you gotta have friends...12.2

one tuesday night, our sweet friends the yorks came over for a "bum" night...you gotta love friends who will come to your house in their comfy clothes and eat pizza and let the kids run around wild!!! the kids had so much fun playing together while the adults sat around talking! the pizza delivery was a LONG nightmare story...suffice it to say, i will NOT be ordering from pizza hut ever again!!! but, we still had a great time. when the yorks were leaving, all the kids started "hugging" mr. dustin at the same time which turned into what they thought was a HILARIOUS game, so tim grabbed the camera to capture the cuteness...

pictures before church...11.30

we got a jump on wearing our christmas outfits...it was still november...but it WAS the sunday after thanksgiving...that's okay, right?!?

wordless wednesday...11.29

making christmas presents...11.29

the saturday after thanksgiving, all 5 of us loaded up and headed to paint-a-piece to make platters for nana and mimi for christmas! (they have both already received their gifts...so i'm not spoiling anything! i wanted them to be able to enjoy the platters this christmas too!)

it was a HUGE undertaking...poor baby jacob did NOT like being woken up by having his hand painted while being hung upside down :)

drew was our perfect little angel...who knew 2 was a good age to do hand painting projects? i would have placed money on him being the trouble maker!

sarah was SO excited about what we were doing that she was a little too hyper for following instructions correctly!

eventually, we got all the hand prints on the platters. tim and i were a bit exhausted after that! tim loaded up the kids in the car to grab some lunch while i set out to finish decorating the platters...

anyway...the finished products...all three of them...are ADORABLE!!! i am so glad we will have this keepsake and the memories of the CRAZY time making them!!!

another visit with "uncle" jeff...11.28

tim's good friend, jeff, came to memphis for thanksgiving and came over to meet the newest member of our family. jeff is always so sweet to make time to hang out with us and our kiddos. he is about to start his last semester of law school in nashville! congrats jeff!!!

p.s. sarah STILL talks about jeff coming over and having a tea party with her...what a memory!!!

black friday...11.28

instead of braving the crazies on black friday, the kids and i hung out at mimi's house while various family members ran out to stores the get "the deals" of the day. it was actually the first day after thanksgiving since 2004 that i haven't worked...it was MUCH nicer to sit around and eat leftovers this year :) the kids enjoyed having LOTS of family to perform for and play with!

thanksgiving afternoon...11.27

after our fun morning with tim's family, we headed over to my parents' house for the afternoon with "the franklinton crowd". my mom's entire family came to memphis for thanksgiving. the only person missing was my brother andy (boo!). we enjoyed a lazy afternoon with lots of baby jacob lovin', movie watching, and gingerbread train making...check out these pics from gingerbread house making 2 thanksgivings ago. boy, sarah has grown up A LOT!!!

thanksgiving lunch...11.27

we headed over to aunt marcell's house after our photo session to enjoy the beautiful day with our family. the kids were in heaven since it was nice enough for them to play outside! the kids played in the leaves, jumped in the bounce house, played hide-and-seek, and generally ran around wild! they had too much fun! we were also able to capture a big family photo! we ate too much, as is required on thanksgiving, and enjoyed each other's company! what a wonderful start to our thanksgiving festivities!

p.s. the family photo is about 1/4th of tim's mom's family! BIG family!!!

my christmas wish came true this year!!!

oh. my. goodness! my FAVORITE restaurant in the world FINALLY made it to memphis!

i LOVE st. louis bread co. aka panera bread! i seriously ate there 3-4 times a week while i was in st. louis at st. louis university! it is heavenly! i tried to convince my dad to bring the franchise to memphis...that's how much i love it! when we go to st. louis each summer, we sometimes eat there twice a day much to tim's dismay!

the cordova restaurant opened this week (!!!) and the sign is up less than 5 minutes from my house where the collierville one is going to be built! tim actually knows the marketing manager for the memphis franchise and she said there are TWELVE restaurants being opened in memphis!!!

so, that's my christmas present this year...i don't need anything else. well, except maybe some gift cards to panera! (hint, hint!!!)

thanksgiving morning...11.27

i'm glad we got pics of the kids first thing in the morning on thanksgiving...tim brought our bounce house to the pressgrove's and sarah and drew looked like ragamuffins within seconds! glasses, bow, socks, tights, shoes all came off...and the hem on sarah's dress even came out! like i said, ragamuffins!!!

couldn't you just eat him up?!? look at that booty!!!

jacob's sip-and-see...11.23

my sweet friends mary and amy had a sip-and-see for all of our friends to come meet baby jacob. i told them they were spoiling me rotten...its my THIRD child after all! of course they would hear nothing of that!!!
the decorations and food were divine! these girls should be professional party planners!!!

mary, me, rhonda, and nina

deana, me, and bekah

me, my mom, mrs. brister, tim's mom, and tim's sister becky

mary, me, and amy--the fabulous hostesses

me and my mom

sweet baby jacob...he slept in his carseat the whole time!

nina and me

me and donna

gelena and me

jacob made a TINY little peep and mary "rescued" him from his carseat!

alison and kacey's sweet baby cooper

rhonda and me

allison and me

kacey and me

me and alison

mary and amy opening their hostess gifts

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it was WEIRD to have so many pictures taken of me...usually i'm the one behind the camera! it was a really fun afternoon! with jacob asleep the whole time, we were all able to visit for a long time...something that never happens when all the kids are around! i am blessed with REALLY sweet sweet friends!