Nolan's First Thanksgiving!

Nolan got to experience his first Thanksgiving with both sides of the family! We had a busy Thanksgiving break, leaving Wednesday after work for NJ, having Thanksgiving dinner with my side of the family at my cousin Thomas's house, then driving back to PA on Friday and hosting Joe's side of the family for Thanksgiving part II on Saturday.

It was a lot of fun to introduce Nolan to more of my family in NJ. He had briefly met a bunch of them before the foundation dinner in September, but it was so hectic during the cocktail hour that this was a much more involved meeting. Unfortunately, I completely dropped the ball in documenting this fun event as I was more focused on balancing keeping Nolan happy, catching up with everyone, and of course, eating. Luckily, my cousin Marco took a photo to document the first meeting of Nolan with his cousin Logan. They are about a year apart, but Nolan LOVED watching his cousin running around and seemed like he couldn't wait to run around with him. Should be fun to watch the two of them grow up together.

 

Thanksgiving in NJ - Marlen with cousin Logan, and Nolan with dad (celebrating Movember!)

I made up for my lack of photos in NJ with Thanksgiving round II (it was easier to stay on top of at home!) We had Joe's parents, brother, sister, brother-in-law, and niece over, and I cooked a full thanksgiving meal, which was lots of fun!

 

Hanging out with the family

Watching Nolan interact more with his cousin Matigan was so much fun. He is really so much more aware with each get-together! Mattie celebrated her Second birthday the week of Thanksgiving, so we combined a little bit of birthday festivities in with the Thanksgiving get-together.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Matigan!

Mattie opening her presents

Nolan watching the presents with Abuelita

Mattie's presents - Princess Castle, Mr. Potatohead, Legos, Play food for her kitchen

Mattie's Cookie Cake!

She tried to grab the lit candles, but mom and dad to the rescue!

Nolan Watching the festivities with his Abuelo

The birthday girl and parents

Nolan loves shoulder rides (and grabbing hair!)

Mustachioed father and son

 

More time with Abuela!

Cousin playtime after dinner

Playing with Nolan's favorite driving toy

More playtime

Dean still getting lots of attention

 Both family events were a lot of fun! We had a bunch of leftovers from cooking on Saturday, so Nolan got to try his very first meat puree - made from our leftover turkey! To be honest, the idea of pureeing meat makes my stomach turn, but the high protein is recommended as a good food for his age, so I powered through it. Nolan ended up loving the Turkey! How appropriate for Thanksgiving :)

Do I get some Turkey too??

Eager first bite!

chomp

First taste of meat

He loves it!

More please!

So yummy!

 Another little home improvement project got done over the long weekend too - a new gallery wall in our kitchen! The wall features two recent presents I gave Joe: a watercolor of our North Carolina home (given for our anniversary), and portraits of Deaner and Jerry (given for his birthday). Combined with two photos from Nolan's first week of life makes for one very happy wall.

Our new gallery wall featuring a watercolor of our 1st house, paintings of Dean and Jerry, and newborn family photos

Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and made us very excited for the upcoming holiday season. December is now upon us and we're getting everything together for a fun Christmas! Lots to be thankful for this year.