I started to write up some Christmas related blog posts, but then realized I hadn't even written about Thanksgiving yet. First things first...
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The Saturday before Thanksgiving I got a call from my sister, Kira. "How long of a drive is it to your house?" she asked. "Thirteen hours," I responded, "Why? Are you coming?!!"
And indeed, she was! Her original plan brought her family of three little kids all the way from Utah on Wednesday, only to leave again on Friday (crazy!). Thankfully Kira and her husband, Stew, decided to give us a little more time, so they drove ALL DAY Monday and arrived safely, but exhausted, late that evening.
I had tried to put all my kids to bed before they arrived, knowing that once they saw their cousins, there would be no easy way to get them to dreamland. Yet, just knowing their cousins were coming made it impossible for them to sleep, so they were up bouncing around in their beds. So much for good plans.
Stew needed to get in a couple days of remote work, so on Tuesday I thought up a number of fun options for getting the kids out of the house. Zoo! Northwest Trek! Children's Museum! Closed. Closed. Closed! Apparently, everything around here closes down on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the winter. Grrrr. Not to be deterred, we finally headed out to Bounce It Up, which provided not only entertainment, but effective energy drainage.
After jumping for a while, Kylee and Bryce (re)discovered the air hockey tables, and spent a good portion of their time in fierce competition, laughing uproariously.
Of course, once the little monkeys saw their older siblings having so much fun, they wanted to play too.
Chase and Graham were pleased as punch to have so much area to explore. Though they were both disappointed we wouldn't let them on the two-story slide!
Despite being the very end of November, the weather was remarkably beautiful (sunny and almost warm) the whole time the Pope's visited. Kira says it was payback for the time she visited in August as a teenager and it was rainy and cold. So on Wednesday we hung out at home and let the kids play outside, riding bikes and scooters and pretending Winter wasn't just around the corner.
Thanksgiving morning Kira and Stew headed out to visit some of Stew's family while I made our traditional Thanksgiving meal contributions of rolls and fudge. The rolls were fabulous. The fudge flopped.
Then we joined up with the Pope's again to visit Aunt Kat. As always, Aunt Kat put everyone right at ease and thrilled the kids with gifts of hand-knitted animals. It was a joy to talk with her, especially since it was the first time Kira had seen her in well over 10 years.
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| Aubree holding Thane's new bunny - Harry Houdini |
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| Thane thought this scarf/mitten combo was pretty funny |
Following our visit with Kat, we headed over to Aunt Deanna's where the Thanksgiving party was in full swing. Most of the kids stayed outside, enjoying the wonderful weather and exploring the hill behind Deanna's home.
Thane, however, came in and found a stool right next to the food. It turned out to be a clever choice, as every adult who walked by felt the desire to hand him some special treat. "Here's a cookie, Thane. Have a soda! Would you like some chips?"
Graham, who'd only had a partial nap, was a little overwhelmed with all the hustle and bustle, but was still happy and cuddly.
Aunt Deanna generously gave all the girls loom bands, which was extremely timely. The previous night Aubree had taught Kylee how to make the bracelets and simultaneously run out of clips to hold the bracelets together. With Aunt Deanna's gift, both girls were back in business.
It's always a barrel of laughs with the Bonus Family, and having Kira and her family there just made it better. In the past 4 months, four out of my seven siblings (plus my mom & Mark's parents) have visited. We're feeling very blessed to see so much family!
Friday morning Kira and I got up semi-early to do some Black Friday shopping at... Goodwill! Yes, at Goodwill. 50% off all donated goods is too good to pass up. We spent three solid, kidless hours shopping. It was awesome.
Alas, when we got back it was time for the Pope's to pack up their car and head back toward home. We're so glad they came and can't wait for them to swing back up this way again!
After they took off, it was time for our traditional day-after-Thanksgiving activities - decorating the house for Christmas. While Graham took a long, and much needed nap, the big kids helped Mark set up the Christmas tree. Now they're almost to the point where they're actually helpful!
Thane got to set up his own little tree.
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