Memories of Mamaw/GGma

In August 2005, Jasons mamaw passed away, just 4 months before our wedding. I was so thankful that Jason and I had dated for so long and I was able to meet and make so many memories with her before we were even married. After she passed, Jasons grandfather let us pick out a few of her kitchen items to have since we were just starting our home together and didn't have many items. One item we picked was the colander pictured below. I let Gavin play with it to "cook". I thought about so many memories of Mamaw and was able to share those with Gavin while he took his bath. I told him about her chicken and dumplings and how DELICIOUS they were! He was silly at first, but then worked hard to try and cook just like her! Thanks, Grandpa/GGpa for passing on some of these items so we can always keep Mamaws memories alive in our home and tell Gavin about her!

Decorating the Tree

Making sure the lights worked
Deciding where his ornaments should go

Admiring his work with his "daddy dog"

Gavin's little area... he did the beads all by himself :)

Somewhat finished product!

Definitely had to let my OCD go this year when it came to tree decorating. But, Gavin helped every step of the way and the memories made were what it was all about. My favorite ornament is towards the top of the tree. Starla sent it to us last year and it says "Dear Santa, Please bring my dad home for Christmas. But if you still need him to help make peace on earth, then please keep him safe... and tell him that I'm proud of him and that I love and miss him."

Flashback to Thanksgiving in August!

Before Jason deployed we had a Thanksgiving feast of our own and I just realized I never shared any of those pictures. It did feel funny celebrating in summer, but that was one of the best Thanksgiving feasts we ever had! It was just our family and our friends, the Mineo's. Such a great celebration we had!

Jason prepared the turkey... He's such a great cook. I'm so thankful for him!
I made my first ever pecan pie from scratch. Even made the crust! I'm not a pecan pie fan, but I think the men enjoyed :)

Frying up the turkey!

... SOME of the feast - it continued on and was spread across the other counters.

Party City is awesome - you can find stuff for any holiday and any time of the year!

Gavin, Daddy, and the delicious fried turkey!

My FIRST plate :)

Erik and Jason are just wonderful - they even did the dishes that evening!

Thankfully football was on so they were able to relax on the couch after, watch some ball, and crash! Dani, Mia, and I crashed on the other couch as well - I think we all woke up sometime around 1am from our turkey coma. What a special night - so glad we could share it with the Mineo's. Two days later, our husbands departed for war.

I think another feast is in order when they get back, Dani!

"Ten Can" 10k Run

Gavin and I participated in a Thanksgiving morning run yesterday - it was at our local church and was sponsored by FCA. We were asked to bring ten cans of food to donate to the churches Lighthouse Ministry. It was a great turnout with over 300 runners between the 5k and 10k. So much food was collected! They had childcare available, but I opted to push Gavin in the jogger instead. I just couldn't bring myself to put him in childcare on Thanksgiving! He ended up being good luck, I ran my best time yet in the 10k - a 48.17. A lot of the race was run on the cart path of a local golf course - it was a run my step dad would have enjoyed! Haha. Well, Gavin and I ended up coming in 1st place. It was a tough fight the last mile, 3 of us were pushing each other hard! Thank God I train to sprint it out at the end! We won a VIP meal card to use around Savannah (still have to figure out what that is?) as well as a shirt, hat, and a few supplements. It was a great start to our turkey day! All Gavin wanted was to be rewarded with a balloon at the end, and his wish came true! My friend Neelee ran the 5k so she was able to snap a few pictures of us finishing the race. Thanks for snapping these! And thanks, Melissa, for letting me use your jogger!

Group shot... Neelee, Max, Gavin, and I

Gavin was so happy to have his balloon!

Thanksgiving at the Beach

On Jasons last day off before he deployed, we took Gavin to the beach together for an afternoon of fishing. Gavin loved every moment, as did Jason and I. We spent so much quality time together that day. Since Jason couldn't be home with us this Thanksgiving, I felt it only appropriate to take Gavin back to the place that we last made our memories together with daddy. We spent three hours at the beach and again made so many memories and shared special moments together. Something about being at the beach just screams "family" to me... I'm so thankful that we were blessed with great weather yesterday and the opportunity to visit the beach was there. I loved it! Jason can't wait to get home and take Gavin and I back there to the place we love so much to catch up on our family time! Enjoy these photos... it was such a beautiful day. We missed you, baby. Thanks for serving our country on this special day, we're so grateful for you and your sacrifices.

Christmas Always

In attempt to have a little tradition of our own, Gavin and I started the Christmas decorating tonight! He was so excited to see things keep coming out of the boxes. We have A LOT to go, but we got a great start tonight. Tomorrow we'll get lights on the tree and eventually the ornaments will go up. I see him thinking they are all "footballs" and wanting to throw them!
Checking out the tree in his stylish Baby Gap flannel! I love hand me downs!

The tree is up and fluffed (fluffing = my least favorite part)

1st accident of the decorating process - Mr. Snowman lost his head. He didn't pass Gavin's "football toss" test. Sorry snowman!

So, we ordered pizza (might have to add that in the Thanksgiving Eve tradition) - and Gavin enjoyed every last drop, as did I!

Oh no!

After bath I put Gavin's Christmas pajamas on him and we set up his nativity set. I told him the story of Jesus' birth, though he was more interested in making the sounds of the sheep and donkey. :)

So cute in his jammies!

Kisses for Baby Jesus before bed

We then read a few Christmas stories - Christmas Always is a book my grandparents gave me in 1991. I can't believe I still have it after all these years and was so thankful to be able to share it with Gavin tonight. I can't believe it's been in our family for 18 years and its now Gavins!

Signed by the author for my brother Michael and I!

Tomorrow morning Gavin and I will start our Thanksgiving with a 10k run at our church. The money raised will go to benefit The Lighthouse Ministry gives food, clothing, etc to those in need. We will also be bringing 10 cans of food to donate. I'm thankful for a way to show Gavin how to do for others on Thanksgiving! After the run I'm hoping for nice weather to be able to take Gavin to Tybee to play ball at the beach. I'm planning to make a small thanksgiving meal for us after we get back home... green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, and chicken. (I'm too unmotivated to do a turkey for just us 2!) Happy Thanksgiving to all!