thankful

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving this year! And every year we become more and more thankful for God's blessings of health & happiness!

We woke up Thanksgiving morning to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! I love cuddling up with Nolan and oohing and awing at all the cool balloons! And he was excited to see Santa as well! Then we Skyped with Grandma, Grandpa, Auntie Mal, and Uncle T. in Chicago! Even though it is sad not to be with them on holidays, we are SO thankful for Skype so at least we can see each other!

After baking a corn casserole (my Mom's delicious recipe) we headed out to Mark's parents house for family photos, kid naps, snacks, & football before the feast!

Heath getting in on the cooking action in the kitchen!

As soon as we got there Nolan found his place card and wanted to sit down for dinner immediately. He asked all day if it was time for the "Thanksgiving Dinner"! When it came time to eat, Nolan LOVED sitting at the big table! And he REALLY loved drinking water from this fancy glass!

This first grade teacher was so proud of her little first grade niece! She read the Thanksgiving Story to the whole group before dinner! She read fluently and with great voice! Love that girl!

After all of his excitement to sit down for the feast, I'm not sure how much of the "Thanksgiving Dinner" Nolan actually ate- I do know he had 4 servings of cranberries and about 3 of applesauce! He ate a roll and a half too! But he sat nicely and asked to be excused and thanked Oma for a good meal!

This munchkin on the other hand ate everything I offered him and apparently was affected by the tryptophan in the turkey!

Aunt Sue eating the annual brussel sprout!

After dinner: Getting body slams from Uncle Brad in the basement on Oma & Opa's famous orange bean bag!

Nolan asked to be put into the crawl space! He thought it was so cool and even asked Uncle Brad to close the door! Then everyone else had to join in on the action! (On a side note: I love this picture of Payton and Nolan...they are the best of friends! They are both creative, imaginative, smart, sensitive, and sweet, which makes for a perfect pairing! And it also helps that Nolan, unlike her brother Brady, listens to everything Payton says! Which of couse she likes!)

Uncle Brad playing the trombone in the crawl space! Doesn't every family do that on Thanksgiving?

Cohen practicing his sitting in the bean bag! Isn't he all of a sudden getting so big?!

And finally, it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without Aunt Sue's exciting Turkey Trot game! The kids had fun playing their own round this year!

"Give thanks to the Lord, our God and King, his love endures forever!"