The Thanksgiving wrap-up

Oh, Internet ... Thanksgiving was a hoot-and-a-half -- very much as Nathaniel had predicted it would be.

We traveled to South Carolina to be with Grayson's extended family at his sister's house. There were 15 adults and 13 children in attendance, some of whom came in just for Thanksgiving day, and some of whom stayed until Friday.

Debbie had -- as usual -- gone All Out with the Fall decorations. She got that gene (and some of the decorations) from her mom.

There were turkey cozies for our silverware:



Turkey plates and acorn silverware cozies for the kids:



Pilgrim cupcakes for the kids' dessert:



Apple pie for the adults:



And more Harvest Decor scattered artfully around the house:



Prior to The Big Meal, the kids gathered in different rooms and ransacked them all ... (Don't you love all of Debbie's vintage Little People sets?)



Some of the adults gathered in the den and chatted while we waited for mealtime.



Once everything was ready, we served the kids' plates first.



Debbie set up three tables to accommodate all the kiddos. Jakey got to sit at the Big Boy Table.



Anna Kate, Abby and Ali sat at the Girls' Table.



And Coleman and Jack sat near us in the dining room. Coleman and our Jakey are only two months apart. But of course Coleman says lots of words and uses like 30 signs.



Here's my plate. Do you think I could have fit any more carbs on it? GOODBYE, JENNY CRAIG. It was nice knowing you.



I wasn't the only one who ate too many carbs.



Men were sacked out left and right.



They were all in the same room, taking up all the seating with their napping.



In the late afternoon, we had our ornament exchange, sort of a Dirty Santa game. Here's Jonah opening his ornament, with Matt and Nick helping.



And here's Patrice, holding my baby. He loves her. It's funny to me to see her holding someone besides Jonah! Precious Gabe would be exactly Jake's age today ... they were only a couple of weeks apart.


I love that Patrice is able to open herself up to Jake, despite how it hurts her soul to look at him and think of Gabe. But I know in my heart that part of Gabe lives in Jake, and when I look at Jakey, I think of Gabe, too.

Back to Thanksgiving ... after lunch some of the kids piled up on the couch with Gary to watch some football.



But it wasn't long before they were all back out on The Best Idea Ever: the bouncy house that Debbie and Gerry had rented for the day. BRILLIANT.



Will caught quite a bit of air:



Jake went down several times by himself, but he also wanted to go down with Nathaniel and Nicholas, who were all too happy to oblige.



It did not go exactly as planned.



Jake's center of gravity, along with a helpful arm from Nick, pulled him over.



Choke hold firmly in place, Jake continued down the slide with his brothers.



As uncomfortable as it looks, he was smiling when he came up for air.



Jonah watched the whole thing from the porch (and got in on the action with Matt and Patrice later, once the other kids had been pulled off).



He loved watching Will, Abby and Grant slide down together.



Grant, the oldest cousin, tried all sorts of methods. (Hi, Grant!)



The cousins all had SO much fun together jumping, sliding and bouncing all over the place all day.



We may have to arrange for a bouncy house EVERY year!



When they weren't bouncing, the girls did their own thing:



... and the boys did their own thing.



And on Friday, the WOMEN did their own thing. We went to Target to do some shopping ... we got one cart for the six of us, and we filled it to overflowing. For the most part, we shopped together, but we split up when we had to.


I am noticing how I totally stick out like a sore thumb with my DARK BROWN HAIR. It deserves all caps and an exclamation point, given how much I stick out in that picture. Note to self: Wear that shirt only under a jacket. Too wrinkly.

On Saturday we drove 30 minutes to my Grandmother's house and went to Pizza Hut for lunch with her and my parents. We love to see Grandmother whenever we can, since she lives so far away.



Mom and Dad were happy to see the boys, too, and we enjoyed our lunch with them very much!


So as you can see, it was a very busy weekend with a lot of people ... but it was all a LOT of fun! Now back to "the real world" ... and I'm getting started on decorating the house for Christmas while I'm off of work today. Laundry and sparkly decorations are the order of the day. Good times!