Thankful

Don't know if Cole's teacher could be any cuter. What a champ for wearing this costume all day for their party!

My mother-in-law was in town the week before Thanksgiving getting things ready for the family reunion we're hosting over Christmas. We had a lovely visit with her BUT I didn't get any pictures :(  Maybe because she was constantly watching my kids so I could run errands! Linda left the Saturday before Thanksgiving--the same day my sister and her family were arriving. But somehow Linda managed to DEEP clean the entire house for me before she left. It helped me out so much!! She even did some redecorating in Cole's room, and he loves it!

We had a great time catching up with my sister when she arrived. We sure miss those guys and realize now how lucky we were to live just 5 miles apart up in Nor Cal.

We ventured out to the zoo with our 8(!) kids. We totally looked like the Duggars, but it was worth it to get out of the house and enjoy a field-trip together. 

See the ocean in the back of this picture? What a little slice of heaven!

On Thanksgiving morning, we opted out of the local official turkey trot race and did our own thing over at the soccer field. Can you imagine us racing with all the kids?! My sister and I jogged around the soccer fields, Tyler & Brad went and played in a "turkey bowl" with the men from church, and we had the kids run laps around this playground.

I don't remember exactly what happened, but there were some attitudes of INgratitude on the way home, so when we got home, we had the kids sit and write lists of things they were thankful for. Cole's might win the prize:

Oh boy. He keeps us on our toes.

The girls took it much more seriously. Click on the image if you want to see their lists more detailed:

The kids set the table with the place mats they had made:

The spread:

After dinner, we set up our Xbox Chat thing with my mom, Bob, & Todd. Talk about craziness with all the kids performing and doing screaming contests!

The night before they had to leave, we played some "Minute to Win it" games--modified for kids, of course. We all had a great time!

Shannon was mesmerized with baby Ella. Couldn't get enough of her!

Minutes after the cousins left on Saturday morning, Whitney let Tyler pull out her top tooth that had been loose all week. Look at that cute grin!

 Thanks for coming to visit us, cousins!! Can't wait to see you guys again in the spring!