What a WONDERFUL weekend!!!

We had an amazingly fun weekend and we did things that NONE of us had ever done before! That is always exciting! It all started back on Wednesday when we had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at our church. It was so packed that it was wall to wall people! Jay said that there were over 600 people there...and that was just those with reservations. There were more than that who showed up with guests...like us!

I invited my neighbor Stephanie and her son Antonio to come and they accepted! I had just met her recently because they just moved in about a month ago. It was awesome to have them come to our church and to spend the evening getting to know them both. It was great! And I found these cute little Native America crafts for the girls to do at the table...since I knew we would have guests that night. They sat for an hour and worked so hard on these. They were perfect and understood that this was an outreach event. What amazing gifts these girls are to us!On Thursday, we had a great night with our friends the Longs coming over for dinner with their kiddos Thursday night. We made our own gourmet pizzas...which we love to do with friends who have kids. It was super yummy and fun too! I love to do things that involve the kids when they come over.

They we made our favorite fall dessert! We rolled out dough and used fall cookie cutters to make little pockets for our yummy chocolate. It was super fun and anything full of chocolate is a winner at our house. Then, the kids made a leaf for our Tree of Thanks. It was so sweet to read the things that they wrote and it was special not only to have the things we are thankful for...but those around us too!

Then, we had a weekend FULL of surprises for the girls! My friend Cacee called me this week to chat and she was on her was on her way to take her son Asher to ride the Pink Pig. I had heard of that...but never knew exactly what it was. Well, she explained that it was an Atlanta tradition that started in the 1950's at the Lennox Rich's (now Macy's) store. I got off the phone and looked it up on the internet...and knew that we had to go! I am such a sucker for a tradition...and we have lived in the Atlanta area for 7 years now and hadn't ever ridden the Ping Pig!

So, Friday morning we headed to Lennox Mall and rode the Pink Pig! It was so cute and the girls LOVED it! It wasn't crowded, but very cold! We all got our pink on (except Jay...he doesn't own much pink) and enjoyed our ride on the Pink Pig!

It was in a HUGE tent on the top floor of the Macy's parking deck. Talk about lots of PINK! Virginia was in heaven! Priscilla is the name of the pig...and the ride is a train that goes through a huge storybook, a little pink tunnel, and is super cute!

We were first in line, so we got to ride in the very front...which thrilled the girls.

As we got off the ride, we got huge "I rode the Pink Pig" stickers. You can see the array of pink pig gifts too. Luckily, neither girls were interested in any of them...whew! It was such a fun thing to have done...and it is a MUST if you live in Atlanta. Don't expect it to be more than a fun way to celebrate an Atlanta tradition. The train used to be hung from the ceiling and go around the toy store. Thankfully, now it is just a short little ride!

Then, we headed into the mall to enjoy shopping and eating lunch. It was decorated for Christmas and we just enjoyed walking around. I don't do my Christmas shopping in mall...just online...so I could enjoy just walking around!

That night, we cooked our own Thanksgiving meal and it was super yummy! We do Thanksgiving with just our family of 4 every year before celebrating with the rest of our families. Jay loves my dressing and I want the girls to remember our own tradition too. I love being with our extended family, but it's really important to Jay and I to have our own with just the 4 of us too. So, we had a very special night full of good food and sweet time of prayer and thankfulness to our Heavenly Father for all things in our lives.

Then, on Saturday we really got crazy! Both of our girls wanted a Cabbage Patch Kid for Christmas and I was thrilled because I can remember getting my first Cabbage Patch at Anli's age for Christmas. So, since we have never done the Santa thing at our house we decided to make it a fun trip to Babyland to actually get the dolls there...where they are BORN!

I had never been to this place, but it looked like such a blast that Jay and I were convinced this was the way to go! We loaded up and didn't let the girls know what we were doing...they just knew it was part of their Christmas...just a little early! When they saw the sign with the HUGE Cabbage Patch Kid on the way there they were hysterical with joy. OK, this place is amazing! It was really cute and I have never seen so many different babies in my life (they don't let you call them dolls!). They are in the process of building this amazingly gorgeous hospital opening in 2009 around March. We will have to visit then too. It was just so cute!We were able to witness 2 cabbage patch births...and I tell you it was precious. We got to see twins and then a little girl. There are not enough words to tell you how fun this was for all of us! The admission is free, but we were there to adopt our own little ones. Both girls found newborns that were so cute. I'll post their pictures tomorrow! The girls have been enjoying them nonstop. They were just thrilled to have their very own original Cabbage Patch newborn that they adopted at the Babyland Hospital.The girls under that Cabbage Patch tree where all the babies are born. It was also the Appalacian Christmas day, so there were lots of fun things to see and do. It was pretty cold, so we only stayed a little while. But, long enough...long enough to pet some really cute bunnies! I thought we might have to come home with one of these too. But, the new babies diverted them...for a while anyway!My cute kids!Cleveland where Babyland is located is only about 11 miles from Helen, GA. Jay had never been there before, so we decided to stop off and enjoy the afternoon there. It was decorated for Christmas, so it was really nice to walk around.Jay got to eat Bratwurst which thrilled him. The girls got to enjoy some street music and get some yummy candy from the homemade candy shop. We all got some amazing chocolate treats. Jay got a chocolate covered Ritz cracker...it's really good! I got a dark chocolate raspberry truffle...mmmmThe girls loved the HUGE carriage horses. They are so pretty! You can see Anli's baby Carlos in her arms. He hasn't left her arms except for church today. We had more fun tonight...but that's enough posting for now. It has been a wonderful weekend and we are so thankful to God for a family that loves to be together nonstop. We are so blessed in so many ways. We have been thanking God all month for each thing He has given each of us.