life with a lady: First Thanksgiving

Thought I better get this out before Christmas....
Though I'm sure a lot of people have a lot to say about the very first Thanksgiving that was ever celebrated oh so many years ago, but I'm writing about our Little Lady's first Thanksgiving. My heart is absolutely overflowing with thankfulness this year! I love being a little family, and I am exceedingly grateful that God has blessed us with such an amazing little person to be part of our family. It's the best ever!

We kicked off the holidays this year with our annual "Friends Thanksgiving", which is one of our favorite days of every year. The first year we were married, Matt and I started the tradition of having some of our closest friends over to share a Thanksgiving meal. We don't live near family, so having friends that are like family is extremely important to us. We love having people in our home, and we hope this little tradition is one way to foster community, which we really value.

Lil' Lady loved her first Thanksgiving Feast :)

After our first fabulous Thanksgiving feast, we jumped into the Christmas spirit and decked the halls before leaving for Arlington to spend actual Thanksgiving with Matt's family. Preparing for our Thanksgiving meal and decorating for Christmas were both quite a bit different this year with a little person underfoot, but I wouldn't have it any other way... Life is much more fun with her! We also broke down and bought a fake tree this year. I didn't want to spend my days pulling pine needles out of a Lil' Lady's mouth, and I was allergic to pine when I was little, which worries us that our girl could be too. She has extremely sensitive skin. I love our little tree anyway.

Back to Thanksgiving... we scooted off to Arlington to celebrate Thanksgiving. Road trips are not quite what they used to be. I used to love a good road trip. While I don't find them miserable now, trying to keep a 10 month old happy and entertained is not always an easy feat. With a dog and a baby along for the ride, it's just not as easy and stops take waaaaay longer now. It's always worth it to get to spend coveted time with family though. Once we finally arrived, Lil' Lady was thrilled to see her grandma, grandpa and uncles, and she was extremely glad to get out of her car seat and move around!

We spent Thanksgiving day hanging out with family. We went to Matt's aunt's house for a yummy meal, and Lil' Lady even got to spend some time playing with a cousin of her's... a second cousin, but I think they had fun!

While in Texas, we took our sweet girl to the zoo for the first time. Even though she won't really remember this trip, it was fun to see all the animals through her eyes. Many of the animals excited her, but the penguins won her heart! We were also able to do some shopping and took a fun trip to a museum, which had lots of great interactive kiddie things to do. All in all it was a wonderful trip, and coming home is always wonderful as well. Here's some pictures documenting our trip for your viewing pleasure.