Our Family Journal: Happy Thanksgiving!

we had a great time in madera for thanksgiving!

one of my dad's farm dogs just had 11 puppies! getting to see and play with them was definitely a highlight of the trip!

another highlight was getting to spend some quality time with jenae. she is usually SO BUSY with all her activities that we don't get to hang out much, but this time was different and we loved it!

also a major event was grandpa jamie jumping on the trampoline with the kids. i honestly don't remember ever seeing my dad jumping on the trampoline like this! my mom even took a video!

seth LOVED queenie! for me, this trip solidified that we will have a dog someday!

we enjoyed the beautiful weather in our old stomping grounds =o]

and of course busted out all the favorite grammy toys!

the kids worked for hours "building" a "magic tree house"- classic! i swear i spent half of my free time as a kid constructing clubhouses of one kind or another so this was fun to see.

sleep deprived seth LOVES his blanket!!

jenna just being her silly self!

and seth joined her =o]

the kids went to the library with grammy of course, and got a ton of cool books to read.

we also brought all our favorite thanksgiving books to read and share and this one "balloons over broadway" was the hands down favorite.

on tuesday caleb went to the farm with grandpa jamie for the morning.

and then caleb and i went to chowchilla for the afternoon. we tried to work with grandma hansen on her childhood book, but didn't get very far ;o]

but we were a big help to grandpa hansen in helping him put up his reindeer decorations for the front yard. i LOVED these as a child up on the roof, and now i will always treasure as an adult the memory of talking and singing with my grandpa as we set them up on the lawn. i just love this humble, hilarious, unbelievably strong old man!!

grandpa told caleb that if he was a good helper he would give him a special surprise. and true to his word caleb received a package from grandpa hansen a few days ago with a little wooden gun he had made for him, with "CALEB" inscribed on the side, which caleb proudly wore in his belt loop for the rest of the day and called to thank him for it that night. =o] priceless!

wednesday was full of baking and playing and talking with my mom.

jenna got to go on an adventure with jenae and her friend virat (pronounced verrawt) to the grocery store all by herself!

they said she was pretty quiet so she was probably nervous lol

natalie got to have maren over of course. i am so grateful for her sweet friend! we love the hyers!

more seth with puppies. he could not get enough! he signed more dog every time he caught a glimpse of them!

wednesday night we made pies!

i also started making my pumpkin cheesecake but then had to abandon my mom to finish it AND put my kids to bed to boot because i had to go pick kent up from the airport. he had been on a business trip all week. anyway, so we got home and my mom was finishing up some stuff in the kitchen so we talked for a minute and then we went to bed. come to find out the next morning that she still stayed up to not only take out the pies but made the rolls that night too!! the poor saint slaved away until after 2am. i felt SO BAD! she is so selfless it is incredible to me!

we were happy to have dad back!!

the main event of the morning was the parade. it wasn't ever a huge tradition for either of our families but because of the book the kids were all worked up about seeing it. at first it was a HUGE disappointment (like natalie cried!) because it was just a bunch of people talking and some weird musical numbers. being novice parade watchers, we didn't realize that the real parade was on it's way! finally we paused it for like 30 minutes while we got ready for the day, so we could fast forward through stuff and then we found out the schedule. so it all turned out in the end!

it was so good to have kent around to play with! did i already say that?

the kids helped to set the table and make place cards.

here we are waiting for grandma and grandpa hansen to arrive =o]

hooray for the hansens!!

the kids checked out some books while the adults finished eating.

after we all went around the table saying things we are grateful for, my grandma gave the sweetest little speech about family and eternal life.

more book reading while waiting for dessert =o]

a picture before bedtime- we are so thankful the kids get to know their great grandparents!!

on friday morning the kids played outside while kent and i packed up. it was hectic as usual! but at least they knew they get to come back after christmas =o]