Thanksgiving 2014

I was going to wait and write about our Thanksgiving in Levi's 11th month post since it happened the first weekend of his 11th month, but I realized that I have TONS of pictures and fun happenings that I just can't leave out. I also don't want to have 50 million pictures in one blog post. So, I put a hold on the 11th month post and started this one.

Our Thanksgiving was really wonderful! It was indeed the start of many weeks of sickness in our household, but it was definitely worth it. I wouldn't have missed time with my family and friends for anything! We got to spend time with so many loved ones on my side of the family and some friends from my childhood. It was a crazy jam packed weekend (like it almost always is when we visit up there) but lots of fun too.

We drove up late Wednesday night after Tim got off work and stayed with my mom. Thanksgiving day we had lunch with my mom, step-dad, his boys, and my sis and her girls. We then had a late lunch with my dad's side of the family. He's one of 8 kids, so you can imagine how many aunts, uncles, and cousins I have! I haven't seen most of them in a WHOLE YEAR, which makes me incredibly sad to think about. It would really good to spend time with them and give them all hugs. My younger boy cousin is the sweetest and plays so well with Caleb. He was my unofficial Caleb babysitter while we were there. They just hung out in his room :) Poor Levi was exhausted and a clingy little booger, BUT he did let my aunt Jamie and my dad hold him. I know that made them super happy!

My sweet niece really loves to help

Helping Nana cook

Loves Nana and Ry's cooking!

Play time with Daddy and the cousins...

More family fun..

I said "smile guys!"....

Somebody said something hilarious, and everyone was cracking up :)

This picture was extremely bright and hard to see, but it
was so cute that I tried my best to save it.

Time with my dad's side...

Levi and Grandpa

Brian, Caleb, and Olivia

A few of our family...

and a few more.

Oh, Ryleigh haha

Love these two girls! Ry and our cousin Lydia

Aunt Jamie softened up Levi with making him really
laugh, so she got some snuggles :) (this is very impressive
because this was when Levi was extremely mommy clingy.
She has skill ;))

My poor Grandma. It was way past Levi's nap time, and he was SO done!

We jetted back to my mom's place to put the kids down for a nap and just hang out at the house the rest of the night. We also found out our car had a nail in it, and we drove with it in there from our house! Oops! I'm so glad nothing happened while we were travelling, and my step-dad was able to plug it for us! It's still going strong.

The next morning my mom went with us to meet my sister and nieces at the mall. We ate lunch at the food court, played in the indoor playground, got frozen yogurt, and rode the train! I love this mall. It's so much more family friendly than any around Jackson! We had a great time :)

Nana gave me a break and played with Levi so I could eat.

First time to play in an indoor playground and with
one of these toys. He was amazed :)

Brothers playing together in the car.

Big climber

Caleb playing with Ry (see him climbing up behind her?
She's in the maroon shirt and black pants.)

Train fun!

Caleb and Levi both had a blast. It was Levi's 1st "train" ride.

Later that night after naps, we headed over to our dear friends' house and hung out for a bit. It's always so great to see them!

London, Rain, and Levi playing trains

Cute kiddos

London and Caleb share a love for trains. C was so excited to
play with all of London's train toys!

Levi got to spend some time with Auntie Amanda again! Yay!

I think we were all surprised at how much Levi liked Logan!
Not that Logan is a bad guy..Levi has stranger danger and especially
with males!

But Logan sure had him giggling up a storm :)

I love my friend Heather!

I also love our friend Amanda. I'm so glad we got to spend time with them!

On the 29th, we met up with my cousins (John and Jenny) and their kids at Olive Garden (yummy!) and got to meet each others' babies for the first time! It was long overdue. Levi and Jaxton are 5 days apart and are 3rd cousins. Jada is the sweetest little girl and always takes care of Caleb. She has a momma hen heart :) We always treasure time with this family. They really love the Lord, and our time with them is always precious!

Jada holding Levi

Our best attempts at a group shot. I'm playing with levi haha...

The babies think the wall is more fun (HA!)...

And at least you can see everyone's face here, but stinker Caleb looked away. :)

Sweet boys :)

I love Jaxton's face!

We ended the night with watching the Egg Bowl with my sister and nieces, and although it didn't end the way we wanted..we had a good time together. By this night, I was pretty exhausted from Levi not sleeping and being so busy running around so I'm really glad we had a night in and I was able to relax a little.

I told Tim to do  "we are number 1", and this is
what he does. He's so Asian ;) hehe!

I didn't take any pictures, but on Lord's day we visited the Christian family I grew up with as a child through high school. It's also where I first heard about God and received Him. These people will always hold a very dear place in my heart. They really genuinely care about me and my family, and I know that they are praying for me. I don't get to see them as much as I would like, but I am glad I can keep up with them..and them with me...on Facebook. I didn't get to be in the Sunday school class for very long because Levi was freaking out in the nursery, but I loved my time in the nursery with 2 women I've known for a very long time (one was my Sunday school teacher in high school!). Once I went in there, Levi had a blast playing with the two kids in there and the toys. It was really sweet. Caleb also had such a good time in his class (I also know the teacher he had very well), and Mrs. Angela told us he taught the class "If You're Happy and You Know It". That made me smile. 

It was a very good Thanksgiving weekend full of delicious food, family, and friends. It was very exhausting, and I can't promise that every moment was easy or perfect but it was definitely worth it. I love how much my kids and their cousins love each other, and I love how much my family enjoys being together. It's so nice to have a support system and a family I know will always be there.

My mom, my sister, and I