Fun Friday & Thankful Weekend

While the crowds were flocking to the malls on Black Friday, our little family stayed far away from the malls and just enjoyed Fun Friday.  After Crystal and Grant got the girls ready Friday morning, we decided to make a stop at Waffle House for breakfast before heading to GiGi's for the day.  I think the girls ate as much at their 2nd breakfast as they did at their 1st breakfast at the motorhome.

We arrived at GiGi's around 10 am and the Pa & MiMa Beauty Shop for Little Girls opened soon after we got there.

Pa took care of all the manicures and pedicures.

And MiMa took care of the french braiding hairstyles.

After all the fingers and toes had dried, we were treated to a Thanksgiving play starring Bell and Avery.

They did such a good job!  Watch:

(Click here if the video does not open.)

After the play, the girls ate a big lunch and the three youngest ones laid down for naps.

When they awoke, we all went back to the playground at Two Rivers Park where all 5 girls had fun running, swinging, sliding, climbing, and all the fun things that little kids do at playgrounds.

For dinner, we enjoyed GiGi's delicious lasagna and then it was time for the little girls to go bed.

It was a busy weekend of playing with little girls and watching a little football in between.

On Saturday morning, we made several attempts to get some group pictures.  With 5 very busy little girls, that's not the easiest thing in the world to do.

GiGi and her 5 great-granddaughters:
Avery, Bell, Ruby, Emmaline and Hannah

Plus her two granddaughters:  Tafanie & Crystal

ALL the girls!

 Chuck is going to have to grow longer arms or we are going to have to start using a tri-pod to fit all of this bunch in.  :)

Back row:  Bell, Cory, Ruby & MiMa
Front row:  Emmaline, Tafanie, GiGi, Grant, Avery, Crystal, Hannah & Pa

Wouldn't you agree that Chuck and I are very, very blessed?  And very, very thankful!  :)

Thanksgiving Day -- Food, Fun & Family

On Thanksgiving morning, we were back over at GiGi's by 9:00 am.  Grant had his potato casserole to cook and I had to make the chicken and dumplings.  I was supposed to cook the corn casserole also but a cute little GiGi bird had already put it together and was cooking in the oven.  :)

Since Avery and Hannah like playing with PlayDoh so much, I thought they would have fun making dumplings with me (with clean hands, of course).  That lasted about 5 minutes and then they were ready to play something else.  :)

After we had finished with all our cooking, we all drove over to Jerry and Pam's for our Thanksgiving feast!  And what a feast it was!  The below picture is just part of the food that everyone brought.  There was more food on the counter and desserts in the laundry room!

Needless to say, we enjoyed all this delicious Thanksgiving food until we were all about ready to pop!  The afternoon was spent visiting with one another and playing games.

Scott, Chuck's nephew, brought a friend of his to join us for Thanksgiving dinner.  Ray Drew played football for the University of Georgia and is going next week to try out with the Denver Broncos.  As you can see, he is a pretty big guy.  Good luck, Ray!  And thanks for being a GREAT Mafia narrator!  :)

The weather was so nice that the kids played outside a lot of the time.

Chuck's nephew, Scott, brought his ATV and gave the kids (and adults) rides in it.

Thanksgiving with the Gregorys is always fun and very filling!  :)

An Opryland Thanksgiving

Tafanie and Cory and their girls had decided to go to Opryland Hotel to see the Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving night.  They picked us up at the campground and we rode over there with them.  We entered through the Delta Section of the hotel.  All those lights and decorations we had seen the hotel putting up when we were here with Ken and Bonnie last month had all been installed and were absolutely beautiful!

This Christmas tree was HUGE!!!

Of course, Bell and Emmaline made the Christmas decorations even more beautiful!

As we walked out of the Delta Section, we came to this long, long hall where the girls raced all the way to the end and back several times.

Ruby is taking more and more steps but I think she could go faster with her one-legged crawl.

I think she will be ditching the one-legged crawl before too long though!

We walked to the Magnolia Section with its grand staircase and big poinsettia tree.

And then we walked out to the front of the hotel to immerse ourselves in millions of Christmas lights.

Nativity Scene with Christmas story being told.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland!

After we walked back into the hotel, we walked to the Cascades Section where musical notes hung from the ceilings...

...and poinsettias lined the garden walkways...

...and made up another big Christmas tree.

After we left the hotel, we stopped in a big Opryland Christmas store.  Someone found a new pair of sunglasses.

About every 15 minutes, snow would shoot out from the ceiling.  I think Tafanie was more excited about the snow than Bell and Emmaline!  :)

What a great Thanksgiving this has been!

Back to Nashville for Thanksgiving

As we drove back to Nashville on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we noticed there were still a few trees displaying their fall colors.

The weather as we returned to Nashville was sunny but chilly.  Our drive including filling up with diesel only took about 2 1/2 hours and we were pulled into our site and set up at KOA in Nashville by early afternoon.  Normally, we stay at Nashville Jellystone but we didn't want to fight the traffic getting into the campground because of the Dancing Lights going on every night.  Plus, we had a coupon we had received at the Hershey show for $25 off per night at KOA.

Music Valley KOA has improved a lot of their sites and the site we stayed on was extra long and level.  If the price difference is not that great, we may stay at the KOA more frequently in the future because the sites are so much nicer than Jellystone's.

On Sunday afternoon, we drove over to my mom's to visit with her, get caught up on our laundry, and get warm by her fireplace.  :)

Monday and Tuesday were busy days of running errands, getting groceries, getting my hair cut, and getting the brakes checked on the motorhome.  Crystal, Grant, Avery and Hannah arrived at our camper late Tuesday night.  We had the beds all ready and the girls went right back to sleep.  We awoke Wednesday morning to the sound of two happy little girls.

After breakfast, we went over to GiGi's (my mom's).  I made my layered salad for taking to Jerry and Pam's for Thanksgiving dinner and Avery helped Pa put up GiGi's Christmas lights.

The sunny weather was calling the girls to go outside and play so Crystal and I took them outside to run and play around the community gazebo.

Before we knew it, it was time for lunch!

While Hannah laid down for a nap after lunch, Avery decided to try on her mom's boots!

Before long, Avery got a little tired too and fell asleep in GiGi's arms for about a 30 minute nap.  GiGi loved that!  :)

After the girls got up from their naps, we drove over to the playground at Two Rivers Park where the girls enjoyed swinging, sliding and climbing all over everything.  We went back to GiGi's for supper together and then Avery and Hannah crawled up in GiGi's lap to give her night-night lovins' before heading back to the camper to put the girls to bed.

The girls did very well sleeping in our camper.  We would put them to bed back in our bedroom and then we would stay up and play cards and watch TV until we were ready to go to bed.  Crystal and Grant were able to move them from our bedroom back to their beds in the living room and they stayed asleep or went back to sleep very well every night.