Thanksgiving in the Low Country

Every other year we spend Thanksgiving at my dad's lovely home in Charleston. The entire family gathers together for three days full of great food, lots of laughter, and usually some pretty cut-throat board games. As much grief as we have given my dad & step-mom over the years for the extra-large house they built, we actually managed to fill it to overflowing this year and it was fantastic! 

Becca & Marshall

The awesome husbands: Omar, Brendan, and Greg

Both my step-sisters and their amazeballs husbands made the trip down, along with my two nephews (one who is still in utero - SQUEEEEE!) and it was so much fun to watch EJ and Marshall get to know each other better and enjoy playing together. I can't wait until her newest cousin arrives in April, by the time our next family Thanksgiving rolls around my dad will need to finish out the space above the garage for a bunk house!  ;)

COUSINS!

How cute are they?!

Got some good use out of the double stroller!

They play well together!

Carousel ride at the light show!

 As usual, my step-mom Jan had tons of amazingly fun things to do with the kids (and us), ranging from baking Christmas cookies, to creating a gingerbread house, to playdoh and coloring and playgrounds and the aquarium. EJ loves her Mama-J!

Building a gingerbread house!
(It was tough to convince her notto eat all the candy)

Baking cookies!
(also hard to keep her from eating all the dough -
I did not set a good example with that one)

Fun at the park - pure joy!

 Charleston has a great aquarium that is perfect for little ones. We love visiting it!

One of the best parts of the trip was introducing Nora to this side of her family! She was a huge hit and impressed everyone with her sweet and chill nature. 

Pop-E is smitten. He tried to keep her.

With her Aunt Becca

Uncle Brendan got in some good baby practice to prepare for his
upcoming Special Delivery. Hopefully he gets a bit better
before April.  ;)

Sweet Nora chillaxin' in front of the fire.

The day before Thanksgiving also marked the first day of Hanukkah. Mama-J taught EJ about lighting the menorah and let her help.

Lighting the menorah. 

We had so much fun spending this wonderful time together. Huge thanks to my dad and Jan for hosting us, I know it isn't easy to open up your house to a ton of people (including 2 very busy toddlers) and as usual, they were amazing hosts. We are looking forward to the next Wilcox-Pomerantz-Sugarman-Nadi-Jordan-Brazzle-palooza!

Nora P - 3 months old!

I totally forgot to do a 3 month update (the curse of the 2nd child!) so I will make this quick!

STATS

Weight: 13lb 4oz (59th %)

Height: 24.66" (82nd %)

Head Circumference: 16.93" (99th %)

Starting to get some good head & neck strength!

Everett Jane turns THREE!

I know it's a cliche, but seriously: WHERE DID OUR BABY GO????  I can't believe it has been three years. In some ways the time has flown.  In others, I have a hard time remembering what it was like before she was here. 

The day you were born changed our lives forever.

You made us a family.

To our sweet baby girl:

Thank you for the seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, and years of joy you have brought us. You are such a funny & clever girl and delight us every day with the way in which you see the world around you. You are a firecracker, a pistol, a spitfire. I love that you have strong opinions and are not afraid to express them. You surprise us daily with your kind spirit. You can be so independent in so many way, but still share sweet snuggles with us in the most unexpected moments. I cherish those moments with you. I love to watch you explore your world, find such wonder in the small things, and remind us to appreciate it all. You have embraced your role as Big Sister better than I could have ever imagined. Nora is so lucky to have you to guide her through this world, and we are so lucky to be along for the ride. No matter how much you grow, you will ALWAYS be our baby.  We love you and are so proud of you.  You are our heart and soul and make every day so much better just by being a part of it.  We love you, to the moon and back. 

Happy Birthday Baby

Fun Fall Activities

View from our front porch. 

We have been having a lot of fun this fall! After an incredibly rainy spring and summer, the weather has really been cooperating the last several weeks and this is shaping up to be one of the most spectacular falls in recent memory.  So, in light of that, we have been trying to get out and about to enjoy it!

State fair!

The Wilcox women putting in our fall flowers!

Celebrating the other Tiny Tornado's 3rd birthday!

 We drove up to Ellijay to go to Hillcrest Orchards, enjoy the mountains, and check out the beautiful fall leaves. So much fun!

Wagon ride through the orchard!

World's Cutest Farmer

Pure glee on the big slide!

Family pony ride  =)

YAY for petting zoos!

 EJ models some of her cutest fall outfits.

Nora joined us for a lovely walk to a local breakfast place

Enjoying a spectacular fall morning out on the back deck

My little needle in a haystack

 We spent a really fantastic morning at Zoo Atlanta, participating in Boo at the Zoo. Basically all the kids dress up, do some trick-or-treating through the zoo, and check out all the animals.  So fun!

Boo at the Zoo!

Hanging with Vince and Willie B

Although not pictured here, Nora enjoyed her first trip to the zoo  =)

 Halloween was so fun this year!  We finally live in a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating, and for the first time I joined Omar and EJ on their rounds. We packed Nora up into her stroller and headed out as a family around 5:30.  Miss Beyla even came with!  We hit up our entire neighborhood and part of the neighborhood next to us. EJ got a pretty good stash of candy, which Omar and I have been enjoying.  =)

She's a Helluva Engineer.  Get it?  Get it?!

EJ with Sunny, her new BFF from school at their Halloween party.
How cute are they?!

Nothing says "fall" to me more than football! Georgia Tech has been marginal this year, and we won't even mention the Falcons (sob!) but we never miss a Homecoming.  This year we took both girls and had a blast!

Cutest GT fan EVER!

Fall = Football in our house

Tailgating, Nadi-style. Nora enjoyed her first game by sleeping through most of it.  

We still have a few things on our Fall bucket list to check off, but so far it has been a great season!  And the leaves: WOW. Spectacular.