Our Thanksgiving ...

We had our Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, and it was perfect. We had a nice relaxing day in the morning. Us ladies went out and got some last minute groceries. The men folk went to a movie. David went hunting in the early morning. And we just cooked and waited and waited for the Turkey. David wanted to smoke it, and so he put it in in the morning, and it was his first time smoking a Turkey, and we realized sometime in the afternoon that it wasn't cooking fast enough, so we turned on the oven and finished cooking it in the oven. So, we waited and waited. Also, during this time, Ben started getting sick. He actually spent the whole day with diarrhea, and was in bed all day. So, we were also kind of waiting for him to see if he perked up at all so he could enjoy Thanksgiving meal with us. No such luck. He was down for the count. He spent all day and evening in bed and in the bathroom. Poor guy! Finally like at 7pm we ate! It was SO delicious! But it was just kind of chaotic, because Ben wasn't even there with us, it was so late, we were like ready to put the little kids down for bed. I mean, it was totally fun and nice being together, and we had a good day, but it just wasn't your typical Thanksgiving meal. 

Here is Uncle David giving the boys a lesson on gratitude. Uncle David is such a good guy, we are lucky to have him as an uncle!

The kid table:

Because of the illness, we didn't even do anything to make it fancy or special, and I didn't even get a picture of the adult table in the formal dining room. But even though it was a bit different than normal and than usual, we DID have a wonderfully delicious thanksgiving meal!!!

Our favorite part of the meal? My mother in law's famous banana cream pudding. Oh my gosh, it's to die for! I requested it for Thanksgiving dessert on the first day that we got there, and my mother in law being the wonderful woman that she is, she made it for me!!! She also made Ben a peanut butter chocolate cake, that was delicious, but he, of course, only ate like 2 bites of it!!! The stinker, asked her to make it, then only ate just a little bit, leaving the rest of it for us to eat! Thanks Ben!

We also tried to recreate the delicious brie and turkey sandwiches that we had for lunch in the city at the cafe in the Museum of  Natural History for lunch the day before. They were good, but just not quite as good as at the restaurant, of course! :)

This year, I'm thankful for in-laws that seem more like blood relatives, and the comfort and love we feel when we're with them! And cousins that feel more like brothers. We are so lucky to have such wonderful families!!!

Thanksgiving day in DC; the Museum of Air and Space...

We were quite the group walking around the mall. Really, the only other people there that day, on Thanksgiving day were from other countries. I'm not even sure why these museums are open since I thought Thanksgiving was a National Holiday! :) But, I'm not complaining, since we had such a nice day with easy parking, and no crowds.

This girl loves to soak up every minute she can with her daddy when he's not working.

And, once they noticed me snapping pictures, they had to ham it up for the camera:

The Capitol Building to one side:

And the Washington Monument on the other:

The Museum of Air and Space:

We somehow got disconnected from the group, and so just Tucker and I had a lot of time just the two of us at the museum. It was fun doing everything with just him and I. He was definitely one of the most excited about all the cool things in this museum.

I didn't have my phone with me when we got separated, so after a while, I wanted to just wait in the middle of the museum to see if anyone passed by us. So, while we waited, Tucker just stood there on the ledge looking over at all the cool things around him. I would have loved to know what he was thinking!!! :)

And this was all that he was looking at. You can still see him teeny tiny in the corner over there, looking out over the ledge:

Our whole fam damily:

On our way home that afternoon, we drove by the White house. As we were driving by, right after I took this picture, there were people standing on the sidewalk just staring at me--so I said hello. It was pretty funny! (but I guess you had to be there) :)

A closer look at the Washington Monument:

I would have also loved to have gone to the Lincoln memorial, but we just didn't have enough time. Next time, we're going to have to plan at least two days in the city. Plus, with all the kids, we were wiped out. They were done touring. And it was starting to get really cold. So, we headed home.

I took this cool picture on our way home, as we were passing the Pentagon, the clouds look so ominous...

And within just a few minutes, the kids were like this, so we knew it had been a successful day!!! :)

It was a really fun day, and I'm so glad we got the chance to go and explore a little bit of Washington DC!

