Thanksgiving 2014

Having family around at Thanksgiving is the best way to go, but since moving away we don't get that very often.  This year we got together with some friends from church (3 other families) who were staying put like us.  I looked forward to it all month and it did not disappoint.  We had so much fun.  The kids played happily with each other and us adults talked and laughed and ate, and ate, and ate some more.  Thank you "S" family for being such great hosts!!

----------------------------

Kiddie tables.

 

I loved that our host, Becky, had fun placemats and crayons for the kids.  I am logging it for future reference.

 

Adult and big kid table.

 

Ryland, refusing to eat.  He is the. pickiest. eater. ever.

I think the only thing he ate was chocolate pie!

 

 

 

Luke, Scott & Caden.

 

I loved all the dads helping their littles!

 

Our friends...Trent & Erin, Ashley & Abe, and Becky & Carl.

It was also fun to have Paige (one of my young women!) and her sister Megan at our table.

 

Poor Porter has had a pink and purple room (complete with flowers)  for a year and a half.  David and I finally painted it over the Thanksgiving break!

 

The end of Thanksgiving, brings the beginning of the Christmas season...my favorite season of the year!  When we got home from our friends' home on Thanksgiving we put the kids to bed and I promptly asked David to help me get the tree up from the basement.  And up it went!  When the kids woke up they were excited to find the tree up and ready for decorating.

 

Our tree cracked me up this year...there were no ornaments on the bottom third due to the spunky little 2-year old in our home who enjoys breaking them.

 

 

Our elf, Grady, showed up again the day after Thanksgiving.  The kids love him.

 

The day after Thanksgiving we were going to go bowling, but the snow had to be shoveled from the driveway first.  Caden's upper lip somehow had a run-in with one of those shovels, which landed him in the ER for stitches.  He was not thrilled about the prospect.  He was very brave, though.  Here he is smiling in his "after" picture.

 

We did make it to the bowling alley the following day.

 

 

 

Our Thanksgiving Tree!

Each day in November we wrote the things we were grateful for on the leaves.  It was fun to read what everybody wrote.

 

For the past couple of Novembers, David has participated in "Movember", along with his work colleagues.  Movember is where men grow mustaches to raise awareness of men's health issues.  I really struggle during this month because David plus a mustache just doesn't jive.  This is his picture from last year.  He looks like a criminal, don't you think?

 

 

This year he tried something different.  He still looks like a criminal, but somehow this stache was easier for me to stomach.  Still, I was grateful when November came to an end!