Thanksgiving 2015

Sorry in advance if this is choppy; I'm cleaning in bouts where photos load and things of that nature, so I'm bopping in and out of my chair while blasting our Pitbull station. I have the dishes drying, clothes in the dryer, a toilet bowl soaking, a heater vent freshly scrubbed and also drying, etc.

We traveled to Indiana to visit our family there. The kids had a great time playing with cousins Lizzie and Zach, especially as there were Nerf guns to be shared. I honestly couldn't count how many squishy bullets were fired past, over, around, and off of each person there. I suppose with three boys ten and under plus two girls there will be things of that nature happening, hehe.

That will kind of give you a glimpse of the three days we spent. Damon "helped" with bread cubes for the stuffing, the girls baked pumpkin pies, Becky started the bird single-handedly as the guys were off at a CrossFit challenge which involved way more running, pushups, pullups, and other ridiculousness than should ever happen on a day devoted to serious eating. 

Movies happened, art happened, games happened, shopping on Black Friday happened, and we not only escaped awful traffic both to and fro, we missed any bad weather. The snow they'd gotten came before we got there and it disappeared completely thanks to temps in the high 50s and the soft rain that fell on Friday. 

We even managed to stop at some shoppes on our way home and hit some great Black Friday deals at JCPenney, so merry early Christmas to us. Win! We have friends who joked years ago about "if you survive more than 10-15 years of marriage you should get to have another party and register for replacement Stuff because everything quits working and you need to replace it all around then..." We took their advice. *wink wink*

So super big thanks to Uncle Kelly, Aunt Becky, Lizzie and Zach for hosting. We were blessed by your hospitality, yummy food, and laughs. We love you. 

Hoping all of you had a blessed Thanksgiving with far too much food, wonderful company, and a realization of your blessings. I'd love to hear about yours. 

What difference could two days make?

I did not forget completely about my mid-month photos of the boys. These were taken November 19 on the way to the bus. Yes, Liam is indeed wearing a cape and Damon is in his Superman Halloween costume. No, I haven't lost my mind completely. It was Superhero day during Spirit week, so we went for it and seized the day.

Can I just mention for all of posterity that sunshine makes me giddy? I remember having to sing John Denver's "Sunshine On My Shoulders" in 7th grade choir, and I thought our teacher was an idiot. Who thinks having lyrics like "sunshine almost always makes me high" and junior high school students within the same acreage sounds like a good idea? Sheesh.

Anyway, now that I'm a grown up (yegods!), I get it. Sunshine really does make everything else more bearable. Even winter. Even in Ohio.

And then, helloooooooooo snow on November 21!

It really only dusted so I shouldn't complain. The plows were out to take care of the 3-4 inches Aunt Becky and Uncle Kelly got in Indiana, and she reported that it hit 3 degrees that Saturday. THREE. 

That is NOT okay. 

Anyway, all of it is gone both here and there, and good riddance. 

"A big pot of crazy"

I'm cheating and borrowing a phrase from Aunt Chris, though it does suit our side of the family fairly well. You'll see from the photos that there were seven children between the ages of 10.5 and 15 months together for Thanksgiving. Three of those kids are three years old. The youngest is "baby Noah" who is absolutely adored by all. Here he is, proclaiming "to da fingy and 'yond!" (Okay, he's not really. That's what DAMON says.) And his lovely mom, Aunt Jana, of course.

 

 

Liam found cousin Zach's train set the last day we were at their house, and spent the morning setting it up. He worked really hard and when Noah headed right for it, I honestly braced myself for a meltdown from Liam. I was pleasantly surprised when he let Noah climb right through it, and then he started including Noah in playing with the trains. Liam has always loved babies, and he certainly has a humungous soft spot for this particular cutie!
 

 

Here's Zach in a rare moment of downtime, and Damon being his usual body-of-motion.
 

 

 

The adults had every bit as much fun as the kids in spite of a box of beads exploding all over a bedroom (which may or may not have had anything to do with a certain pair of three year olds) and cooking up way too much food. The guys had a chance to get away and do boy things for awhile one morning, and we girls stole away in the afternoon for some coffee and talking time. The grandparents had fun observing all the chaos from 7 kids, and we all counted our blessings. Thank you so much for hosting, Uncle Kelly and Aunt Becky. It was perfect!