Thanksgiving, Birthday and Newspaper Love

Finally getting around to a little holiday recap...

Our Thanksgiving week started out a little unexpected. As in a tornado hit our town, with my in laws house in its path. A freaking tornado at the beach. Sounds absurd but it really happened. We live about a mile or so away from the path of the tornado. It had been a really nasty, windy night and when the lights started flickering Stephen called his Mom to see if their power had gone out. Little did we know a tornado was just making its way through their neighborhood at that moment. Sounds like a movie, but it happened so, so quick. I was convinced at that moment that the tornado was headed right for our house so we jumped in the bathtub and hunkered down until the warning was gone. It doesn't seem as scary retelling it but my heart was pounding thinking about how I would keep my baby (and sweet Dixie) safe if a tornado ripped through our house. I was counting on Stephen to hold down Tucker, although we need to work on his emergency drill skills- he wasn't fond of the bathroom scene! Luckily, the damage at Stephen's parents home was not terribly bad other than a ton of clean up, some roof repairs, fencing  and cars. It was bad but could have been so much worse.

So that changed our plans a bit and we stayed in town until Thanksgiving Day Lunch. Stephen was able to help his family a lot with clean up and getting things back in order. Such a mess a tornado can create! None the less, we still had a wonderful lunch at his parents home two days after a tornado. This was my contribution, my go-to sweet potato casserole. The bomb.

Loved getting my man dressed up for Turkey Day! He is barely squeezing in this 12 month shirt here. 

Little man had mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce for lunch. I think it was a hit with him.

That afternoon Weeks and I took a serious nap in the car and we made the trip to Raleigh in time for dinner, to eat again! We are so used to two Thanksgivings by now and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

The next day we had more celebrations, this one for my beautiful niece Lisi. I cannot believe she is 1 already! Time really does fly. She loved grabbing handfuls of birthday cake. Weeks helped her out a little bit too.

And was seriously a party pooper afterwards.

And then, to continue more celebrations it was my birthday on Saturday! I actually came down with a downright horrible cold/sickness after a night of no sleep {thanks to a tornado} and still have not completely recovered. But my sweet family made it so special and that is all that matters. We went out for an awesome lunch at Dos Taquitos {my fave!} and I took another long nap. Take out and birthday cake ended the night! 

One shot of the cousins over the weekend. Lisi just learned to kiss :)

And, a little birthday treat for me as well- Weeks' nursery was featured in the Raleigh newspaper. The link is here if you want to check it out :)

We are just so thankful this year. Hope you had a great weekend!