Give Thanks!

I know this is a little late, but better late than never...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We went to Cheraw, SC Wednesday night to see family. We have been going ever since I can remember and probably before! This was Lilly's first year. It is always nice to get together and to get to see distant cousins. Not as many are able to make it anymore as our families grow, but we still look forward to it every year. We had wonderful BBQ as we do every year. Then, Thursday we went to my parent's house for Thanksgiving dinner with my Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, and sister. My Mom cheated and cooked her Turkey 2 days early and fed some to Lilly then. So she got it a little early, but she loved it. On Thanksgiving she had more turkey and sweet potatoes. She liked the turkey the best because she could feed it to herself.
Brendan was off Friday so we took Lilly to the zoo for a little while to see the penguins especially. They are her favorite. Then we came home and Brendan helped me get the Christmas decorations out the attic and I went to work. I think it took me about 10 times longer than usual to get everything done because Lilly was "helping". All the decorations are up and now I just have to find some time to wrap presents.
Lilly walks most all of the time now and has gotten quite fast. She loves baby dolls and will hold the baby close and pat her back when you tell her to love the baby. She can also find the babies eye and say it. She tries to say dog and said apple the other day after hearing me say it a few times while feeding her apples, but I think she was just copying me because she hasn't said it anymore. She also tries to say shoe when I tell her I am putting her shoes on. She is such a sweet little girl and loves to pat everyone. Today we were in the almost deserted mall by our house so Lilly could see the singing and dancing bears near the Santa Claus display. There was a little girl older than Lilly that goes to our church watching also. Lilly walked over to her and patted her back. Then the little girl pushed Lilly. My poor baby! She didn't know what to think. She couldn't understand why the little girl did that. The mom apologized and explained that she has older siblings that she has to defend herself from. Then, at My Gym a little boy Lilly was playing with hit her. She was okay and just looked at him confused. I hope she doesn't pick up those kind of things. At least not yet anyways.
Sorry this is so long... Last few things... It doesn't look like I will be running my full marathon December 11th. I will have to do the half instead due to IT band issues. I was so frustrated! I have never had any problems with my knees and I have been running for almost 14 years. I was running with Lilly the weekend before Thanksgiving and about 3.5 miles into a 10 mile run my knee started to bother me. I finished 5 miles and could barely walk the rest of the day. It has gotten better, but still bothers me some. I feel like I wasted so much time training. Oh well, maybe one day when Lilly is a little older I will train for another full marathon.
Here are some pictures:
Lilly helping me do laundry:

Lilly with her Great Mama and Great Papa:

Lilly checking out the birds at the zoo:

Lilly training to be a Starbucks Barista:

Enjoying some turkey on Thanksgiving:

Sweet Lilly: