Thanksgiving Weekend: Saturday

I’m sorry about the lack of posts lately; I’ve been super busy with school and haven’t had much time to sit down and edit pictures.  This is my last full week of school before Christmas break, so I should have more time to blog in the next week or so… I would really appreciate your prayers throughout this week as I wrap up my first college course and prepare for my final next week.  I don’t think it will be too bad, but I’m just ready to have it over with, so I can enjoy Christmas.  Thank you all for your prayers last week. :)

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The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we loaded up in the van (early in the morning) and picked up my grandma (my dad’s mom) at her house, and then we all headed to my Uncle Bobby’s house who lives near Raleigh, North Carolina.  …but, before we left town, we got some breakfast at Mickey-Dee’s.  Hotcakes, sausage, and delicious coffee?  Yes, please! :) We got to their house a little before 11:00 and almost as soon as we got there, Caroline (my cousin) and I headed over to the library to find a book she needed for a school project.  Fun times, ya’ll.  We looked everywhere for that book, but couldn’t find it.  Someone must have put it in the wrong place because it said it was there when we looked on their computer… Oh, well.  She did end up finding another book that would help her, so it ended up being okay. :)When we got back to their house, we found everyone else doing random things around the house.  Aunt Kim, my grandma, Daddy, and Uncle Bobby were mixing up the sausage balls that we were going to make later on that afternoon (it’s always been a Christmas family tradition for us), and the rest of the family (Katie, Christopher, and Andrew) had gone to the store to get something for supper that they had forgotten the day before. 

Caroline and I were quickly put to work on making lunch because we were all getting pretty hungry at this point…     After lunch and clean up in the kitchen, we all gathered around the kitchen table and got ready to make all of our sausage balls for Christmas.  We always get together and make a huge batch and freeze them.  We usually have enough to take to parties, give some to neighbors, and then still have enough for each family to eat during the holiday season. 

Although, this year, we went really big.  Like…really, really, big.
We ended up making at least 800 sausage balls when we were finished rolling them that afternoon.  I’m not kidding.  It might have been more than that!  We made three recipes these year because we ran out really fast last year after we all took some to Christmas parties, etc.

Can anyone say breakfast AND snack for the the rest of the winter?  :) There is nothing like sitting around the kitchen table with your cousins and grandma talking and laughing about some of the funniest/ craziest things and rolling little sausage balls together… sweet memories. :)  We finished the sausage balls and then Caroline played some pretty music for us……then we (the cousins) decided that it would be fun to go have a little photoshoot down the street in their neighborhood, so we grabbed the tripod and camera, loaded up in the car, and set out to find the perfect place to take pictures.
We had such a fun time taking these pictures together! 

Caroline…“Look, let’s get behind this tree and take a picture, Andrew!” *insert nervous laugh here as a random guy walks past us with his dog* :)
Have I mentioned before how much I love this girl?  She is so beautiful.  I count myself blessed to have such an amazing cousin who laughs with me, prays for me, texts me randomly to ask me how my day is going and how I’m doing, and encourages me…she is also almost always around when I have a “Crazy Em” moment and need someone to laugh at my weird jokes or give me a hug when I’m having a bad day and need a good cry…

I love you Caroline.  (aka. Carolina/ Carebear)

We also did some shopping that day and had some delicious food for supper.  It’s always nice to spend a day with family and I’m thankful that my dad’s family is close by, so we can see them more often.  :)

Thanks again for having us up there, guys!  We love you bunches and can’t wait to see you in a few weeks!

xoxo,

Emily