pretty pretty's birthday, thanksgiving, a shower, and ......Leaving Tomorrow!!!!!.

This last week of packing and recovering from sickness, left us little room to celebrate Mary Taylor's 2nd birthday. We were going to bring cupcakes to playgroup one afternoon to celebrate with her friends, but it just didn't happen this year...there is always next year. All she really cared about was the icing on the cupcakes anyway! Every time I told her it was her birthday last week, she would look up at me and say, "Cake?"

We spent Thanksgiving day in Birmingham with my whole family, which was really crazy as usual, but a lot of fun...never a dull moment!

My father insists on taking pictures of the whole family...I have to say they did not turn out as bad as I thought they would with the 1:30 bright light and the way he arranged everyone. I just have to close my mouth and walk away and do lots of editing when I get home. (: Love that he is sitting right in the middle where he thinks he should be...you got to know my father, as some of you do! The story of my life. I don't think I ever made it through one Easter picture taking session as a little girl without crying. He used to drive me crazy....who am I kidding, he still does!!! But, I love you Dad!!!!

Leslie, my wonderful sister -in-law made this cheese pumpkin, which she said was very simple. I will have to get the recipe from her for next year! Too cute, I love festive foods...

My cousin Corrie made these sand dollar ornaments for everyone in the family for us to hang on our tree. She collected them at our beach trip back in September. What a great idea!! She is very creative and artistic, she even has a blog where she sells her art. You can find it HERE.

 She even made one for Charles Tucker!!!

We also celebrated by giving Matt and Kelly...and Piper (their cute dog) a shower for their new baby boy to be...which hopefully will be born tomorrow! So fun to have two new children enter the Jackson family this week!! Can't wait to hear their news!!

After the shower, we celebrated Mary Taylor's birthday by opening presents. Big brother was there to help her, that's for sure! She was so cute, showing all the gifts to everyone! She loves these new Elmo books that my grandmother gave her...we hope to fit these in our suitcase, I think C.T. will like them too!

Don't forget about Bubbles the Bear...he did not want to miss out on the festivities...

That afternoon we came back to Atlanta for the night and then headed over to the DeBardeleben Thanksgiving lunch and birthday celebration...which was her actual birthday...November 26th! I was going to try to make her a cake and put her  beauty and the beast figurines on top, but that just didn't happen. Instead we headed on over to Publix to buy a cookie cake, let her pick out a balloon, and allowed her to get gold fish, because it was her birthday! She loved it and  had no idea what she was missing out on!

 

Aunt Julia and Nana enjoyed helping Mary Taylor singing blow out her candles..

Cousin Dexter was a big help too!!

Henry and Cousin Dexter had a great time fooling around the house...while Daddy and Uncle Will watched the amazing Auburn/Alabama game. War Eagle!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nana got Henry an airplane for Henry to play with on our 24 hour flight to Uganda....

Mary Taylor loved the new book bag Nana gave her...

Poo Paw finally got some kisses from Mary Taylor...

She is going to be really upset that we can't bring this on the airplane....

Happy Birthday to my 2 year old!!! So hard to believe you are already two, wow does time fly. Two years ago you came into this world the day before Thanksgiving and because of you our lives will never be the same. You came to us just as hard or harder to deal with than Henry. You had lots of eating and sleeping problems for the first four months of your life. After some lovely nurses helped us, you have become an amazing sleeper, but you are still a horrible eater...guess it wasn't the breast milk...it was just you! The last two years have been some of the hardest two years and also the best at the same time. God has broken me down and changed me and redeemed me through your life. Through your life and other circumstances God led me to depend on him more and led us to adopt. As crazy as that may sound, God used you to get to Charles Tucker and now in two days we will get to meet him for the first time and then in a weeks time get to bring him into our family. Thank you Mary Taylor for making your mommy find true joy in Jesus. Your daddy and I pray that one day you will find that Jesus is the only one who will fulfill your hearts true longing. You are a joy and a precious gift from God. We love you "pretty pretty"!

And finally..yes WE ARE LEAVING TOMMOROW!!!! We board our plane at 2:38 pm in Atlanta. Please pray for safe travels, peaceful children, patient parents, and helpful and understanding passengers. (: We will see Charles Tucker on Dec.1st for the first time. Please pray that the first day goes well and our children behave at the babies home. I will be updating everyone through email from now until we get home, so please check your email for updates.