Thanksgiving 2017

Happy Monday, y'all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week. We're trying really hard to get back into our "normal life" groove today, but I'm not sure how much success we're having :-).

For our Thanksgiving this year, we hosted family and had a really enjoyable time! Our company started coming in on Wednesday when my parents arrived at my house at around 11:00am. Just a few hours later, my brother and his family arrived from Tennessee. The kids were so cute and all sprinted out the door to their car when they got here!

Like many families, our family does a big meal for Thankgiving that requires lots of prep work and planning. Mom, Shawna, and I spent some time cooking Wednesday afternoon, then we all went to Taco Bueno that evening to have dinner with my sister and her family. 

The photo above is unfortunately the only one I have of all of us. I meant to get a better one that evening after Bible study, but I forgot all about it. My sister and her family had already made plans to travel to Arkansas for the holiday to be with her husband's family, and by the time they got back in town, my college-aged nephew had already flown back to Tennessee :-(.

Jeremy, Shawna, JT, and Kaylee stayed at our house while my parents stayed at my sister's house about 20 minutes from our place. It worked out fairly well as Jeremy and Shawna stayed upstairs on an air mattress (but had their own bathroom), JT stayed in Bren's room, and Kaylee stayed in Bri's room. 

Like I said above, we do a big family meal that requires lots of planning and lots of work. We cook both a turkey and a ham with a spread of sides and desserts. It's amazing how much planning it takes to pull off a big meal like that, but it's SO worth it in the end. We started cooking about 8:00 that morning and sat down to eat around 12:30pm. The meal was amazingly delicious, and the only real hiccup was that the turkey took longer to cook than I had planned. Not too bad, I think, since I'm still learning how to host. I meant to take a photo of our spread before we dug in, but I got distracted and forgot. Blame it on all the yummy smells and the anticipation of filling my belly with tasty food!

The weather this day was gorgeous, so after lunch and a little downtime (read: naps for the little girls), we all went outside for several hours and enjoyed the fresh air and sunshine. Our neighbor's granddaughter, Charley, joined us for the afternoon of play, so of course she was included in our family photo, too :-).

Love my family!

Several of us played a little ball while we were outside,

Dad

Chris and Dad

some enjoyed the swingset,

Brooke, Brecklyn, and G-Jo

some played in the playhouse,

Charley, Kaylee, and Brianna

some enjoyed shoulder rides,

Brenson and JT

and others just visited and referree'd all the goings on!

Shawna and Chelle

Jeremy and Dad

Mom and Kaylee

Brecklyn, Brianna, Brenson, and Brooke

Brenson, Brooke, Brianna, Kaylee, Charley, and Brecklyn

Chris even strung Christmas lights and set up our inflatables! As you can see, he had more helping hands then he could handle, haha!

Brianna, Snowman, Jeremy, Brecklyn, Brooke, and Charley

Our tradition is to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal leftovers the evening of Thanksgiving. After we ate, Chris and I started bedtime for our kids. They had played hard and were worn out. I thought it was so sweet when I went to check on Brianna after her shower and found JT brushing out her hair for her. 

Brianna has always adored JT, and they have a sweet bond. So precious!

JT had a flight to catch for home early the next morning, so I wanted one more picture of the cousins before my kids headed off to bed. We were sad to see him go, but thankful he was able to be with us for a little while!

JT, Brianna, Kaylee, Brooke, Brecklyn, and Brenson

On Friday morning, the guys took JT to the airport, then met up with Dad for breakfast. After that, they spend most of the day on a hike around Oologah Lake. Brenson was thrilled to be with them and not stuck with the girls :-)!

While the guys were hiking, the girls had a fairly low key day. We did just a little bit of shopping (at Trummel's and Cato), had lunch out at Chik-fil-a, then relaxed most of the afternoon. Everyone spent more time playing outside (and finishing Christmas lights) after the guys got back, then we had a spread of Mexican food for dinner.

For Saturday, the guys had another hiking trip planned. While they were gone, the girls packed a lunch and headed to our local park for a picnic and some playtime. It was so wonderful that the weather was conducive to all this time outdoors!

While at the park, Kaylee and Brianna decided to do a photo shoot (and recruited the rest of us to be part of it, too).

Chelle and Kaylee

Brianna

Brianna and Kaylee

G-Jo with part of her granddaughters

Brianna, Brooke, Brecklyn, and Kaylee

We got back to the house just in time for the little girls to take naps and the rest of us to relax a little. After the guys got back, we had another relaxing afternoon enjoying the outside before we sat down for a meal of ham and beans.

On Sunday, we all went to worship as a family. Worshiping together is one of the best parts of all being together because it's something that is of highest importance to all of us. Russ, Lisa, and Chloe Jo were back in town by this time, so we were able to be with them, as well. 

After worship, we all went to eat at our favorite Mexican restaurant in town, El Azteca. I snapped one final picture of us all (minus JT) before Jeremy, Shawna, and Kaylee started their trip home to Tennessee.

Mom and Dad spent the afternoon with Russ, Lisa, and Chloe Jo, then left for home that evening after church. While I was really looking forward to hosting a crowd, I had been a little nervous about what everyone would do for several days at our house. I didn't want anyone to be miserable or bored, and thankfully, I don't think they were. Like I said above, it was wonderful that we had amazing weather and were all able to enjoy the outdoors and not be stuck inside the entire time! 

As always, we're incredibly thankful for the love of God and the love of family!