Thanksgiving 2011

Typical Thanksgiving for us this year. :)

Headed out the door with my girl.

Started out a bit different -- loaded up the van and headed towards Rick's to pick up the Subaru (Loren was driving separate so he could run off to the football game) and noticed the power steering problem was getting worse (started Tuesday).  Stopped at the dreaded Mart (Wal) to pick up some fluid and discovered the heater wasn't working either.  Made it to Rick's, Loren popped the hood, and steam billowed out.  Apparently a radiator hose had a hole and was spraying coolant all over the serpentine belt.  Thankfully we had the Subaru right there so we loaded up and headed out -- who wants to deal with car issues on Thanksgiving?  Off to Grandma Dean's we went.

There we found Grandma Dean with Ray, Mom with Kris, Uncle John, Uncle Scott and Aunt Chris, and cousins Steve, April, Sequoia (4), and Miriam (2); Michelle and Harrison (2); and Stephanie and Damian (4).  The most kids we've had at a holiday in a long time!  Ate way too much delicious food and enjoyed catching up.

My super handsome stud muffin.  This was handed down from Becky Brown whose son I believe wore it for a wedding.  We don't really do many weddings and we're heathens that don't go to church, so we don't really have many excuses to dress up the kids.  :)  So why not holidays?

Addie is a another story.  She had a beautiful yellow dress my mom had given her on in the morning, but of course changed her mind by the time we were ready to leave.  So she picked a too big black tee with a too big denim skirt, white tights, new reindeer slippers, and a denim jacket.  ??

Boys will be boys.  And boys will have battle scars.  I swear he's always got a mark on his face.  This, I believe, was Hayden vs. keyboard tray.

He was just too stinkin' cute in this get-up!

Thanksgiving this year happened to also be my mom's birthday.  The girls, of course, had to help her open presents.

Look at those dimples.  :)

A few of the kiddos out playing with Steve.

I mentioned Addie's skirt was too big.  She eventually lost it and just went with tights.  She took a walk like this.  That's my girl.  ;)

Hayden was completely wore out by late afternoon and finally fell asleep in the car. We then ventured back to Rick's to watch some football and finish stuffing ourselves. Both kids were tired and whiny -- Addie said she wanted to go home, so we loaded up and left Loren to enjoy the game in peace. A few minutes down the road Addie started crying that she wanted Daddy. So we ran by the house to pick up pjs and blankies and headed back to Grandpa's for the evening. Once Hayden got some more sleep in the car and we got some medicine for Addie's earache, the two ended up really enjoying themselves. Loren and Ryan yelled at the poor playing 49ers and I just sat back and worked on some knitting. :)

Happy Holidays friends. It's only just begun...