10 years and 8 months - Happy Thanksgiving! SO much to be thankful for... 💜

Happy 10 years and 8 months sweet, Aspen! 

This picture is a great image of who you are! Cray Cray! 😂 

You can be silly. You can be hilarious. You can have a temper too.  But you are determined and athletic. You are stubborn and know what you like. You are friendly and are talkative. You can do anything you set your mind to. You love to come up and say HELLO and I think it's the cutest. You love most everything Pops loves. You are competitive and started basketball this month - the first thing you haven't really KNOWN how to do when you started. It's been fun to watch you learn the game! You love to hunt more than anything - squirrels and possums and raccoons and all the things. You set traps all over the yard. You are the resident goat keeper - you wrangle them back in the pen when they get out almost every day. 😆 You skin your animals. You tan your animals. You will likely do something with your hands when you grow up because you are really good at figuring things out. You are smart like that and I'm already praying for what the Lord has for you. ♥️ 

Dee Dee and Pops have THREE trees. We have a big tree in the den and a travel tree in the dining room and a family tree in the basement. You and B and Thomason and Truett help me put up the basement tree but I usually do the others upstairs myself. I was SUPER excited when you offered to come help me when you were in the middle of a Mine Craft game. I enjoyed it so much! 💛 

Your favorite ornament is this one from Yellowstone... 

You shot two squirrels this morning! You have quite the shot! 

I've loved watching you practice and play basketball... 

You are really good with Truett. You entertain him well. We have fun on the golf cart! Hands lifted up going down the big hill! 😂 

The first part of the month was beautiful... the second 1/2 has been a lot colder and rainier. I love when you come up for lunch and we can sit outside. You try to make it up before your Mama or B come up! 

Your Mama and Daddy went on a date and we went to Long Horn's. We asked y'all where you wanted to go and you said Longhorn. I think you were shocked when we said YES! We had shrimp and you got a steak. It was delicious! 😋 

Watching you run up to see us makes my heart ❤️ happy! 

Pops has worked with you a few times on what you need for basketball 🏀 

Pops gave y'all a fire starter and showed you how to build a fire in the driveway! Your Mama's favorite thing! 😂 

I love when you come up and we talk about the ornaments on our tree! I told you this was one of my favorites because it's the REASON for Christmas - Jesus! 

You were super excited that your jersey was purple! How perfect for you! The number 11 is perfect for you too! 

I love to take you to get your hair cut. It gets long quickly and grows straight out. ha! We joked that your hair was going to stay this way. Too funny! 

I had you up one day to tell you about a child that we are sponsoring from Mali. His name is Alou. He is 9 years old. I really want you to see how blessed your life is. SO often you think the smallest things are huge deals or you get mad and pout. We are blessed to have all the things and be able to do all the things we do. I'm praying we can write Alou every month and you can get to know him and how he lives and that it will give you a new perspective (one of my favorite words). We had the long talk about being grateful and writing things down. I asked you what TEN things you were most thankful for and this is what you said: 

1. Living next door to us! 💛 

2. That y'all have a creek 

3. That you get to spend the night at our house on Christmas Eve 🌲 

4. That you get the turkey leg for Thanksgiving 😊 

5. That you have traps in the yard! 

6. That you got to shoot a crow with Pops! It was both of your first crows! 

7. Medicine that helps you! YES! PRAISE! 

8. That you are homeschooled. I am SO grateful you see that as a blessing! You are SO blessed. 

9. That we no longer have to sacrifice animals ❤️ 

10. Your home

SO many incredible things to be thankful for. I loved having this conversation with you! 

We went to Stone Mountain the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving! Such a great time to go and we got a BIG discount because your Mama homeschools y'all! 

We all loved the parade. It was funny - especially the dancing horse! 🐴 

 We took a train ride around the mountain. I LOVE that they still share the Christmas story to everyone on the train. I am sure there are people on every ride that don't know who Jesus is. I am praying it makes an impact on lives. We should be telling everyone we come in contact with about Jesus! 

We sang Christmas songs riding on the train... 

We were supposed to see a drone show and were super excited about it. It was cancelled at the last minute but we did get to see this light show! And fireworks! 💥 

We had a great night. We saw a 4D movie and played putt-putt too! 

You were worn out! ♥️ 

Happy Thanksgiving! Look at you two in your matching hats and shoes! ❤️ 

Your Mama made a delicious breakfast and we were able to chill. I love this picture! 

Look at your Mama GO! Playing a little bit of Thanksgiving basketball! 🏀 

You are a helper whether it's pouring the tea or cutting the grass. You love to help! SO sweet! 

You talked about the turkey leg all week! 

Pops painted this mug several years ago. You asked if you could have it this week and we gave it to you. I hope you're able to keep it and not break it! ♥️ 

No more Black Friday shopping for us. We headed to Dahlonega! 

You have a hard time just sitting still! 😆 

Waiting to ride the carriage! 

The carriage ridge was fun with you five! 

The tree lighting was SO crowded but beautiful! 

You were excited to go into the General Store. You and B bought some cool rocks! 

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we go to the Family Tree in Snellville and get ornaments before we go to Frontera! It's one of my favorite days of the year! B wanted to take this picture with his arm around you. You weren't much of a fan but I'm glad you smiled for it! 

Family pictures at Vines... We found a new spot! ❤️ 

B and Thomason rode with us and you rode with Nelly! You two were toast by the time you got to our house! 

I always ask ya'll to pick your favorite ornament. This has been yours for several years now. 

Y'all did a great job! 

Your Mama helped you put Jesus up at the top of the tree! I love this picture! 

We watched Elf! 🧝 

We decorated cookies too! 

SEE! You a little bit cray cray! 💛 

It was hard to wake y'all up for church... 

BUT! We made it to the 9am service! SCORE! 

We had our extended family Thanksgiving at Fort Yargo on the Sunday after. It was a cold and drizzly kind of day but we stayed out there for about 4 hours! 

Y'all had fun on the playground! 

You had your first basketball game in Monroe. You are the Kings! Your team won 33 to 11. You scored and it was SO fun to watch. 

You can hustle on that court... 

I love watching you learn and grow! It's going to be a great season! 

Your Dee Dee loves you to the moon and back and back again! I couldn't love you MORE! 

I pray for you every day. For your decisions and your friendships. For your perspective on life and for the Holy Spirit to be active in your life. I am praying you'll get a grip on your attitude. You are SO sweet and loving and kind most of the time but you have a very ungrateful side too. I know part of it is "growing up!" I hope you always realize how blessed you are. The Lord has had his hand on your life. He has been SO good to you. There is always, always something to be thankful for. 

You have clinic this month and I'm already praying for all the things. We are so thankful that Trikafta has been a good fit for you and has held your CF symptoms at bay. I'm praying you won't culture anything and that your PFT's will be at base and so much more! 

I am super grateful that I get to look out the window and see you and B playing! I'm grateful that y'all live next door and we can do life together. I'm grateful that you love spending time with us. 

I'm excited for December and all that it will bring. I'm praying for good health and a wonderful Christmas in the next month. It's your Mama's favorite time of the year and I know we will build some special memories! 💜 

I love you SO much! 

Happy 10 years and 8 months...