Giving Thanks and Helping Dede!

Just before Thanksgiving, Alli posed for her Christmas pictures. We think they turned out pretty cute! Afterall, she loves to have her picture taken!!

Brad was on call for Thanksgiving for the second year in a row, which means that he is at the hospital for 30 hours straight and cannot come home to celebrate with us. This year, the Greers were sweet enough to invite Alli and me to have dinner at their house, so we did. And what a feast it was!! After a good nap at home, Alli and I took a plate of the yummy food to Daddy at the hospital.

That weekend, we had some visitors. Dede and Keith came for a few hours on Friday while Keith was "over this way" from Birmingham. While they were here, Alli and Dede did arts and crafts ~ one of Alli's most favorite activities these days! Here they are, painting a poster together....

On Sunday, Brad's good friend from medical school, Will Chafin, his wife, Melissa, and their 10 week old baby, Will, stopped by for lunch and a visit. It was our first time to meet precious Baby Will! We were so glad they made the time to stop by on their way back home to Charleston. Alli especially loved meeting the baby and was constantly wanting to "help" with him. She bounced him in the bouncy seat, but her favorite part was getting to hold him!

Although we didn't get to spend the actual holiday with family, we feel so blessed! We had a great, long holiday visit with Brad's family the weekend prior to Thanksgiving ~ including his grandparents, Mimi & DB and Grandmommie & Marty ~ and we were able to visit with Nana & Papa at that time, as well. And how blessed we are to have friends that have become our family to include us in their holiday celebrations!

With Baby Elizabeth arriving any day now, Alli and Mommy have been spending a lot of time doing special activities together. As thrilled as I am about the pending arrival of our new precious little one, the idea of Alli no longer being an "only" is bittersweet, so I have absolutely loved this chance to have some one-on-one time with her. The other day, we went to "Teddy Bear Tea Time" at the Junior League office. We had a great time decorating cookies,listening to storytime with Mrs. Claus, and face painting ~ and of course, Alli got to take her favorite teddy bear along for the fun. One weekend not long ago, we spent the morning outside making mudpies and having a "dirty day" ~ Alli even had permission to wipe her very muddy hands on her pants! But after one attempt at that, she didn't like being that dirty and chose to wipe her hands on Mommy's clothes, instead. :) We even had a yummy picnic outside ~ but as Alli kept reminding me, we couldn't really eat the mudpies, because they are just for pretend.

For some reason, Blogger won't let me separate the 2 above pictures ~ sorry!
Anyway, these are pictures of Alli "helping" Dede paint in her room and in the nursery. She is "measuring" a tree in Elizabeth's room; the rest are of her helping in her own room as Dede was adding to the mural that was already there. Yes, she painted naked ~ Alli, not Mom :) ~ afterall, no reason to ruin perfectly good clothes, right?! The spot in her room where Mom left Alli's artistry on the wall is my absolute favorite ~ so precious!! And Alli is super proud to show off where she was allowed to paint on the wall!!

This past weekend, we went to Lights of the South with a group of friends. As soon as our printer will let me scan those pictures into the computer, I will post about that exciting, festive night! (It's always something with technology,right?!)