Thanksgiving Weekend

Happy Thanksgiving! This year we decided to stay in Durham and enjoy a little family time to ourselves. It was a hard decision to stay home especially because we had the option of going to NYC like we did last year with the Pelfreys, but for some reason, we just felt like we should stay home. When all is said and done, we were very glad we stayed in our cozy little house. Jack ended up getting a really bad cold and cough and we enjoyed some very relaxing, quality family time. This semester was so busy, it felt so good to just hangout. It was finally a weekend where John wasn't traveling, writing a paper or competing in some type of mock trial.
John woke up Thursday morning, ready to decorate! He loves Christmas decorations more than anyone I've ever known. He had the tree up before I had breakfast cleaned up! After cleaning/decorating we went on a beautiful walk Thursday morning (some do a turkey trot... ours was more of a nice nature walk! Between a pregnant woman and a toddling 2 year old, a walk is about all we could handle!) On this walk we each listed the top 5 things we were thankful for. It was such a great conversation. It's so wonderful to be reminded of the many things we have to be thankful for. We are so blessed! Jack threw in his 2 bits as well... Thomas the Tank engine, fruit (nanas, orange, appies), dump trucks, Ethan (friends), and mommy/daddy!
Then we came home, I finished baking a few things, while John took a nap and Jack played in his crib (silly little boy would NOT take a nap. I guess he was too excited to eat turkey). We then headed over to Anna and Andy Despain's house and joined a few other law friends: Dan Leslie and his mom Lauri, and Melissa and Doug Hansen (8 adults and 4 kids... it was a perfect size group).
Thank you Despains for hosting Thanksgiving dinner. Food was delicious, the table was beautiful, the conversation was great, the game was fun, Jack's 1/2 hour nap was a life saver, and you guys are wonderful :-)

Turns out almost ever single thing I contributed to our Thanksgiving dinner contained at least one package of cream cheese! Spinach Artichoke dip, strawberry jello pretzel cheesecake, cheese ball and crackers, pumpkin roll, and the famous 7 layer salad (no cream cheese, but very tasty).

The beautiful turkey dinner :-)

Friday Nov. 28th we went to the Duke Bball game against Duquesne and we won 95-72. It's not very often that kids are allowed to go to Duke Bball games, but on games that are a little lower in attendance and not quite so intense, coach K opens the gym to families! We thought we'd take advantage of this chance to introduce Jack to Cameron Indoor Stadium... he LOVED it.
During offensive free-throws everyone puts their arms up in the air and if the shot is made we say, "Woosh". Jack thought it was really funny, he did it more often than just free throws!
The next day we decided to try out a Duke football game. Although nothing will ever compare to Cougar football, we had a pretty good time. At halftime we were so cold we decided to go home and drink hot chocolate. Jack's nose was runny and he kept looking up at me saying, "I'm beezin (freezing) mom" it was then we decided to go home.

We went to the game with our good friend Dan Leslie (he and his mom joined us for Thanksgiving dinner). They live in our complex and Dan in his first year of Law School at Duke. Go Blue Devils! Overall, a great Thanksgiving weekend.