Our Thanksgiving Celebration!

So as not to get everyone's hopes up too high, I'm letting everyone know now that unfortunately there are no pictures of giant turkeys, Jacques dressed like a pilgrim, or pumpkin pie/dessert eating extravaganzas. However, we did take the advantage of our Thanksgiving weekend to snap a few more photos of Jack...and we even managed to capture quite a few smiles as well!

We celebrated Thanksgiving the weekend after the actual holiday, and like most weekend mornings we began by bringing Jacques into our bedroom, when he woke up, for a little fun-time in pajamas! Now it's quite the exception for Jack to have both of his parents greet him in the morning, which means an extra dose of smiles for everyone. Check out Jacques in his new orange PJs playing with his Papa...

What's Jack smiling at???

It's his Papa!

Alexis and I both want to make sure that we keep celebrating both American and Belgian holidays as a family. However, since Jacques is still quite small this year, we decided to have a mini-Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday with our next-door neighbors. Alexis and I were in charge of making the feast...which is probably an inappropriate word since we prepared a small chicken (turkeys are a bit difficult to find here in BCN), mashed potatoes and grilled veggies, while the neighbors hosted the dinner in their apartment and brought dessert. This arrangement worked out perfectly since dinner-time in Spain is quite late, usually starts after 9, and Jacques is always fast asleep by then (in his make-shift bedroom in our living area). It was the first time Alexis and I got to try out our baby monitors, since our apartment is so small you can hear everything, and they worked great!! Fortunately, Jacques slept like a log the whole evening without one little peep. I'm glad he didn't feel left out of our Turkey day celebration.

As many of you know, Alexis is definitely the cook in the family, so while he was busy slaving away in the kitchen, I tried to find any excuse to stay out of it...and now Jacques is the best distraction ever. Luckily we pulled Alexis away from the kitchen long enough to snap a few great pictures of our happy baby.

Jacques loves to practice standing...although he wobbles all around

Jacques showing us just how nicely his shirt compliments his eyes

If you look closely, you'll see Jack's new favorite pasttime...drooling!

Finally some real smiles! Not for the camera...but at least for his Mama

It was really great to have Alexis hang out with me and Jack for most of the day; however, Papa was quite busy that day and had to find time to escape to his office to study as well. Fortunately, there is always time for breaks and Jacques likes to visit his Papa a bunch. Here is a picture of Jacques saying goodnight to his Papa just before naptime...Looks like Alexis might need a nap as well too!!!

A quick hug and kiss before naptime

All in all it was a great Thanksgiving celebration. It was a ton of fun to see our neighbors again, they are such a fun couple. It's funny because even though we live right next door to them, we hardly ever see or hear them. However, we always enjoy the times we manage to spend together! We are all looking forward to next year when Jacques can enjoy all the Thanksgiving meal treats as well!