Lots of Be Thankful For

The Cicci's have lots to be thankful for this year.. but especially our little baby BOY on the way…

We went to a place called "Peek at Me" a couple weekends ago.  It's a place in town that gives sonograms solely to determine the baby's gender.  How impatient are we, right?  Couldn't wait 5 more weeks? :)  Our 20 week appointment with the doctor's office can't be until January 1.  And since all of our family was coming together on Thanksgiving, we thought it would be more special to share the news with everyone then.  And to "reveal" I tried to come up with something original and NOT food related (because who wants even more food on Thanksgiving??), which was actually pretty difficult!… Until I found these adorable scratch off tickets!  I put them in little envelopes with a penny and we told everyone we had a "game" to play… the looks of surprise were a lot of fun!

We started out our Thanksgiving week marathon on Wednesday.  Kate and Dawn came in town early and were put to work preparing food for the next day.  I came over with the kids to help, and we ended up spending most, if not all, of the day mixing and prepping food (granted we could have gone a lot faster had one of us not had to be on kid patrol at all times -- they seem to get into everything!)... Thanksgiving dinner is a lot of work!!  But we were all more than happy to help out!!

 

Thanksgiving morning was kicked off with the 6th Annual Turkey Trot hosted by Gran.  John had to work :(  His first Thanksgiving away from his family.  We really missed him, that's for sure! 

 

The kids and I before the Trot 

Smiling Avery :)

Cheeseballs!  (How much do they look alike?!)

Avery's go-to pose

Packing on the layers for the big race!

And getting cozy in the most sought after seat...

At the starting line!

Our walking group

Winners of the "Biggest Turkey" award.. Rudy and Avery!

The whole clan!

The Turkey Trot was a big success!... despite it being so coooooold! Our group took a minor (very large) detour after about 15 minutes.  Rudy kept saying, "Mom.. cooold.  Brrr."  But everyone else finished strong.  Frank won, yet again, the "Men under 50" division, and Michelle (first time winner!!) won the "Women under 50."  Dave D. won the "Men over 50" division and Carla won the "Women over 50" division... both first time winners!!!  Julia and I decided that we were each going to win it one of these years.. just wanted to put that in writing :)

 

Then it was off to the Fire House to visit Dad.  Rudy made himself right at home.  They had "appetizers" for lunch, the idea was to not over-do it before their Thanksgiving dinner... well I can tell you their appetizers were quite a feast on their own!  Rudy especially liked the chocolate fountain and chips.  He got comfy in the kitchen chair, had snacks, asked for him "own" cup of water, and cheered on the "ball-ball" players for the rest of the crew.  He fit right in :)  And Avery just sat and looked pretty :) ... and enjoyed some snacks, too.  It was so nice being able to spend that time with John.  Everyone was so welcoming and we had a nice little visit. 

 

Then back home to take some much needed naps.. for all of us! 

 

And, last trip, back to Gran and Papa's for Thanksgiving dinner.  Yummmmmm!  I think Rudy had 3 plates of food, like literally 3 different plates.  He had his, Uncle Tony's, and a separate plate for more Mr. Charley.  And his "own" of everything else.  

Avery's first Thanksgiving dinner...Mr. Charley covered face and hair.. I'd say she was a fan

Fun at the kids' table!

What a great pic!

"Cheeeeeeeeese!"

All snuggly in his snowman jammies!

Such a fun, family filled day, but boy was that exhausting for this mama!  I counted 10 times that I was packing and unpacking kids out of a car.  Add to that, my aversions to meat really took off on Thanksgiving... seeing the ginormous ham and turkey being carved and then eating right after... ugh... in an effort not to be too graffic, I spent some time in the bathroom almost immediately after dinner.  But since the dessert stomach is a separate stomach, I was able to enjoy some pumpkin cake and apple pie in bed when we got home... while watching John on the news!  The news reporters came to the firehouse that day.  They were doing a story on people who have to work on the holiday.  They came during John's workout so he got some coverage doing some squats, looking all buff :)

 

But the fun didn't stop there!  Since John had to work on Thursday, we had Thanksgiving with the Cicci's on Friday.  It worked out nice because there was already enough back and forth on Thursday, and we were able to spend full days with each household.

 

Aunt Maria and Uncle Andre came in town, and Rudy had lots of fun showing off for them!  Our elf showed up on Friday morning (more on that later), and brought Rudy and Avery a melting snowman.  He couldn't wait to build him so Aunt Maria helped while we had breakfast.  

Building a snowman is quite a task... and still in his snowman pajamas because he was not liking the thought of taking them off!

The final product... Rudy isn't very quick so he had already started to melt a little before they had finished :)

We also decorated lots of gingerbread men (and women for Avery)

After breakfast we decided to take a trip to the mall.  And for being Black Friday, it wasn't busy at all!

All aboard!!

Building a snowman at Build-A-Bear

Kisses for the snowman

And of course he needed a bath, too

Happy girl with her new little reindeer :)

Two peas in a pod

 

After the mall, we went back home for naps again.  Rudy doesn't nap well at other places and it makes a world of a difference in the evening if he gets a nap.  And we had a fun evening planned! 

 

Early Christmas presents!! 

Aunt Maria let Rudy and Avery open their Christmas presents because she isn't sure if she will be able to make it back again.  And they were in heaven!  Maria did a great job picking out toys.. the kids have been playing with their new stuff every day!  

Rudy got some weights..."curls for the girls" as John says

And Avery got a teapot and a rocking, riding horse

I think she likes it :)

Mom and Dad don't particularly like the song the horse sings.. which we have heard over and over and over and over again the last few days.  I've gone to bed singing it and wake up singing it.. "I'm a little pony, clickity clack, clickity clack, a rockin ridin pony, clickity clack, clickity clack..."

 

To make the night even more fun, Isabela was there!  Rudy LOVES playing with his cousin Isabela.  I wish I could figure out a way to type how he says her name.  We laugh every time.  And being as bossy as he is, we heard him say it quite a bit on Friday!

 

We are incredibly thankful for everyone in our lives and the blessings we've been given.  We sure are blessed beyond words :)

 

And now it's December!  How does that happen so fast?!  When did November get to be so busy?!  Our countdown to Christmas is on!!