The Big, Fat Thanksgiving Post

Whew!  I have to admit, I’ve been a little intimidated to post about Thanksgiving, mainly due to the sheer amount of pictures involved.  Our Thanksgiving this year was an extravaganza, absolutely full of relatives and good times.  It’s just a daunting amount of media and memories to sort through.
Unfortunately for my procrastination, life has not stopped since our relatives left, and I already have two more posts to put through.  Right now, though, this one is stopping up the pipe (I got inspiration for that little metaphor from our kitchen sink, which keeps backing up.)  Anyway, without further ado, I give you…Thanksgiving 2011!
For us, Thanksgiving holidays started Wednesday, with Luke’s school break.  Wednesday was also a big day because Greg’s brother, Ken, was supposed to fly in that morning with his family.  Unfortunately, the four of them did not get on their flight, which was disappointing for everyone involved.  On our end, we were suddenly staring at an empty day…which we promptly filled with breakfast at Cracker Barrel (yay for gift cards!) and plans for an afternoon movie.  After breakfast, Greg’s other brother, Chris, called and said they would be passing through Nashville on the way to Jill’s parents’ house and so would we like to have lunch together?  And shazam!  The cousin void was temporarily filled:

After lunch with our family, we went to see the Muppet movie, which was cute. 
Then, on Thursday, we woke up to hear the news that Ken and Victoria had caught their flight and so they’d be joining us for Thanksgiving after all!  They arrived that morning, and the kids had a blast playing with each other:

Playing dress up

Flying paper airplanes
(I have no idea where the inspiration for this came from.)
And just generally hanging out.

While the kids did their own thing, Papa, Gigi, and Gramma Dottie arrived, and we all got busy getting Thanksgiving dinner ready: 

While waiting for dinner, the kids also watched part of Miracle on 34th Street.

Finally, it was time to eat!

It was great getting to eat our first Thanksgiving dinner in our new house, surrounded by loved ones!
We also had our first ever Kirby family “kids’ table”:

And then, of course, there was the clean up:).

Shortly after dinner, Gigi’s cousin Rhonda, and her husband, Ed, arrived to visit (at least, I think that’s the relationship.  My mind is going blank at the moment!)

While we visited after dinner,

the four children worked diligently to make a gigantic pile of pillows in Luke’s room:

Grace and Amelia also engaged in some calmer activity:

But apparently, Luke wasn’t feeling it:

Later, Gigi read to them before bed:

On Friday, Ken, Victoria, and the girls went to see some old friends who lived in Nashville; Dan and Glenda went shopping; and Gramma rested at the house where they spent the night.  Meanwhile, Anna and I made an apple pie:

Pinching the crust:

What you get when you tell Anna to smile:

She will smile as she shows you her mess, though:

Our quiet morning came to a happy end with the arrival of Chris, Jill, Jack, and Tatum on the scene:

Anna brought Tatum out every board book she owned, while Jack and Luke played pirates.

Sooooo adorable!
After that, the house began to fill up quickly, with the rest of the family trickling back in.  The boys enjoyed getting to spend some time together:

And the cousins continued to love their chance to play together:

In the afternoon, Greg’s cousin, Alan, and his family dropped by to see everyone:


Thankfully, it was a beautiful day, so the kids could play outside:

Anna served two pirates some tea:

Me and Tater Tot:

A big group also went for a walk and ended up at the playground at Luke’s school.  Before heading home, the adults got some good pictures of all the kids:



The whole brood of cousins:

Midway through the afternoon, Anna crawled in Gigi’s lap and announced that she didn’t feel well.  She has had a cough, and was getting run down by all the excitement:

She and I spent some “rest time” in my room, and she started to feel much better.

Playing peek-a-boo with a mirror is the funniest thing ever!
That evening, we tried to get some family pictures.
Gramma with her great-grandchildren:

Everyone together:

Thankfully, Glenda’s other cousin, Pat, was there, with her husband, Jeff, to take the picture.  We had fun spending time with them:


That night, we had the kids exchange gifts, since we weren’t sure what everyone’s Christmas plans were going to be.  It was completely spontaneous; hence, Anna’s Superman outfit over her pajamas!

They got writing books from Grace and Amelia, and Luke immediately started writing a story:

Ken, Victoria, and family flew out on Saturday morning, and rest drove home later that day (including my poor sister-in-law, Jill, who had come down with a stomach virus).  We didn’t want a stomach bug, but we did miss everyone when they left.
Clearly, it was a great, memorable Thanksgiving.
And now, three cameras and a gazillion pictures later, I have finally immortalized it in a blog post.
Good night, everyone!

Saturdays in Nashville

Since the kids have started school and Greg has started his new job, Saturdays are our big “free days” as a family, and we have spent the last two getting to know the city that we now call home. 

A couple Saturdays ago, we drove the kids around downtown, and we ooooh’ed and ahhhh’ed at all the big buildings (including Luke’s favorite, the “Batman building,” which actually has nothing to do with Batman, but it looks like it has bat ears on it:)).  They also loved the colorful Broadway street and the Predators’ arena.  After that, we went off in search of parks and playgrounds.  Our first stop was Edwin Warner park because I had distinctly remembered swings being there. 

Anna was fascinated by the huge leaves…

…while Luke, insistent on wearing his “cool hat,” loved the little helicopter seeds.  Here he is throwing on in the air, but it’s hard to see the seed:

We walked some trails and had a picnic lunch in a clearing.  However, the swing sets I remembered were long gone (we found their rusted frames), so we looked up playgrounds on my phone.  The one that caught Luke and Anna’s eye was a “Peter Pan” playground out in Franklin, so we headed there to check it out:

It was kind of a gloomy day, so after playing, we headed home for some hot chocolate, and later, we roasted marshmallows around our new fire pit.  All in all, it was a fun day of exploration and playing.

This past Saturday, Greg spoke at a youth retreat, and the kids and I ventured out to the downtown library to catch a free puppet show.  A lady at church had invited us.  She has two sons a little older than Luke and a daughter who is Anna’s age.  Also, we brought along my friend Viviana, and her two children.  Her daughter, Hadessa, is Anna’s age, and her son, Kingston, is 18 months.

Hadessa and Anna were holding hands in the parking garage:

Inside, I signed up for a library card, and then we ventured upstairs to the children’s wing, which was huge.  The kids entertained themselves with the puppet area, while I tried to figure out how there was an outdoor fountain on the second floor (I still don’t fully understand the lay out).

Then, we met up with our other friends and moved into to the theater area to wait.  While we waited for the theater to open, Luke played with this fearful contraption:

Inside the theater, Luke sat with his new friends, Bailey and Bennett.  This is a horrible picture, but the flash was absolutely blinding in the low light, so it’s the best I could get.

Anna sat in between Hadessa and Ryan Grace, and the moms sat on the benches along the back of the theater (you can see them in the picture above).  The theater was beautiful, and that day’s feature was an adaptation of John Updike’s children’s book, A Child’s Calendar.  The show centered around a huge tree that actually changed throughout the year (snow, leaves, flowers, etc).  It also featured a Japanese style of puppetry called bunraku, where the puppeteers stay present on stage the whole time.  It ended up being quite the cultural experience!

The kids enjoyed the play, and then we browsed through the massive book section and selected several to borrow.  The library had the best thing ever, which was a self checkout station right in the children’s section.  Wonderful!

Before we left, Anna wanted me to take a picture of her sitting in one of the many whimsical chairs that dotted the children’s section:

So far, we have been enjoying our new city!