Thanksgiving 2016

 Since the ex-husband and I are usually trading kids back and forth throughout the week leading up to Thanksgiving, Tim and I went ahead and accepted Stephanie's invite to her house for Thursday.  Whether we ended up bringing 2 or 4 kids, we knew that it would be fun to get the cousins together and have a nice visit.  Turns out that Garrett and Caroline were able to come along and we headed to Hampton around 10 AM Thanksgiving morning.  I was in charge of bringing two pumpkin roll cakes (homemade!  I love making these things!) and a cooler full of juice boxes and 2-liters of soda.
And Stephanie surprised us with a new puppy, Maverick, who the kids absolutely adored!  Gavin and Alexandria joined up with Garrett, Caroline, Emily, and Caroline and played together like they get together all the time.  Kevin and Kristen were a nice addition as well as Aunt Jill and Camm who brought all the favorites--broccoli cheese casserole, giant yeast rolls,  sweet potato casserole smothered in mini-marshmallows...my mouth is still watering!

Basketball skills camp in the backyard

Kevin kept up the tradition of guarding the grill as 100 oysters popped open and then were promptly drowned in butter.

The new puppy, Maverick!

Family Photo Fun!

 It's been 4 years since we did professional family photos (Jason was 2 weeks old and cried almost the whole time!).  A new English teacher at our school, Marianne, used to be a full-time photographer and still does photo sessions on the weekends (lots of newborns, weddings, and senior pics).  I've seen her website and her work is gorgeous!  I asked her to book us for a weekend while the fall leaves were still looking amazing and we all met up at Alum Springs Park for some picture time!  
Marianne just sent me the link to the pictures and they turned out so great!  It's no surprise what everyone will be getting for Christmas :)  Marianne spoiled me with 67 pics (!) since only 25 were included in our package, so I'm sharing a few here and still have so many to use for our Christmas card.  I've already picked out a great group shot of the kids to get printed on canvas for above the mantel and one of each kid to print out for the wall.  Enjoy!

The best picture that Timmy and I have ever taken.  Seriously.

We did some funny outtakes to prevent "frozen smiles" from too many photos in a row!

Happy 6th Birthday Emily!

My little 6 pound, 14 oz. peanut!  

 We celebrated Emily's birthday yesterday AND Friday, because it sometimes feels like a 3-day event around this place when someone has a birthday!  On Friday, Caroline had oral surgery on a stubborn adult molar that doesn't want to come into place, and after I had her comfortable on the couch, I headed over to Emily's school to have lunch with her!  I also brought mini cupcakes for her class's snack time.  We enjoyed some delicious pizza, applesauce, baked beans, and fries (along with chocolate milk of course).  I basked in the glory of being "Emily's Mom" as 23 of her friends all wanted to chat at the same time ("Emily's mom!  I have Pokemon cards in my backpack!"  "Emily's mom!  I brought a cheese stick with my lunch!!").  Then we went over to Grandma Peggy's house to eat dinner and celebrate with some birthday cake.  John, Mary, and the cousins made the trek down and Emily and Brooklyn enjoyed a play date.

Visiting the Birthday Girl for lunch!

Cake time at Grandma's house

Emily picked out her own cake.  I'm not sure if it was artificial coloring (HA!  Of course it was!) but it was pretty good!

 On Saturday, Emily's friend Aela came over and we headed into Fredericksburg for her birthday celebration!  Emily had asked to do a trip to Build a Bear with Aela in place of a regular birthday party.  We agreed and added a trip to dinner as well.  So we went to Build a Bear in the mall (Aela's first time!) and Emily picked out a princess bear with sparkly pink fur and a light-up crown, Aela got Poppy from the Trolls movie, and Jason chose a triceratops with really cool eyes.  Emily and Aela both got dresses for their dolls and all the kids fluffed up their new animals and got them looking sharp!

Fluffing up the dinosaur!

Aela was taming that Poppy troll hair and Emily was working on her bear's fur.

We finished up at the mall and headed to IHOP for some celebration pancakes (celebration = pancakes full of sprinkles and covered in icing and whipped cream).  They make a stout pot of coffee and Tim and I were buzzing on caffeine by the time we left!  Then it was back to the house for cupcakes, presents, play time, and eventually bedtime (MUCH too late for Tim and me!).  Emily received a pack 'n play for her dolls from Cammy and she requested that Timmy and I put it together right away.  She also got a raincoat and pretty rain boots from Aunt Carrie and family.  Those both were put on immediately and worn around the house for much of the evening :)