Thanksgiving Weekend

Last Wednesday afternoon, all five of us packed into a minivan nearly busting at the seams and made the four hour trek over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house. This year was a Taylor Thanksgiving, as last year we spent it with the Starr family. The kids were surprisingly good on the drive up. They slept and stared out the window most of the way, and only threatened to get cranky on the last 45 minute stretch. When that happened, I played my last card and turned on their Baby Einstein sign language movie, and it worked like a charm. Once we got there, the twins were a little overwhelmed by all the action at first, but within an hour or two were ready to join in on a three day non-stop stretch of playtime.

Joining us for Thanksgiving at Grammy and Grandpa's house were the kids' aunt Alison, uncle Darren, cousin Vance (2 years old), aunt Chantelle, uncle Ryan, cousin Brayden (4), cousin Trevor (3), aunt Emily, cousin Ethan (4), and cousin Taylor (1). Altogether, there were nine adults and eight kids all four years old and under. It was especially wonderful to see Jake's sister Emily and her two kids, because we hardly ever get to see her, due to the fact that she lives out of state. It was the first time that she got to meet our kids and our first time meeting her youngest, Taylor. It always is so nice when we manage to all get together again. I love being a part of a big family.

At night, Gabe and Ari shared a room, and Jake, me, and Isabella shared a room. Gabe and Ari woke up around 4 AM the first night, because Ariana's sleep laughing (yes, Ari sometimes laughs hysterically in her sleep) woke Gabe up, and Gabe started laughing at her. When I tried to get them to quit, they both started crying (I'm such a party pooper, I know). The second night, Isabella woke up nearly every hour to two hours to eat. The third night, all the kids slept decently, thank goodness. The house was always bustling, to put it delicately, but isn't that what the holidays are all about? Needless to say, were were all so close and cozy that everyone caught the cold and pink eye going around. I can't say that we weren't warned before we went up either. The quality family time spent and the memories created made it all worthwhile though (at least that's what I had to keep telling myself over and over today when I was at home by myself sick with three sick, whiny kids today!).

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Thursday evening in the traditional way with a delicious spread of more food that anyone could ever eat. Gabe and Ari were so interested in the constant companionship of their new playmates that they didn't want to even take a break to eat a meal. From the moment Gabe was placed in his highchair, he would start signing and yelling "all done, all done". His favorite toys were the trains -- a favorite of all the boys. Some of his cousins squabbled over whose trains were whose, but Gabe was just so enchanted with the whole thing that he was happy with any old train.Grandpa and Grammy made Ariana a beautiful table out of wood that is just her size. She was so happy just to play at her table and sit in the middle of all the action. When she wasn't sitting in her chair being a social butterfly and being called "a princess" by all of her cousins :), she was showing off her rolling skills on the blankets. She was quite the charmer as usual, and she made a lot of friends.Isabella was such a good baby the whole time we were there. She slept a lot during the day(typical), ate a lot in the evenings (typical), and smiled a lot at everyone (new!). I was so grateful that she adjusted well to the new surroundings. Here she is sharing some smiles and coos with grandpa.On Saturday, everyone was starting to feel a little under the weather, so we decided it was a good time to say our goodbyes. It was sad to leave, and we kept debating whether or not to stay another day, but it was a good thing that we headed out when we did. We all came down hard with colds that night, and we've been trying to muddle through with them ever since. Sick or not, we decided that Sunday was the day that we were going to pick up our Christmas tree. As you can see, I tried to make an event of the whole thing by taking a couple pictures, but ultimately, we were so tired that we bought the first tree that they showed us! I have to say, it was definitely an in-and-out kind of deal. Jake worked hard on putting up our Christmas lights all afternoon Sunday, and we decorated the tree late into the night. I'm so glad we did it -- it's really starting to sink in that it's that wonderful season again.