Thanksgiving Day

The Helfers headed south for Thanksgiving this year.  We beat traffic Wednesday morning and, I was ready to sleep for days after all the packing we were ready for the weekend!  First things first Thanksgiving morning… gotta get the turkey in the oven.  But at our house, it’s tradition that my Dad “flies the turkey” first.  We loved it as kids.  And apparently so does James.

James had been up for a couple of hours, and it was time for a snack!  When better than Thanksgiving Day to try a powdered donut?

I think he liked it.

Fast forward a few hours, a nap, and a wardrobe change.  We were expecting a couple of guests for dinner and James was getting antsy so, Uncle Hampton took him out to his boat.

Not out on his boat.  Just out to his boat.  In the yard.

I think at that point, it could have been the best day of James’ life {since Halloween}.

He tried so hard to steer and sit at the same time.

Saying “Watch!  I sit.”  Which sounds exactly like “watch, oh sh*t” so, I had some explaining to do Monday morning at school.

Nonetheless, he took his boat driving very seriously.  Pressing all the buttons.

Checking his blind spot.

And discussing the boat’s cleanliness with Uncle Hampton, using a leaf “wees” as example.

Only allowing for a few breaks here and there.  But never fully letting go of his driving face.

And then a friend, Zane, stopped by, Mommy took one picture, and enjoyed catching up with old friends!  I was proud of James for sharing, though.  He loves to play.

James jumped in a pile of mud then, it was time to eat.  We ate a delicious Thanksgiving dinner cooked mostly by my mom.

And then it was time to play again.  Ms. Ellen brought James a giant teddy/key to his heart.

I’ll never forget this visit with James and Uncle Josh.  He called him “Gosh.”  Every time Josh walked out of the room, James said “Gosh, where are you?”  Every morning, “Gosh? Gosh? Gosh?”  Every time he cried, “Mommy, Daddy, Gosh.  Mommy, Daddy, Gosh.”  And when Josh was there, James would just stare at him.  I don’t know if it’s because my brother is so tall, but James all of a sudden was star struck with him.  He didn’t have much to say to Uncle Gosh.  He just wanted him right beside him.  I’ve never seen James like that with anybody.  I couldn’t make sense of it.  Just thought it was sweet.  Actually brought a tear to my eye most times.  Until I found them playing after Thanksgiving dinner.  Gosh was helping James climb up the coffee table and then would hold him while James pretended to jump.  What boy wouldn’t love that?

I thought ‘oh jumping off tables. Great.’ And then I got my camera and watched.

For the next hour or so we did what we do every night.  Danced to The Monster Mash.  It’s hard to say no to “A ma mash? A ma mash? A ma mash? A ma mash?”  You eventually just let the kid dance.

He danced past his bedtime.  Then the adults continued to celebrate, and reverted to cell phones for pictures.

I know this one is blurry, but I love it.  Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, my Dad pulls apart the leftover turkey at the end of the night.

And last, but not least… I always find time to love my sweet little puppy.  So much that I share my coat on a breezy, beach night.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jacksonville Visit {from my phone}

After a last minute plan to visit my family, a long week of a crying toddler - refusing food, sleep, and pacifiers - a Hand Foot Mouth Virus scare at preschool, and two visits to the pediatrician with a bad case of teething diagnosis, we packed our bags up Saturday morning and drove down to Florida!  {Hello, run-on sentence.  Goodbye, week from Hell.}

It’s been a long time since I’ve been home.  One of the reasons has been my dread of 10 hours in a car with a toddler.  I can thank my wonderful husband for overnighting this portable DVD player.

James hardly made a peep on the five hour drive there.  He did however, say “Bob” about 5,000 times in request to watch Bob the Builder.  And he did however, skip his nap {out of excitement for his DVD player} for the very first time of his life.  Not a good outcome, by the way.

Saturday morning, James’ mouth had a miraculous recovery, which = smiles = appetite = happy family.  With eyes that never left the TV…

I don’t recommend skipping naps.  James hit his wall at 4:30.  Leaving three hours of a meltdown before bedtime.  So tired that he thought he didn’t need to sleep.  Here’s the video monitor.  I guess he gave up.

I have to admit, I only took one picture with my camera this entire trip.  Here are a few random pictures from my phone.

Lynyrd and his teeny tiny shadow.

My brother has a goldfish, and it was James’ go-to-happy-spot the whole trip.  I don’t know if it had a name before this trip, but his new name is “Ish”.  James talked about him every. five. minutes.

At some point, my brother talked Justin into doing handstand pushups.  {Now that is random.} And it’s moments like this why Justin fits right into my hyperactive family. 5 minutes later, this picture was on Facebook, and a video was posted on youtube.

Josh and James.

Lynyrd and his one true love, Maggie.

Justin, Josh, James and I went to the Jacksonville Beach Pier.  It’s five minutes from my parents’ house.  The original was torn down by a hurricane a few years ago, and we hadn’t been to the new one yet.  We realized that having a kid to entertain keeps you going places and doing things that might otherwise pass you by.

James loved it.  He chased the birds around saying, “chirp, chirp”.

We took James to lunch then home for a nap.  When he woke up, we went to the beach.  He wanted to be in the water the entire time so, there was no time to take pictures.  I was just happy to see him laughing.

{Insert mental image here}

We left Tuesday morning.  James was a little tougher to soothe on the way home, but did great nonetheless.  Bob the Builder and a blue raspberry tootsie pop {gross} did the trick.

It was a well-rounded trip, and it felt good to visit my beach home.  It always feels good to get back though.  Which is a feeling that I appreciate.

And the picture I took with my camera was from my parents porch when the sun was going down.  Not a bad view.