These posts below are out of order and I'll fix that soon. But enjoy pictures of the little girl's first Thanksgiving! She had a great time seeing so much family. We have so much to be thankful for!

On Thursday night we drove to Raleigh to stay the next two days with Grandma (Mama Dot). She's always a great hostess and we feel so at home with her! On Friday we just relaxed and let Vivian stay in the same place for a while, and Aaron and Michael went to walk around the mall. Friday night we took advantage of the in-house babysitters and went out to North Hills for a date...we ate at Firebirds restaurant with Joey and Sierra and then Michael met us for a movie. Poor Angel had to stay outside on the porch most of the time we were there. She's a sweet dog, though.On Saturday afternoon we had our big Thanksgiving with this side of the family. Grandma prepared an elaborate feast for us. Granddaddy and Grandma Carolyn came from Pinehurst, and Frank and Sylvia, Danny and Nan, Grand Auntie Nancy, and Marie were also there to party.Handsome brothers waiting for lunch...Michael came in from UVa and Stephen from DC. In fact, Stephen had to work on Friday, so he drove down for Thursday, went back, and came right back on Friday night! Vivian met this family for the first time. Nan is holding her while her granddaughter Emily shares her bunny. Emily's older sister Lauren was also there to play with Vivian!

Grabbing at the face, like always :)

Nancy talking with Vivian was a sure way to get a smile!

with Grandma Carolyn (she helped a lot by holding Vivian the whole time I ate...I even took the time to get seconds!)

On Thursday evening we drove to Lucama to have another meal with Granny's clan. Needless to say, Vivian had a lot of faces to slobber-kiss! And also imporant to note...she served a great turkey, so I wasn't without! Vivian is Granny's 3rd great-grandchild.
Hannah, Lucas's daughter and Aunt Stella's granddaughter (will turn 3 in a couple of weeks) was the highlight of Vivian's first Thanksgiving. Keep reading to find out how I know that.

Look at her face! She was so excited to have a friend to play with.At first Hannah wasn't crazy about Vivian's playfulness...don't blame her since all Vivian knows how to do is grab at her face! But then things got rolling and Hannah was having fun playing "put the paci back in her mouth and watch her drop it again"

And here it is, the video we've all been waiting for! :) The story is simple: we have been anxiously awaiting to hear Vivian laughing. She has always been very squealy when she's excited, but never to laugh out loud. Well, Hannah made it happen for us. It was the sweetest sound to our ears! And the best part about it is that everyone was able to hear her first time. It was more precious than I can explain, so you have to watch the video. This went on for about 30 minutes. Praise God!

On Thursday morning we drove to Parkton to Aunt Julie's house for the Fernandez Thanksgiving lunch. We had fun seeing all the family and eating everyone's best recipes. The crazy part, however, was that the turkey that Joey and Johnny deep-fried was eaten before I could get any! Aaron's cousin Casey was the first of many to play with Vivian. She is a great mom to Emma, the sweet, sweet girl sitting beside her. Emma will be 3 in a few months. Vivian loved to watch her play! All of the cousins sitting around the fire pit. It was a pretty mild day for the end of November, but notice how Ben is all wrapped up in the blanket...I think he said he was so used to being in the hot desert in Iraq that our 55-60 degrees is cold to him!

I found Abigail and Maria upstairs playing with their American Girls.The adults (if they dared) talked politics after lunch.

Peggy wanted to take a family picture for their Christmas card. Aunt Julie's house is in front of this beautiful lake!Siblings :)

I think Ben will be back from his deployment for good (at least for this time) in April. It was a fun afternoon, but Aaron and I left early to get to my dad's family's meal. I heard we missed a poker tournament for the men and Mary Kay facials for the women!

I couldn't get the middle video to work on the previous post...here it is!

The first one is from our trip to Raleigh last week. I caught a few seconds at a stop light and recorded what it was like for more than 1/2 of our trip down there. Ahhh! She had gotten tired of being in that seat, I think. Needless to say, she slept really well that night. The other two are just of her playing yesterday and this morning.