Thanksgiving day in DC; the museum of Natural History...

After much thought and consideration, we decided to postpone our Thanksgiving meal so that we could spend the day in DC. It's about an hour's drive from their house, and we had read online that Thanksgiving day is a good day to avoid major crowds in the city. And all of the museums are open, so it's not like we'd be missing out on anything.

So, we loaded up bright and early...

And we drove into the city. It was so fun for me, I hadn't been to DC since I was in the 9th grade. We drove past Quantico and the Pentagon, and the Washington monument, and all sorts of great places. First up on our schedule was the National Mall. It's the big area where a lot of the Smithsonian's are, and then the Capitol building is on one end, and the Washington monument is on the other. Our first stop was the Museum of Natural History. Me and Lynlee were in one car with the three littles, and Ben and his mom were in his dad's brand freaking new Honda Accord. Like just a few weeks old. Ben's dad let her drive it up because he thought it would be more reliable than her car. He still has his CRV, and he had driven that to Kentucky for Thanksgiving to spend it with Ben's two sisters that live there. Anyway, Ben was driving the Accord, and when we got into the city, we found two great parking spots right outside the museum of natural history, so Ben flipped a U turn in the middle of the road to get into the one he found, and got a little too close to the curb, and from where we were right across the street we heard a huge pop! He had totally popped the tire! And since it was Thanksgiving day, there weren't a lot of places open to help. He finally found a repair shop that came and towed the car, and said they could fix it in just a few hours. So, poor Ben, missed out on the Museum of Natural History so that he could go with the car to the shop.

You can imagine how his dad felt when Ben texted this picture to him! :) Ooops...

While we waited for Ben to figure everything out with the car, we decided to take some pictures:

It was a cold day, and I was so glad I brought my kids coats! I almost didn't pack them!

Finally, after we were all ready to go, we were off to the museum:

Taylor was really fascinated by the Hope Diamond:

And these three boys are all so much alike, they were just soaking up all the cool things and facts and fun stuff to do:

The museum itself is so cool:

Best buddies:

Jackson learning about the swamp habitat:

Ben got done with the car stuff right as we were leaving, but we were heading over to the air and space museum, so he was excited about that!

Noah and Jonah's house! YAY!

We finally made it to Aunt Lynlee's house!!! The kids were so happy to be there! Ben's mom had also gotten there earlier that day even though they were all sleeping when we got there, they all woke up to see us, and it was fun to reconnect with everyone that night.

Apparently Jackson was super happy to see his Aunt Lynlee and cousin Elijah...

Jackson loved all of Aunt Lynlee's light up things and glow and the dark things. We all know that Aunt Lynlee loves glow in the dark and light up things.

Of course, these big boys just wanted to play together on their kindles the whole week. Which they did plenty of.

Grandma took these two birthday boy's to the store and let them pick out some presents for their birthday's. They had a great time all week playing with their remote control cars...

And they also spent plenty of time on the trampoline and playing outside. They have like 4 acres of land that David loves to hunt on (which he did plenty of while we were there) and their land and home is just gorgeous. 

Lots of lounging with family and chatting and watching football and having a great time, which is what is best when we're all together. Also, lots of shopping done by us women folk, and movie outings by the big boys.

Jonah had a swamp diorama due after Thanksgiving break, so we were able to help him with that (collect moss and sticks for him etc..) It turned out so good, I'm sad I didn't get a good picture of the final product.

Tucker and Jonah even made a fun activity day for us, where we got to do activities and we won fun prizes.

Tucker's actual birthday...

This is how I found Tucker on the morning of his 8th birthday. Flattering, right? I'm not sure how those undies got so far up there, but when I saw it, I knew I had to document it. Sorry, buddy! :)

He still had no clue about the trip to DC, so we went along with things as planned. I came in right BEFORE lunch to bring the treats, which I think isn't the norm, but he didn't question, nor any of the other kids. They were happy to get Krispy Kreme before lunch! :) The class sang to him, and if you know this kid, you know how much he HATES being the center of attention (HA!) :)

And Mrs. Barnes twirls them around while they are being sung to. I love that Mrs. Barnes!

