Thanksgiving Highlights

We alternate between Idaho and Wisconsin for major holidays. This year it's Thanksgiving in Wisconsin, and Christmas in Idaho. All I can say is thank you Lord, for air travel! It can be a painful hassle to plan and pack and schlep 6 people through airports and shuttles and planes...but hey, it's no horse-drawn wagon. We travel over 1,000 miles in under 4 hours. I'm not complaining!

We had a tough time getting seats together this trip. Luke was with the 3 older kids, and I was with Thomas. Our travels were uneventful this trip, aside from one minor barfing on the plane incident. (Wow - it just dawned on me that I must finally be a bona-fide experienced mother if I consider one of my children throwing up a minor incident!)

I really enjoyed my little travelin' buddy. He's finally really enjoying books and games, so it's easier and easier to keep him entertained and content. I love these little tooties:

The reason I pulled out my camera in the first place is these eyelashes. Check out those crazy long eyelashes!

We were in Wisconsin for a week, so it wasn't ALL turkey and stuffing. We had lots of time for other fun like spending time with my Grandma (who has been better, but is still hanging in there), going into Sheboygan for those famous steak sandwiches, hunting, and....leaf raking.

We took a day to rake leaves at the cottage. I've never been at the cottage in the fall...AND I've never seen so many leaves in all my life!

My sister and her family was in WI with us, so we had lots of fun cousin time. Here's my niece, Taylor playing in the leaves:

Everyone pitched in to help:

Mom and Dad are remodeling the cottage - I love a good construction site! I love to see things in progress, to check out the remodeling plans, and to see how things are taking shape. So exciting!

My baby girl in all her pink glory:

What? Someone's getting attention? I know someone else who MUST get into the fun:

My Ben and my nephew, Trevor. When my sister was pregnant with him, his big sister Taylor was about 2. When she told us what the baby's name would be, she pronounced it "Trouble". We all had a good laugh over that one...but now I think the child might have a gift for prophesy! I love ya, little buddy!

Clara and Taylor - great friends. I just love that they're growing up together.

Of course, it's not an official leaf-raking day without plenty of hot chocolate:

We piled many of the leaves in a giant construction dumpster, and we burned the rest. It was a cold damp day - perfect:

Thanksgiving day.

Grandma joined us for our Thanksgiving celebration. I think we all tried to really soak in our time with her this trip.

My kids loved all their Daddy time this trip.

These dishes - they hold such sweet and beautiful memories for me.

I just love my Grandma's hands. They've always been so expressive. She talks with her hands. She pats my cheek with that warm hand. She's always fidgeting her fingers. And this trip, she totally shocked me. She's thin and frail, and just seems...small. But that woman grabbed my hand one day, gave my fingers a squeeze, and it HURT. Those hands are so strong!

Oops, she caught me taking her photo. "What do you think you're doing over there?" she's saying:

What a good sport. I love you, Grandma.

Samantha showing Grandma something special:

Our table was extra special this year because the kids put their finishing touches on it for us. Taylor and Ben both made special place holders:

Clara helped Papa carve the turkey:

Putting the finishing touches on the place-holders:

My sister Tiffany, and her family:

My sister Megan and her husband, Tony:

The "kids table". Is it me or was I just sitting at the kids' table 3 seconds ago?

My Mama with her Mama:

The guys all went hunting the day or so after Thanksgiving. Luke doesn't hunt, so he brought my camera to shoot with instead:

Too bad they weren't hunting turkeys:

We had an amazing feast of steak, homemade french fries, and homemade chocolate eclairs our last night there. It was Thomas's first taste of eclairs:

There were lots of these sitting by my side this trip (empty wine glasses) ;-) Hey, it was vacation!

This is an odd picture, I guess. I just love these glasses:

And that's it! We had a great vacation. Restful, fun, full of good food, wine, and company.

FYI - unless my "to do" list lightens up by some Christmas miracle, my blog posts will likely be rather few and far between for the next month or so. You'll see more of me again in January :-)