Thanksgiving

Wow! What a week! We visited 3 different towns, 14 hours of travel. And saw a lot of family including all 5 great-grandparents, all 4 grandparents, all aunts & uncles and 1st cousins, and a lot of great-aunts & uncles, and cousins--some that we don't often get to see!

First we went to SweetHeart's hometown for the weekend. Mamaw always celebrates Thanksgiving on the Sunday before. It was great fun to be with family and cousins again. Here is our last name family. And we are going to be an Aunt and Uncle again! SweetHeart's big brother and his wife are expecting again. That will make the cousins the dirty dozen...or something like that!

The leaves were amazing to play in, and of course, we didn't have to show them how!

YUM! Mamaw's chocolate cookies!

Then Monday was my Granddad's 80th birthday. We met my dad's siblings and some of my cousins and their kids at Grandma and Granddad's house for a birthday party. We don't often get together so it was a lot of fun to visit and play with them for the day.

Here are three generations of my last name men that were here. (My generation is missing.)

Here are four generations of my last name women that were here.

SweetBoy got Papa, and Cousin C got his grandpa to play a game of ping pong in the basement. I think the big boys laughed and enjoyed it more!

SweetDoll and Cousin J had a blast playing together!

There were seven of the 11 great-grandkids here today (and there are two more on the way!)

My kids had school Monday (we took them out early for the party) and Tuesday. Then it was off to Granny and Papa's house for Thanksgiving! My brother and his wife were in from the east coast so it was special to have them home. My cousin and her family came too, so there were cousins for my kids to play with here too!

SweetTate and little Cousin K had too much fun playing football!

And it snowed! A really pretty, HUGE flakes snow! The kids had fun playing in it with Dad.

Uncle J gave the kids some gifts he brought back from his trip to China. Those are really cool! And Uncle J and Aunt E let the kids go on a scavenger hunt for their Christmas presents from them (since we won't see them at Christmas). Those were a hit too! My brother got a picture of the group. I'll have to share that when I get it. Here is a picture of four generations of us girls.

This season of giving thanks I am really thankful for family. We are so blessed to know our extended family and have a good time with them. I know that is not necessarily a given. And through the month, we asked the kids what they were thankful for. They said things like God, warm bed, play set, family, friends, animals...all of which, and more, I am grateful for too. Over at Beth Moore's blog she asked what we were thankful for that surprised us most. At first I couldn't think of anything. But the more I thought about it, I'm thankful for our move. I never thought I would say that. Yes, I miss being close to family and friends. And I miss the familiar and have had to learn a new area. But I have my husband, friend, and my kids' dad back from a stressful situation and I'm thankful we are here.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving too! Now it is off to decorate for Christmas!