adventures over the holiday.

thanksgiving morning

i have just a few more pictures and a story from the holiday weekend before christmas hits and this all becomes irrelevant. 

we really had so much fun.

on our way to thanksgiving dinner

kroger adventure!

we have a favorite kroger (grocery store, same as smith's for you western folk) here in athens and both ellie and poppy like to go there. it is next to daddy's work, they have double seat carts for the girls, i know where everything is and write my lists so we can zoom through. we even have favorite cashiers. on the wednesday before thanksgiving, daddy's car wasn't working so we bundled up to drop him off at work at 6 AM and then headed to kroger, since i knew the girls wouldn't go back to sleep. it was perfect, too, because the store was empty and i knew it would be a madhouse later in the day. the girls were behaving so well and looked so cute in their little jammies and, wouldn't you know it, miss b (our most favorite cashier) was there to check us out at the crack of dawn. 

as we were paying, ellie saw some of the employees going upstairs to the offices and breakroom. every time we visit she asks me what is upstairs and when can we go up there, too. i always tell her that if she gets a job at kroger she can go up there. as we were talking, miss b overheard and asked if we would like a special tour of the mysterious upstairs! are you kidding? yes. 

so we went up, saw the breakroom and computers and employee bathrooms (exciting, i know). we got to see the whole store from up high and we even rode the elevator down (p.s. - smooothest elevator i've ever been on). ellie had the time of her life. when we came back down, she immediately wanted to go up again like it was some kind of carnival ride. she cried when we left the store (i'm serious, she loves kroger). 

that's the very reason i shop at that particular store and not the one that is closer (but busier and less friendly) - the people there are great! we're so blessed to know so many people who love our girls and want to make them smile.

(and as we were coming home we got to see the sun come up and the sky was bright pink and purple. i think it was possibly ellie's best morning ever - and one of my best mornings, too.)

playing with birthday presents first thing on poppy's big day

lunch with the birthday girl: leftovers

we also visited a couple of local parks, hiked a little and enjoyed the weather. 

we all watched "princess brave" so there was a lot of talk about bears in the woods (aaaaaahhh!)

daddy, poppy and judge got ahead of us a bit

we found the bear! 

i promise we're done with thanksgiving now. 

i'm going to get back to sending christmas cards!!