So thankful

We are so thankful for our many blessings. Thanksgiving is always a great reminder to be more appreciative of our good health, family and friends.

It's been a busy few weeks, with a visit first from Grandma Pat and then one from Aunt K10. They had lots of fun reading books (shocker), playing outside and going for wagon rides. We're excited to see both of them again, plus Uncle Dr. Ryan and Uncle Dan, in Nashville in a few short weeks.

The family fun has continued with more visitors for Thanksgiving. Grandpa and Gisa (we've settled on her nickname = Grandma + Lisa) flew into DFW on Tuesday night and then came by on Wed. morning to play before heading down to Houston.

My Aunt Shelley and Uncle Gene continued the tradition of hosting all of the Schwies (except Kate/Dan in FL) plus their clan = a very full house with delicious food. Bill contributed corn bread, the popular green bean dish, and a new recipe of DELICIOUS apple cobbler that was totally worth the cast iron skillet purchase especially for its creation. Steph's rice krispie treat train concoction impressed all the boys.

We drove down early Thursday, with Carter showing A+ travel behavior both ways. We considered it a warm up to the Nashville long haul over Christmas (those 11+ hours in the car have me very nervous, but more excited than shelling out $1000+ for 3 plane tickets). A little bit of football was played by the little ones, as well as lots of other toy "sharing" which caused an occasional tackle (I'm talking to you Matthew Collum).

This year, the Schwie shopping tradition on Black Friday was well attended by Amy and me. Sara was planning on going but her boys changed those plans. The line at Target was unbelievable at 4:50am. We were probably 400th in line, but still got what we needed plus a $10 off coupon and free resuable bag from the Target. You can check out our pre-game ad strategy planning below.

Dad and Lisa tried another Christmas card photo shoot - featuring tee shirts from their new hometown in MN. It didn't go quite as planned, so it will be interesting to see how the final product turns out.

Before we left Houston on Saturday morning, the Hedgepeths came over to the hotel for breakfast with us and Dad/Lisa. Carter demanded that Jake carry him around the lobby, but does not look so confident in his ability to not drop him.

Off to buy the Christmas tree and put up the lights! Happy holidays...Erin