner, we drove through to see the Christmas lights at the lake.

• We met up with my Dad and his parents. I've never been super close to my paternal grandparents, but it was great to have time to visit with them during this trip too!

• My mom and I went shopping a couple times together, and on our last shopping adventure we had only Ella with us so we spontaneously got her ears pierced! 

All of those quick highlights don't give nearly enough detail for my liking, but at least they have made it to a place on our blog! 

Thank you for hosting us MS family! We love and miss you all dearly!