Thanksgiving in Abilene

Nate liked the whipping cream

Grammy and Cade working on a puzzle

The boys and I left for Abilene on Tuesday. I had an appointment in Abilene that night so Charles and Ann kept the kids while I worked. The next day we spent time getting ready for Thanksgiving. I was starting to make a cake when my sweet nephew, Austin, came and took over. He got Cade to help him. He was being so sweet and supportive to Cade. I heard a lot of "Good job, Cade". Austin was a tremendous help. He baked, he chopped, he helped. It was really nice to be able to spend time with him. I don't feel like I get to see him enough.

Mark came in on Wednesday night along with Charlotte and Brad with their boys. Thursday we had the typical Thanksgiving dinner. The weather was beautiful and the boys had a great time playing with their cousins. The next day, Mark; Chase; Todd; and Austin left at 4 in the morning to go hunting. Gross dead animal pictures will be coming as soon as I can find the cord to download them. Charlotte and I did a little shopping on Friday. Not a lot of shopping because the sales were not that great. Although I was able to get some jeans super cheap! That afternoon we went out to Brad's aunt's and uncle's place. They have a lot of land for the boys to play. They had a great time, for the most part. Poor Cade was running. Brad's uncle pointed out that Cade was running through an area with a lot of grass burrs. Can you guess what happened next? Cade fell hard right in the middle of a huge, HUGE patch of grass burrs. He had at least a hundred stuck in him. He was scared and hurt and he screamed louder than I have ever heard him scream. Constant and loud (and those that know Cade know that he can scream). He was hurting so bad. Charlotte and I got all the ones off of his hands and arms. I pulled out his shirt (his favorite pumpkin shirt which now has a hole in it) so that all the ones stuck there were pulled off his skin. Charlotte grabbed his underarms and I very carefully grabbed him by his pant's legs and we carried him to the porch (screaming all the way). He was screaming so bad that it scared Nate and Nate started crying. I held Nate while Charlotte, Granddaddy, and Brad's uncle went to work on getting all the burrs off. Cade then fell asleep in my lap. My poor, traumatized baby. I wish I could have gotten a picture, but Mark had the camera.

Saturday, I drove back with Cade and Nate along with Charlotte and Brad and their boys. I dropped them off at the airport and then the boys and I went on a mission to find a new Christmas tree. We went to so many crowded stores! Cade kept wanting to go to more stores because he really wanted to put the tree up! I found a beautiful tree but it was a little too pricey so we went home. The next day, we met Jason and Kristen for lunch as they were driving through. I am sad that I don't get to see them very often. Hannah and Ben are both getting so big. After lunch, the boys and I went back to Garden Ridge because there was a new sale on a tree. It was sold out at one Garden Ridge so we went across town and bought the very last one at the other Garden Ridge. It's not a perfect tree, but it will work for a few years and then we can get a nicer one when certain family members are not so destructive :) The boys and I worked on the tree on Sunday. They are getting so excited about Christmas! I love watching their excitement and joy. Cade is especially fun this year. He loves looking at the Christmas lights. He really wants lights up on our house. We will see.

So there it is, our Thanksgiving in review.