First Thanksgiving

We had originally planned to stay in Asheville for Thanksgiving and go to Buckhannon for Christmas, but Justin's Grandma Goodfellow decided to come down from Connecticut, so we happily changed our plans! Grandma, Uncle Dave and Aunt Pat drove down together to join us for a full Hunter Thanksgiving! At Grandma and Pop Pop's, there were 12 adults, 4 grandchildren, 8 dogs and 2 cats. It was a hectic but great time.

We both happened to have some extra vacation days to use up, so we took off on Wendesday and drove up then. It really made it less stressful because we drove on Wednesday, had all day Thursday and Friday to visit with both families and friends, and then drove home on Saturday (with a stop through Mt Airy, NC).

Grady met his Great Grandma Goodfellow on Wednesday! We had a nice visit that evening, then went to Grandma and Grandpa Loftis' to stay, and also visit with them and Great Grandma Purbaugh. Catherine had to work so she wasn't able to come up, but we did get to see her on Saturday. We skyped with Uncle John and Aunt Julie in Tacoma, Washington and had Thanksgiving lunch there.

Mid-afternoon we headed over to Grandma and Pop Pop's for turkey dinner #2 (which was just as delicious as dinner #1!). It was great to see all 4 cousins together.

Friday morning Grandma and Grandpa Loftis were getting ready to drive to Mt Airy, and I had Grady lying on their bed, playing. He had gotten close to rolling over before but hadn't been able to make it over his arm. Well gravity was on his side, and he rolled onto his tummy for the first time! Grandpa got to see it, and we called Grandma in and he did it again for her. I was so happy they got to see that milestone!

On Friday we had Jack's 3rd birthday party - it was the first birthday party Grady has attended! We had a very nice Italian lunch complete with birthday cake and ice cream. Jack is all about cars right now (the movie Cars 2 is about to come out) so he got lots of toys on wheels. Grandma and Pop Pop got him a racetrack, which I think his dad and uncles had just as much fun playing with!

That evening Justin and I met Matt and Carrie for dinner and left the kids with the grandparents. West is almost 1 year old now! They are living just outside NYC while Matt does a short-term contract for his company. We met them at CJ Maggie's - we noted how different our conversations have become! We talked mostly about baby poop. After that we picked up Grady and visited Amy and Andy, who are about to have their son (Owen we think) around January 1st. Since we came up for Thanksgiving, we will probably not be coming in for Christmas so the next time we see them Owen will be born!

Saturday morning we got all packed up (no small feat with us, Grady and the dogs) and drove to Mt Airy to visit with my Loftis family - aunts, uncles and 2nd cousins. They were all very nice and we had a great visit. Then we headed home. It was really nice to have all day Sunday to recoup before the work week. We also picked up our Christmas tree!

In putting together this post, I started looking back on some photos and videos from the past months and it is incredible how much Grady has grown already. He was so skinny and now he's a chunk! His smiles and giggles really feel like we are connected with him. He has been rolling over more consistently now - did it 5 times in a row this morning! However, he can only roll right and when he gets to his belly his arm is stuck under him and he gets frustrated so we roll him back over, then he does it all over again.