Thanksgiving

We were very thankful to have a visit from Grandpa and Nana this Thanksgiving!  Grady loved spending time with gram-pa and nana, and has been asking after them since they left very early this morning. 

The timing of the visit was both fortuitous and unfortunate, because Matt and I were pressed to make lots of decisions on kitchen cabinets for the remodel by Sunday, which meant a lot of time (like 9 hours or so over two days) at Ikea.  The first day we were able to convince Dotty to come with us; the second day it was all us.  It did give Grady a chance to spend some quality time with the OGs (older generation), and allowed Matt and I to avoid the inevitable (taken from previous Ikea trips) -

Matt and I made it under the wire, and the cabinets have been ordered.  Now we hold our collective breath and hope they actually fit.

The rest of the week was lovely.  For Thanksgiving day we had Grandpa, Nana, my business partner/friend Tabitha, and her husband Casey and 3-year-old Marshall over.  We had plen-ty of food - two kinds of stuffing, a 16 pound turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, 3 kinds of veggies, salad, two pies....  Luckily most things could be made or at least prepped in advance, so the actual day was pretty calm.  Of course, I forgot to take any pictures.  Everything was delicious, but we are still working through it all!  Matt has about 3 gallons of turkey soup to get through.

We didn't actually do any outings together, now that I'm thinking back.  But there was a lot of Grady hamming it up, flirting with his grandparents, talking about cars and trucks, running around, and eating.  All in all, a pretty great Thanksgiving!  Here are some shots, courtesy of Dotty, of the visit.

Pour!  Kept Grady occupied and cleaned the floor while working on Thanksgiving dinner.  Aim's a bit off in this picture!

Flirting with the camera

Grady LOVES Grandpa!

Hmm, not sure how this one came about.  I turn my back for one minute!

Grady in his beautiful new coat from Peru, courtesy of the grandparents

As usual, we were pretty spoiled by Dad and Dotty.  If only we could sell them on moving to Portland....  Grady's already counting down the days to Christmas.  Well, "Three.  One.  Two." Close enough.

I also have some initial shots from a photo shoot Matt, Grady, and I were able to do with PDX Kids Calendar with Power Blue Photography.

I think they came out great and can't wait to see the whole set! 

A few other random odds and ends from the week before.

Here's Grady getting his first measurement on his growth chart.  Closing in on 3 feet that one!

And here's Grady getting messy eating some oatmeal.  His pants were even worse off.

As we were leaving for school this morning, Grady declared he wanted to "bring cat toys."  He was able to get I think seven of them in his hands!  Here he is with his loot.

Once in the car he kept saying "more cat toys!"

Baby girl Wilkinson has started to really make her presence known.  Lots and lots of wiggles and kicks, and pretty much all over the place.  We're also taking name suggestions - Walterina has been nixed (sorry, Dad) but we're happy to hear suggestions.  Most of our favorites are two syllables ending in"A."  It felt like her arrival was very far off for a long time, and now all of a sudden it seems like there's not much time left!  Only 3 months or so to go - unless she arrives as late as her brother, then closer to 4.