Four days

We had one of the busier weekends that I think we have ever had over the Thanksgiving holiday. We saw a ton of family and besides sleeping were in our house less than a couple hours!

We started Thanksgiving morning at my grandparent's house. Most of the family was able to be there, which was nice for my grandma. She starts her second round of chemo this week so it was a big, happy occasion to take her mind off it. Like I mentioned before, I am the oldest grandchild so many of my cousins are closer to my kids age- or even younger! I wish I had a picture of the number of people there- there are 19 cousins alone, not counting significant others and their children. The kids had a blast and we stayed all day until bedtime.

Great Grandma picked Sissy up earlier in the week and took her back to her house to prepare the tables. This was one of 7, I think. Hey, there were over 30 people! Sissy loved helping out.

Kids tables downstairs. Everyone had a little flower bud on their plate for decoration. Big Boy picked it up and said "Mama, I don't wanna eat my flower!"

Sissy had a great time and kept coming upstairs to do dances or shows for us.


On Friday I braved the crowds and started shopping around 5:45. I was fairly pleased with what I came home with. It wasn't a whole lot, but I got some gifts done and got what I wanted. I took the kids to the Y with me and then we headed to my mom's house for the afternoon/evening to play with cousins some more and have a pizza party.

Saturday we headed to Colwich to Pat's parent's. His brother was there with his wife and kids and the kids got to help grandma decorate her house and get out all of the Christmas stuff. I attempted to get some pics of the kids...





But when even Sissy isn't cooperating- I know I need to be done for awhile. So I put the camera done and held my baby niece! :)




That afternoon we went to visit Pat's extended family. His cousins and their significant others took the kids outside and they played frisbee and ball. It was a beautiful day, we couldn't have asked for any better.




That evening we went to my grandpa's baptism at Central Christian. It was a wonderful thing to witness and take part in. Then we said goodbye to cousins until Christmas!




On Sunday we wanted to get a lot accomplished- but we didn't realize one of our projects would take literally hours and hours. Every year we put up a weak attempt at lights- just a few icicle ones about the windows. And every year we say how we need to do the entire roofline so it doesn't look so stupid. This year Pat braved potential broken bones and got on the roof to complete the task. Big Boy was so envious.


We knew last year we had received some more outdoor decor so we went to pull it out. What we didn't realize was how much. We remembered this ballerina hippo my brother got Sissy, we did not remember the 7 foot snowman or moving deer.




And believe it or not- this isn't even all of it. We tried to make it look the best we could but were somewhat limited (because of power cords) on where things could go. So it is what it is and, of course, the kids are in love with it!


Ta-da!




The kids also finished the tree decorating. Now, I adore every second of Christmas and had my tree and other decor out before Thanksgiving. But this was our first chance to complete the ornaments.












And the Christmas countdown begins!!!