Tucker, Carson and Niko:

He wanted me to walk with him down to the lunch room with the rest of his class so he could pass out the doughnuts to everyone while they ate. He did know that he was coming home with me at lunch time, but just thought that it was because of his birthday.

These three cute siblings walking out of the school that day:

Ben had come home from work while I was at Tucker's class and packed up the car. I had all of our luggage hiding in our closet, which I am still shocked the kids didn't notice. Kirt was there to take us to the airport, and we kept on telling Tucker that we were all going to lunch for his birthday. But then we kept on passing all of the places he wanted to stop (arbys...mcdonalds....taco bell....all really fancy places) :). Finally he realized we were heading to the airport, but didn't really get why yet. When we finally pulled up to the airport and started getting everything out, we told him we were heading to Virginia to see Noah and Jonah. And he started crying!!! It was the strangest reaction I have ever seen. We kept on asking why he was crying, and he didn't really know, I think that he was just in shock! He also at first kept on saying that he didn't want to go, that he just wanted lunch! :) Silly boy. Although, I'm sure he was hungry! But we finally got him settled down, and it hit him what we were doing, and how much fun our week with cousins would be, and he got REALLY excited. It was just so funny to see him react to strangely. He was just in shock and didn't know what to think, I think! :)

I was just happy to have Ben on the trip with us. It is so much easier traveling with another adult. 

Jackson parked himself right in the middle of the airport while Ben was checking us in, and decided to drink his bottle right then and there:

You can see that after the shock wore off, he was VERY excited to see Noah and Jonah. And he was excited to see DC, he had been talking about the President and the White House before we even left, and we kept on telling him that maybe one day we'll get the chance to go to DC! :)

Always hamming it up for the camera:

It was a good, uneventful flight, and I loved looking over and seeing these two reading a magazine together. They're such buds!

Jackson listening to daddy's music. Not sure what to think...

Finally we made it to DC! It was late at night, but we were there! YAY!

Uncle David at the airport to pick us up:

Let the good times begin!!! (And even from day one there were good times, as I had forgotten that David is the SCARIEST driver on the planet!!! And since I get car sick so easy, it's not a great combo!) :)

Tucker's birthday party...

Tucker's birthday was the Monday before Thanksgiving this year, and since there was only half days on Monday and Tuesday and no school after Wednesday, we decided to surprise all the kids and fly to Virginia to visit Ben's sister's family for Thanksgiving. But we still wanted to do something small with him before we left. Nothing big, because trying to pack and plan a trip like that without the kids knowing was a lot of work! But we knew he'd be happy with just a small family party with Owen, his BFF. So, the Sunday before we left, we went up to Kathryn's house for dinner and the festivities. and the Mortensens joined us.

My sweet birthday boy. There is no way that this guy is 8 already, how did that happen???

Blowing out his candles on his most delicious cake:

Opening his presents from us. We had gotten him a Kindle Fire and I wanted to give it to him before our long flight the next day, but I didn't want him to be suspicious, so it was perfect that we had this little party for him the day before we left. This boy is so awesome to give gifts to, he is always so animated and happy and excited and really is such a grateful little kid. He always says thank you to everyone for everything without even being prompted, usually!

Tucker and his fake/real siblings...

All this guy cared about was the cake...

Oh my gosh, Lukie was so funny with this harmonica! The boy's got rhythm!

So fun to celebrate our big boy! He really is such a good boy. Couldn't have asked for a more fun, silly, loving and caring boy. His happy attitude is infectious, and his confidence is awesome! I just love him so much!

Life in November...

November came, and my van FINALLY was done. Like a month later. I was really sad to be done using my dad's avalanche, it's so nice! I took it through a carwash thinking that Jackson would think it was cool; apparently he hadn't been through one before, because this was his reaction:

I will also miss this very much; having a movie player in the car. It was so nice while waiting for the bigger siblings to do their things...

