Thanksgiving {2012}

We went to my grandparent's house for Thanksgiving this year.  It was much like your Thanksgiving I'm sure...

 

 

 family,

 

 

family,

 

 

and more family.

 

 

Great food

 

 

and pumpkin pie!

 

Smiles,

 

 

sleepy smiles

(no nap)

 

 

and more smiles.

 

Scooter rides,



 

early Christmas presents,

 

 

Angry Birds

 

 

and grape eating contests! 

You know the usual stuff!  ;-)

 

Oh and we attempted to get our Christmas card photo, too.  Obviously the ones I've posted aren't Christmas card worthy and there were plenty of others I could have posted but I love, love, love these two because they are so true to our real life...

 

 

L off singing and dancing, I Man being silly and D wondering why on earth he's on a golf course and not golfing!

 

 

*Grin* and Sigh!

Thankful

The week before Thanksgiving, the kids and I did a few 'Thanksgiving' crafts including this pumpkin pie. It certainly wasn't the most artistic thing we've ever done but when I saw that one of the things L was thankful for was 'A momma that loves me' I was glad we'd made them anyway! :-) Now this is one of those projects that will soon end up in the recycling bin but I don't want to forget what they were thankful for this year...

 

L - A momma that loves me, stuffed animals to play with, picture frames, crayons, balloons, friends to play with and my bed.

I Man - The ducky game, my daddy, my mommy, the pencils, my sister, the vacuum, the red balloon.

Thanksgiving Day

Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera out much at all on Thanksgiving (boo!).  I was too busy enjoying food and family and the freedom that having an older cousin around {therefore keeping L happy and busy} afforded me!  We learned that L doesn't like pumpkin pie or stuffing {what?!} and that without a nap, I Man can be very crabby! 

{he wasn't crabby, yet!}

"This is good!"

Coloring with older cousin J and his sister E.

{you may recognize J from here}

Playing 'throw the ball down the stairs' with D.

There it is...crabby!

Thankful {and a couple of conversations with L}

She's thankful {and so are we} for the many blessings God has given us. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

{side note:  I am in L's Sunday School class on Sunday night and we did this project last week.  I *heart* handprint turkeys!  Oh, and she's thankful for the birds but not I Man, hmmm...}

Conversations with L:

L:  "I'm going to like heaven!"

Me:  "How do you know?"

L:  "I've already been there before I was born."

Me:  "You mean because God made you?"

L:  "Yep {pause}...and then did he throw me down here?"

Me:  {through laughter} "Not exactly!"

{While L was emptying the silverware and discovered the baby spoons in the back of the drawer}

L:  "Hey, can I use these spoons?"

Me:  "Nope, those are for babies who don't have any teeth."

L:  "You should get another baby so we can feed it with these spoons!"

Me:  "You think I should get another baby?"

L:  "Yep, you can just ask God if He wants to make one for you."

Thankfully, L was content when I reminded her that Auntie {D's sister} was having another baby.

L:  "Oh, then we can use these spoons to feed her baby!"

Me:  "Hey, great idea!"  ;-)

The First Thanksgiving

and by the first Thanksgiving...I mean his first Thanksgiving! Baby I (and the rest of us) celebrated Thanksgiving complete with...

turkey

smiles

family

and pumpkin pie (!)

YUM (yes, that is whipped cream on his lips)!

Other fun included jammy pictures of the cousins...

three generations

L (who is making a 'happy face' in this photo)

and video chair...

rough...

housing...

with Grandpa!

(Yes, I am glad that we don't have a video chair and NO we do NOT want one for Christmas!!!)

Tour

Tour (noun) tour [toor] (tours): a trip visiting several places, usually taken for pleasure

This is the definition of the word tour and so, I guess you could consider our Thanksgiving travels a tour of sorts. After all, we were in the car for 13 hours in a 72 hour period (with a 2 year old who did NOT sleep in the car at all – YIKES!) and visited 4 different houses in said amount of time. That could be considered a tour, right? Needless to say we were exhausted by the time we finally arrived home! We are glad to be home and stationary for a while and L? well she now asks to watch a movie if we’ve been in the car for more than 5 minutes! Unfortunately, I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked and they are more of a hodge podge than anything. I will give you the tour with the pictures I did take. Put your seatbelt on, you’re in for a ride!!

The Tour:
Wednesday 4:00pm - we leave our house and drive 4 hours to our first destination where we eat a late supper and head to bed.

Thursday 9:30am – we leave our first destination and drive another 2 hours to our second destination where we enjoy a delicious Thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings, time with family, a birthday celebration and some early Christmas fun (L and I got to open some Christmas presents from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa J.). Oh – and we played Rook with Gma and Gpa too (D and I, not L)!

Happy Birthday, T!

"Look, a clock, Great Grandma!"

Enjoying some snuggle time with Blues Clues and Great Grandpa!

Reading Who Spilled the Milk? with Great Grandma

Friday 10:00am – after yet another delicious meal (nothing better than Grandma’s breakfast!) we leave our second destination and travel another hour in the car to get to our third destination. When we arrive, we discover that my sister is about to have baby #5! So, we spend the afternoon with our nieces and nephews eating and playing and opening early Christmas presents. A5 was born that afternoon and we drove to the hospital to see her later that evening. She is a beautiful and healthy little girl and we are so glad we were able to meet her!

Happy Birthday, A5!

Born: Friday, November 27, 2009 @4:51pm

8lb 6oz, 22 3/4 in

Proof that we were there (for 1 out of 5 births, anyway)!

Still Friday 9:00pm – we leave the hospital and drive another hour back to our first destination to spend the night. We arrive after 10:00pm and put L to bed hoping she’ll sleep in the next morning. Of course, she doesn’t and is up at 7:00am as usual!

Saturday 9:00am – we leave our first destination and head to our fourth destination about another hour away where we visit, eat at Famous Dave’s and look at some amazing pictures from China (where my dad has recently visited). L doesn’t nap (not that we didn’t try!) but instead enjoys playing with M & C and the puppy, Yucy (Lucy).

Still Saturday 4:00pm – we leave our fourth destination and drive 4 hours back home again. Now remember, L has not had a nap and she did not sleep in the car so we watched several DVDs on this LONG car ride home. I am officially Elmo’d out! We arrive home around 8:00pm, unpack and have a late supper before putting L to bed (who was snoring within seconds). I discover that my ankles are swollen and think that this is a valid excuse to not ride in the car for that long ever again…or at least until next year!

Thankful

Have you missed me? It seems as though I have been taking a vacation from my blog. Actually, I just haven't been taking many (or any) pictures lately and haven't had anything to blog. However, on this Thanksgiving Eve I thought it appropriate to post some things that I am thankful for. Here goes...

I am thankful for:

A warm home

My family

My faith

My friends

My health

My family's health

Naptime :-)

and

of course

these two

who happen to take reading the Sunday newspaper very seriously. See?

No, really, I am truly blessed and feel so very thankful for all of the blessings that God has given me. I hope you are feeling blessed as well!

Happy Thanksgiving!