Thanksgiving & Birthday {Or: How we ate and celebrated all week}

The week of Thanksgiving, I had some extra time off, so I had nine glorious days in a row to spend as I pleased.  It was amazing. 

I have no photos of this part, but Saturday morning through Monday morning, I was in Houston for Mary Ellen's bridal shower and also to visit Amanda.  We talked so much that I went to bed both nights with a sore throat and a smile on my face. 

Monday night, we had our Dallas "Brunette" dinner to celebrate my birthday, and Sarah happened to be in town from Georgia and was able to join us.  The girls treated me to dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and showered me with the most thoughtful gifts.  I have such dear friends!

{The Brunettes: Lyndsy, SMoo, Me and Claire, along with Savannah Sarah}

I would also highly recommend their Blueberry Cheesecake.  To.Die.For.

Tuesday was spent organizing the house, doing laundry, grocery shopping and making dinner.  These are all things I usually can't do in one day, so I was quite proud of myself.  That's what happens when you have more brain space...you get so much more accomplished!

I didn't intend to grab a screen shot of Instagram, but it's what I got, so I'm just going with it.  It's just as well, though, because I feel like Instagram got used more over the holiday by friends and family than I've ever seen it before!  I post very exciting things, like our utensil drawer, of course.  Here's the before and after the organization.  I just wonder why I didn't do this a year ago when we moved into our house.  I was quite proud of myself!  And really grateful for Bed, Bath and Beyond gift cards still left from our wedding--hooray!

Wednesday, Adam worked, so Troy and I rode out to the lakehouse together with Rye Dog.  I love spending time with T-Roy and getting him all to myself.  Rye made it quite clear that he was not going to let me go anywhere without him.  He knows that suitcases mean an upheaval in his routine, and he is not a fan!

The lake was so relaxing.  We enjoyed spending Thanksgiving there with Papa, the 3 Dixons and 2 Paulsons (plus Bella and Rye).  Jonita was spending time with her brothers in Georgia, and the Flaggs were in Cancun for a family-of-four vacation, so it was a small group this year.  We had so much fun hanging out together.

 

 Everybody loved on RyeDog (that's his blurry face in the photo), which just warmed my heart!  Rye's a larger dog than my family's used to, so I think it just took a while to adjust.  He and Bella finally got along swimmingly.

 

There were many games of 42 played, along with Gin Rummy.  I happily watched, addressed our Christmas Cards and worked on my felt and wooden nativity for Christmas.  Everyone got to do their own thing.  Loved it.

I caught Mom and Troy catching up out on the deck.  I just love this photo.

 

I also spied them working on Christmas gifts, making plane reservations to come home at Christmas and make plans for Troy to come home in January for good (!) to pursue his music career here in Texas.  We are so excited to have him back!

Adam came in on Thursday morning and greeted me with several stories of working the night before.  Surprisingly, there had been TWO fires the night before.  TWO.  That never happens.  No one was hurt, and the firefighters actually got to fight some fire.  He was pumped.

Dad planned on making us a breakfast while we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, but much to our surprise, the gas to the house was out on the stovetop burners and also the outdoor grill.  You know it's a small town and family-owned when a company takes your call on Thanksgiving Day and promises to be out in an hour and a half.  We were so grateful and rather shocked that they came to fill up the gas tanks for us.  (They only have to be filled about every five years, so it was just our luck to have it run out that day!)

 

 We had the Poole Gas Company to be thankful for on Turkey Day, for certain!  The man couldn't have been nicer.  This was especially appreciated because Dad was grilling steaks for our Thanksgiving meal.  We were going to have to think of Plan B if they hadn't been able to fix it!

Thursday night, we celebrated my birthday a bit early, since the fam was (mostly) together.  I'm in to celebrating all week long!  I requested chili for supper, and it was delicious.

 

I told Papa this already, but it was so much fun hanging out with him and not being confined to a lunch hour or an evening dinner.  We spent a lot of time together, and I'm so grateful!  I just love him to pieces!

 

{Cookie Cake!}

AMP and I headed back home on Friday for our Birthday date to Kenny's Woodfire Grill.  Seriously, it was so delicious.  Adam ordered a tenderloin meatloaf, and I got the Steak & Cake (steak w/ a crab cake).  Oh.my.word.  We very much enjoyed it!

 

Celebrating the 2-6!

Saturday, AMP went off to work, and I met Mom, Laura and Anna for pedicures.  It was a fun girls' day!

And to top it all off, the Bears beat the Red Raiders in Over Time, and RGIII was there on the sidelines to cheer his team on.  It was a stressful game to watch, but a good one, and I got my birthday wish! I will never forget Dad cheering at the TV for the Bears to win. He believed in them the whole time. Not one to be very vocal (that's usually my uncle Mark!), we were enjoying his positive commentary and I'm convinced the Bears won partially because of Dad's cheering!

We ended the night at Uncle Julio's for dinner, and Rye and I had a slumber party at my parents' house.  What a week of celebrating!  We have so much to be grateful for.