Thanksgiving

We had a great time down at my sister's house. We drove down in the morning and got there just after lunch. Instead of a full lunch, I brought along tons of snacks to munch while dinner was cooking. It was a great idea, the kids and the guys loved it. My sisters, busy with the turkey and the pies, didn't really get to eat much of it.




I put the snacks out on the screened porch, which was perfect because the weather was so warm. It was over 70! The kids even played outside for a while.

Even with all the snacks, we were still hungry enough for a big dinner, and it turned out great! I wish I had gotten better pictures, but I was too busy to take them, so these are the best I could do. Mostly I walked around thinking "Oh, this would be a great picture!" but by the time I got back with my camera, the moment was gone.




The kids sat at a table in the kitchen.



The only person missing was Jenny, who sat at the kids' table to help. I guess she was up helping, LOL




This is only half of the adult table, everyone sat down and started eating before I could get the other half. I was only missing Chris and Chuck (and Jacob). Troyer and Alex got to sit at the big table!

Here, since I managed to avoid having my picture taken, you can pretend:



After dinner we sat down and watched Ratatouille (I'm guessing on that spelling) before going back for dessert.




We ended up staying until past 9, even though I had planned to leave around 7:30. Part of the reason for that was that Levi had an accident and we had to wash his pants - Oops! It gave me more time to chat with my sisters, though. We even got the fifes out and jammed a little. We both need a lot of practice! Our lips and cheeks are not what they used to be LOL.

On Friday morning I met with a friend from church and we went out to lunch. I think it is the first time I have ever gone out with a girlfriend without any kids and had a few hours just chatting and eating. It was so nice. That afternoon we went over to MIL's for a left-over dinner. She had done the big dinner the day before for Chris' sisters and BILs, and FIL left to go up to his hunting camp at 5:30 am Friday morning, so it was just for us, but she really wanted to see us. The food was pretty good, but it was weird to be the only ones there eating. Chris' sister did drop in for a while to say hi, which was nice.

On Saturday my dad came up just after lunch and came to see the boys. I met him at his hotel in the evening with 3 of the boys (Troyer, Noah, and Micah) and we went out to eat. We had a nice time, even though it was COLD! And poor dad, he's too spoiled by the Florida weather, he was freezing! He left for home Sunday morning at 7 am when it was 23, and when he got home he made sure to let us know that it was 68 even at 11 pm LOL He was very glad to be home in the warmth. I admit to being very slightly jealous of that.



The boys wanted Grandpa to open his Christmas present while he was here so they could all see it.

All in all, though it was busier than I'd like, it turned out to be a very nice holiday. Now on to Christmas!