Thanksgiving was with Brent's side of the family this year and we made it into somewhat of a marathon party. It was really fun! Not a lot of pictures of all the activities unfortunately, took me a while to finally pull out the camera.
Okay, first we went swimming with the Maynes on Thanksgiving Eve. We have done this every year that we share Thanksgiving with them. So the first one was back when Chico was a newborn, the next time was when Griz was a newborn. This year there was no newborn for us... moments like that always get me feeling sad but then I just have to remind myself that the Lord gives us these sweet blessings according to his own timetable and that I need to be patient. Anyway, it was a lot of fun swimming, the boys loved it! I really feel bad that I didn't take them at all this summer. We invested in a family pass this time around though so we're going to start going a lot. The boys are gonna love it! (I have started swimming laps in the morning, that's why we bought it) :)
Anyway, the kids got to play with Christa's kids for about an hour which was fun for them. I sure had a good laugh at a rather embarrassing thing that happened to Brent (and he doesn't embarrass very easily). Brent saw Chico and Chico's cousin, "N", across the pool and had the brilliant idea to sneak up on them and scare them there in the public swimming pool. About thirty feet away, he locked in on his target, went underwater and swam towards the unsuspecting prey. Brent can't see very clearly underwater, but his taste for adventure overcame his sense of logic. When he got to the target, he grabbed one ankle from each of the two pairs of four very skinny legs. He didn't hear any screams from the boys, so, discouraged, he squeezed a little bit harder and started to shake them a little bit. By this point, it was too late for me to warn him that it was actually a very thin woman and her son, and I had no idea what to do. Brent's pretend shark grasp, still unfruitful, was finally starting to annoy the woman whose leg he had grabbed. He finally let go, still under the water, when he heard a woman say, "WHAT THE HECK?" From under the water, I guess the voice was a little muffled and he mistook the voice for mine or Christa's, so he still hadn't quite figured out what was going on. Finally, after lifting his head out of the water, he met his unsuspecting prey, and I think was just as surprised as she was at what had just happened. Before you think I'm an awful wife for letting this all happen, I didn't notice this was happening until right before he finally pulled his head out so I couldn't stop him and I was like 20 or 30 feet away. But I did get to see the look on his face as he came out of the water. I couldn't stop laughing. Oh my gosh it was SO funny. I will remember that one for a long time. I was glad Christa was there so I could have a good laugh about it with her!
Thanksgiving morning started out at 10:30ish with football! Heidi and her boyfriend John came, and Steve, Nate, and two of the oldest Maynes kids. We were bummed that Christa couldn't come. Brent and I were a bit sluggish at first. My excuse is I was so sore from all the baking I had done for the last 24 hours and probably a little bit from swimming, but probably mostly the baking. I made a LOT of pies which is a workout in and of itself! (Banana Cream, Chocolate Cream, Apple, Pumpkin, and Pumpkin Toffee Cheesecake). Brent had a more impressive excuse though. He had already gone for a LONG run that morning. Not a race or anything, he just got up at 5:30 and started running. Think that sounds crazy? Two days before that he ran another LONG one. One of those runs per week normally goes just fine, but it was apparently a little unwise to do it twice in 48 hours. Brent was sore like I've never seen him before. He still played football though and impressed me with his quarter back skills. He has never played on a team, but man he can throw it beautifully. He probably wants me to stop talking about him now. :) Everyone else was really good and we were all grateful for the kids who added some much needed youthful energy to the game. They did most of the running of the ball. Griz really wanted to play and was whining about not getting to hold the ball for a lot of the time. That made it a little bit hard because Brent and I had to take turns holding him to comfort him. I got so fed up at one point though that at the hike I set him down and ran to an open spot and got the QB's attention, caught it, and scored a touchdown. I felt like a terrible mom as everyone looked at me and then to my crying two year old standing there by himself. Woops. Chico and "L" had a lot of fun playing on the playground together the whole time. That was pretty cool how well they played together.
Well after the game was over we went home and got ready to head to the Maynes' for the turkey dinner. We all sat in their front room at a big long table. The turkey, made by Nate, was super-delicious, again. His recipe and technique are amazing! It is so flavorful that it would be a sin to put gravy on it and mask that fabulous taste. Everything was really yummy. I don't know if the kids ate much, they were so busy playing. Chico and Griz would love to move in with the Maynes I think. It's just constant fun for them there.
After we ate we all went downstairs and watched Pure Luck while we digested. All the laughing helped burn some calories too I'm sure. ;) After the movie we hung out, ate pies, and hung out some more. Then Christa got to work pulling out all the candy and graham crackers for gingerbread houses! This year she put them together with a hot glue gun and then the kids decorated them with the frosting and candy. Totally worked SOOOO well (thank you pinterest!). And here is where the camera finally came out!
After gingerbread houses we hung out some more and then cleared off the table so we could play a game. It's kinda like Apples to Apples but there are two winners per round and your questions are about that person. Anyway, we played that game for a really long time all while Brent snoozed on the recliner and the kids played and watched movies downstairs.
We probably way over-stayed our welcome but it's just hard to leave when you're having a good time! Glad we got to fit in all the fun activities that we had wanted to! :)
oh and here are a few more that Christa took that I wanted to keep:
