Thankful and Blessed

Thanksgiving is always a great time to reflect on what we have and what we are thankful for. My greatest blessings are my family and friends. They are always there when I need them and always lift me up. They make my heart beat faster and are the ones I live for. I'm beyond thankful for be a wife and a mother. 

This life I live might be messy, chaotic and definitely not what I have ever dreamed of but it is so much better and all I ever wanted.

Earlier this month, Amelia and Elliot had their Thanksgiving luncheon at school and since these were both on the same day, Derrick attended one and I attended the other one. 

The kindergartners also talked about the First Thanksgiving and made a Native Indian outfit, complete with their Indian name: 

For Thanksgiving, we invited our Austrian friends, Bettina, Dominik and Evie, to join us for dinner. My first time cooking a 13 lbs turkey. All the food (from ham to yams and Knoedel) was delicious and plentiful and as usual, we ate way too much. 

Thanksgiving is by far one of my favorite holidays...really, what is there not to like? Food, family, friends and one does not need to worry about gifts. Unless you went Black Friday shopping this morning, like me. I only went out for a couple of hours but I was very successful. 

Go Titans!

Yesterday was a special day: We all went to our first Titan game (Nashville' NFL team). While it was chilly, it was also sunny and our seats, high up in the stands, were bathed in sunlight. The entire experience was worth it and our little ball player was so excited to see his Jacksonville Jaguars. All the others were there to cheer on the Titans, of course.

Ready to cheer our Titans on, face paint and all:

Let the game begin: But first the running in of the teams, national anthem and some parachutes:

Halftime show and we stopped by to see our favorite teacher, Mrs. Ingham, who is a season ticket holder:

Mrs. Ingham has awesome seats and we were able to see a couple of touchdowns from up close:

On the way back to our seats, we ran in to the Titans' Game day Superhero Kronos. Elliot was a bit skeptical about taking a picture with him though. 

While we saw a beautiful sunset over the stadium, it also meant the temperature dropped. But we had warm clothes and blankets to keep us warm.

This was one fun and exciting afternoon and for sure, not our last Titan game. Let's go Titans!!!

Hiking Fun

For two weekends in a row, and while the weather was chilly but sunny, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery in our vicinity by going on hikes. The first hike was last Saturday and initiated by our church on a member's sprawling property. 

 We took a 2.5 miles hike uphill and just chatted with each other while walking.

 Carrying my friend's girl:

While the big girls walked ahead and collected sticks and rocks. 

After the fire, we sat around the bonfire and ate hot dogs and made S'mores. 

There were also horses on the property, which we loved to pet.

The horse trainer also showed us some of his trust exercises with his horse. Did you know that horses like coke? 

Today, Derrick, the children and I went hiking at the nearby State Park. It was cold but clear and the trails were deserted. 

Several times I reminded the children to watch where they are stepping as the leaves on the ground made it a bit slippery and roots were cropping up everywhere. The children did well; however, I took off on a 3-mile run before we made it back to the car and just seconds in to running, I tripped and fell. Only a scraped knee and a bit mud but not enough to hold me back from a great trail run. Overall, it was a wonderful family day and we all slept well that night.