Thanksgiving Smock-style

Our first Thanksgiving in the city was a lot of fun! We went to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade balloons the night before the parade. We didn't feel like waking up at dawn to get a spot to see the actual parade, so we thought seeing the balloons the night before would be a decent substitute.

On Thanksgiving day we took the train to Stamford and was picked up at the train station by family. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Rob and his family, Chris and his family, Julie and her family, and Papa Smock even flew out from Utah!

David had to work the day after Thanksgiving so I had time to recuperate with the girls from the night before. That same weekend we also went to Gabe Smock's baptism and shared a fabulous meal with family at Chris and Thayer's house. It was a really special Thanksgiving with the Smocks.

Love Hannah's face in this pic. Too bad Zoe's is blocked. The balloons were all tied up but it was still cool to see them.

At Pound Ridge before Thanksgiving dinner-too bad our apartment doesn't look like this!

All the grandkids were climbing all over Papa

Of course David was seated first at the adult's table-it was an amazing spread!

Ava with a cheesy smile at the kids' table. For once dinner wasn't a battle!

We ended the evening with ukeleles and songs. Also loved the Wii's Just Dance 2 party we had (sorry, no pics of any booty shakin' because I was too busy dancing)

Big girl bed

About two weeks ago David decided it was time to change Ava's crib into a toddler bed. He got out the tools and Ava watched with interest as her bed was transformed from prison to possible sleep area. Thankfully Ava has loved her new bed.

It hasn't been too eventful with the changing of the bed. She refused to nap one time and has come to our room in the middle of the night with declarations of "it's not night time anymore!" a few times. There have been a few times where she comes out while David and I are watching TV and wants to join in the festivities. One night she opened her door and shouted "go to bed, guys!" then quickly shut the door while David and I burst out laughing.

One useful thing about changing the bed is that it encourages good behavior. When Ava doesn't listen, we'll say that we'll change her bed back to a crib. One time after a threat, she ran into her room to see if her bed was changed and excitedly said "oh, it's not a crib!" Ava is such a big girl now that she doesn't want to wear pull ups to bed anymore. So far, so good...