Thankful for Thanksgiving

Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I hope so. I know I sure did. For me, holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas have always meant a shortish road trip, nights spent away from home with my big, loud family, and an abundance of super yummy (albeit probably not too healthy) food!

I'm been pretty candid on here about how this year has had some major bumps, and how I'm feeling pretty bruised and broken right now. October especially was a hard month. Thoughts of B3 have been consuming my mind, and I think it's because it was on Halloween last year that we found out I was expecting, then during the week of Thanksgiving we heard B3's heartbeat for the first time and shared our news with my family. Being in this time of year again triggered all those memories and triggered some serious grief. Also, even after losing B3, I thought I would surely be expecting again by this time, and well, I'm not. So, there's that. 

So, all of that to say, being with family this year was extra sweet. I just needed to be with them and laugh and be myself and be away from home and enjoy this time. 

Our plan was to drive up to my parents' house on Thanksgiving morning (it's about a 3 hour drive) and stay through Sunday. However, on Wednesday Chris came down with some sort of stomach virus that was accompanied by a fever, so he wasn't able to travel with us. That also lead to me deciding for the kids and I to come home on Saturday afternoon instead of Sunday. I felt guilty for leaving him home alone (and sick!), but he insisted we go.

My brother and his family live about 6 hours from my parents, and my sister and her family live about 3 hours away. This means that on holidays, we all have one big slumber party at my parents' house, and it's so fun (and crazy)!

My nephew (who is 14) has a new obsession with wearing a trench coat all the time. I kept telling him that he looked a little creepy, so he was being silly for my photo!

After eating a delicious meal for lunch on Thanksgiving Day, we spent the afternoon playing games and relaxing at the house. It was pretty chilly outside, so Dad decided to light the pilot light on his fireplace. Bren thought Grampy needed help with this task :-).

I love this photo . . . just wish Bren's face wasn't blurry!

My two amazing blessing from God are such a joy in my life! I'm thankful for them every single day!!!

They LOVE being with family and were crazy excited the whole time we were there.

My sweeties <3 .="" p="">

My sister and her family

My parents . . . so blessed to have them!

My brother and his family . . . notice my nephew is still wearing the trench coat :-).

This photo is a bit more typical of my brother :-).

Aside from eating, we did A LOT of playing. The little girls loved dressing up in G-Jo's play clothes and took turns letting Kaylee do their hair.

Brianna decided at one point that she wanted to ride a horse. She asked Grampy to be her horse and he said no. She asked JT to be her horse and he said no. Then she said, "Okay, where's Uncle Jeremy?" She knew that he was her best bet, and sure enough I saw this about 2 minutes later.

Brenson had to have a turn, too!

Then, JT decided to ride Brenson like a horse. I'm pretty sure it didn't work out too well.

DOGPILE!

Notice Grampy is right there in the middle of it? Knowing him, he probably instigated it!

Sweet Cinderella . . . love her!

Oftentimes when we're all together, we'll have a family devo before going to bed. This night, Grampy called all the grandkids over to him to teach them a little bible lesson and sing a song.

Singing the song . . .

I thought this view was so sweet.

Another one of our traditions is Mom making a home cooked, post holiday breakfast. When the older grandkids were little bitty, she started making them pancakes shaped like their initials and the tradition has carried on. This year, she didn't make any initial pancakes for JT (thinking he was too old to appreciate it) and he was pretty disappointed. When he asked for a J pancake, Mom was just tickled to make him one.

After breakfast on Saturday, we spent several hours playing outside. The weather was beautiful and I was needing some time out of the house! We ran . . .

and ran . . .

and ran!

Then, we ran some more! Kaylee and I also hid toys for the littles to find (like easter eggs!) and that was a big hit.

They even got to go on a wagon ride with Grampy.

Little Miss and I opted out of the wagon ride, but stayed outside and enjoyed the weather.

And lastly, we rounded out our trip with lunch at the local Mexican restaurant. YUM!

Chris was STILL sick when we got home late Saturday afternoon, but the kids were SO excited to see him. I hated not having our little family together for Thanksgiving, but I'm so thankful that we were able to celebrate with our extended family.

Truly, we have been abundantly blessed!