This funny lady was a bunny one day. We had stopped by Kathryn's house to do something, and there were some carrots on the counter and for some reason she was desperate for one. Like big huge full on carrots. Kathryn gave her one and then made her some whiskers. She loved them! :)

Taylor wanted to match one day. She put on her jean jacket and told me to go put mine one. I can't argue with a girl who wants to match! :)

This little baby boy was sick one day and we spent the day in my bed watching movies. It was so nice, but so sad to have him sick! :(

And somehow when I take just one day off from motherly duties, the laundry turns into this:

I offered my instagram friends a dollar to anyone who wanted to come and fold it for me, but no one accepted the offer! :)

But then I discovered these, and my life was good again:

For Veterans day at Sunrise, they had us parents send in pics to make a big wall of photos as you walked into the school. It was really cool to see all the pictures, and I wish that I had more pictures of all our Veteran ancestors, but I did have a lot of Grandpa Elmer, so I sent in a few. Here is Tucker next to his Great Grandpa Elmer's photos:

This little man got his very FIRST haircut. I loved the curls, but it was starting to look a little shabby. I like a clean cut boy. He wasn't sure what to think of the whole thing, but he sat there and did well, for the most part. I had to go and stand right by him, but he did it, which is WAY more that Tucker would do at this age! :)

Just enjoying some evening sun coming through my window and lighting up my vases from Grandma!

So, at the beginning of the year, I signed up to be the Little Red Easel teacher in Tuckers class. The Little Red Easel program is an art program, in addition to the art they do with their teacher, where a parent comes in once a month and highlights an artist and his or her style of art. Then the kids get to try their hand at it. It's just once a month for like an hour and a half. I thought I could handle that with getting babysitters etc. After I signed up, I learned that 3 other moms from our classroom also signed up, which has been a huge blessing because I haven't had to go in every month, which is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I always feel bad asking my friends. Anyway...I finally got the chance to go in in November and help. Usually we tag team so we have a helper. This particular one, was making prints. They got to glue yarn in shapes, then paint the pieces of yarn and use them as like stamps to make prints. It's really fun and right up my alley, I love fun artsy and crafty things like this and I love being in Tucker's class with him.

I told him to smile and this is what I got:

I always have to threaten and use my mean mom voice to get pictures like this: :)

Who knows what these weirdos are doing here, but just being themselves. (which I happen to love) I love the moments that they seem to all be getting along just fine together; it does happen sometimes!:)

One thing my dad asked me to do while he was gone was get his yard all cleaned up. His yard is awful in the fall with the leaves. I asked a few guys from our branch, but they didn't have time, so I was kind of getting worried about it. One day while I was driving to his house to check his mail and pay his bills, I saw this dirty old ratty truck in his neighbor's driveway, with a few older, weathered gentlemen working away on their lawn. The truck had a homemade yard service sign on it. I was getting desperate, so I just stopped and asked them if they had time to do my dad's yard. They immediately walked over to assess it:

It's definitely a lot of work, and I knew my dad was willing to pay some to get it done. Well, they told me $75 an hour and that it would take like 5 hours, and I said, SOLD. So, they came over the next day and spent the entire day working on it. Then I got the $700 bill!!! I couldn't believe it and I was in shock, but I was too nervous to question them about it. He said they had to work longer than planned, and had to make three trips to the dump, which they added into the price etc... And, I don't know if they were just taking advantage of a dumb naive girl, or what, but they got me good if that was the case! I was a little nervous to show that receipt to my dad! :)

And, luckily I had them come, because literally, the very next day it looked like this:

For the life of me, I can't remember all of these Chuck E Cheese trips, but I keep on finding all of these random CEC photos, so, apparently we went there a time or two during the fall! :)

As I was changing out Tuckers school picture in the frame, I found his older photos. Sometimes I don't realize how much he's changed, but looking at all of these together makes me realize just how much of a big boy he is starting to look like. Don't grow up too fast, buddy!!!

It's been a good month, and we've got a BIG surprise for the kids in store!!! Can't wait for Tucker's birthday at the end of the month!!!