All Things Belvin: November 2011

I have been looking forward to Charlotte's first Thanksgiving for the longest time! I love the food, the weather, the college football... But most of all, I love spending holidays with our family. My mother's side of the family live in Nashville, and we have been counting down the days until Charlotte's first trip to meet everyone.

Originally, we planned on driving up Tuesday morning and staying through Sunday. About a week before we were set to leave, Michael had a few meetings pop up, and he wasn't going to be able to leave until Tuesday night. Charlotte and I couldn't wait any longer to see everyone, so we decided to drive up on Monday to surprise Marmee (my Mom)! Michael would then fly in Tuesday night, and stay through Sunday to drive with us back to Dallas.

My Mom and I talk on the phone every day, and usually email back and forth a few times, so it was VERY difficult to keep this a secret. We all woke up bright and early Monday morning, and Michael made breakfast... very sweet! We finished loading up the car, packed Charlotte in with toys hanging from everything that would sit still, and headed up to Tennessee! I was a little nervous about the drive up, as it takes about 10 hours without accounting for stops to feed Charlotte. She does very well in the car, but our longest trip up until this point was a 2 hour drive to Waco for Baylor's Homecoming. This trip was a little longer! She did so well! It was rainy and overcast all day, which only seemed to help her sleep. Other than a bit of traffic outside of Little Rock, everything went smoothly. She slept, played, and babbled the whole way! We pulled up to Marmee's house around 6:45pm after 12 hours in the car, and we couldn't wait to see her face! I put Charlotte in her car seat on Marmee's front porch, rang the doorbell, and hid. She was so surprised! I think it took a few minutes for her to realize what was going on!

Tuesday, we took Charlotte to meet her great grandparents, Memama and Big Daddy. She is their 24th great grandchild... we have a big family! She did so well! We played and played, and then went to dinner. I loved seeing them hold her. They are two of the most precious people in my life, and I am so sad that I don't get to see them more often. They have been married for almost 75 years, and are such a great example for our family. After dinner, we picked Michael up from the airport.

Charlotte with Memama

Snuggling with Big Daddy

Wednesday, Michael, Charlotte and I had breakfast with college friends of ours that live in Franklin. That night, my mom and her husband, Bob, invited lots of our family over for a casual dinner. The entire family gets together every other Christmas, but we don't all get together for Thanksgiving each year, so we wanted to make sure we saw everyone we could while we were in town. My cousin Chris has a new little girl, so Charlotte got to meet her newest cousin Stella! She is beautiful!

We woke up Thursday ready to watch the Thanksgiving Day Parade and cook! My grandparents came over around 1, and we had loads to do! Everything came together beautifully, and we had a great time.

Watching the parade with Daddy

Having fun with Big Daddy

Friday, we had a second Thanksgiving at my Aunt Patsy and Uncle Randy's house with their children and grand kids. There were so many kiddos, and Charlotte couldn't get enough of her little cousins. They were so sweet with her! She was so worn out that night from all of the commotion!

4 Generations of Rudolph girls

Sleepy girl in her Christmas PJ's

Saturday, we shopped around town, and squeezed in one more visit with Memama and Big Daddy. Their last name is Rudolph, so I dressed Charlotte in her reindeer outfit! She was precious!!! Sadly, we had to pack up and head back to Dallas Sunday morning. We had such a great time in Nashville, and can't wait to see everyone again very soon!

Charlotte dressed as Rudolph!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Charlotte had her first road trip this weekend! Over the past several months, we had gone back and forth about going down to Waco for Baylor's Homecoming. We had a wedding in Dallas Saturday afternoon, so if we went, we knew it would be a very quick trip. Friday afternoon, I got a text from my friend Jen asking if we were coming down. She lives in Waco with her husband, Kurt, and 2 precious kids. I told her we thought about it, but decided it would be too quick to drive down for the parade and basically turn around to come back to Dallas for the wedding. She asked us to come stay the night with them, and go to the parade the next day. Baylor has a great Homecoming parade, and Kurt and Michael's fraternity always builds an amazing float! I have loads of pics from college of Michael with a full beard wearing overalls when he was a float chair. They take it pretty seriously, and always do a great job!

Flashback from '03: Michael is on the far right!

We are not always very spontaneous, but we decided to pack up really fast and drive down! I'm so glad we did! Their daughter Audrey is just a few weeks younger than Charlotte, and we hadn't seen her yet. We couldn't wait for Charlotte to meet her new buddy! We didn't get to their house until about 8 that night, but we stayed up to chat for a while.

Audrey & Charlotte

Saturday, we grabbed breakfast, and headed downtown to campus. It was pretty chilly that morning, but nothing a little hot cocoa couldn't take care of! We had so much fun catching up with old friends, and seeing all of the festivities. It was strange being on campus with a stroller! We had a great time!