At our house right now we are obsessed with all things "ABC". So, when I saw
Christy and
Christie's ABC Thanksgiving posts, I knew I had to make it a "
Christy" triple play and copy their idea. So, here is a list of things I am thankful for this year. Some are serious, some are funny. I tried to go with the first thing that came to mind.
A - airplanes - I am thankful that they make it so much easier to visit friends and family far away.
B - Books - I love to read and am thankful that I can read. I love that Katherine is also obsessed with books.
C - Caroline - My sweet, precious baby girl. We can't imagine life without her.
D - Dr. Pepper - Anyone who knows me knows that I am addicted. It is my "vice".
E - Emily and all of our cousins. They are precious and love to play together.
F - Family - I am so thankful that I have not only a great relationship with my family but also with my in-laws. Not everyone is so fortunate.
G - Grandparents - My girls are blessed with the best grandparents. One set is close and one is a few hours away. They love them both.
H - Hooligan - Our poor dog has been moved down a few notches with the arrival of kids but we love her.
I - Ice Cream - I am a plain vanilla girl and especially like it in milkshake form.
J - Jen, Janna and my other good girl friends (whose names don't start with "J")
K - Katherine - such a fun toddler whom we love and enjoy so much.
L - Life eternal, such a gift from God.
M - Mom - I am blessed with a wonderful relationship with my mom. We talk daily and see each other multiple times a week.
N - Northwest - We are lucky to have a wonderful church home, a place to worship, serve and fellowship
O - Opportunity - I feel lucky to live in a place where I have the opportunity and freedom to do so many things.
P - Playgroup - It started as moms needing support with new babies and has evolved into best friends for both me and my children. I am so thankful for these people.
Q - Quiet - I don't get a lot of quiet with a baby and a toddler so when I have moments of quiet, I really love it.
R - Running - I don't run a lot but I can. I am thankful for my health and physical abilities.
S - Saturday and Sunday - I live for the weekends when we have family time and I have help with the kids.
T - Tortillas and Mexican food - yummy, my favorite.
U - Unconditional love - from God, from family, from friends. I am blessed.
V - Vacation - One of my favorite things in the world is to travel. I love a vacation for it's time away from home, time with family and friends and time to learn about new places and experience new things.
W - Will - my brother is a great friend. I am thankful for our relationship.
X - extra sleep - I am thankful that Caroline is a baby who sleeps and therefore I am a mommy who sleeps. It makes for a much happier home.
Y - Yogurt - Katherine does not like milk so I am glad she will eat and drink yogurt
Z - Zoo - What a fun activity with the kids.
We tried to get a cousin picture and it was tough. They were not all in the mood but the girls were pretty cooperative.
All the kids - Zac (21 months), Ty (5), Hannah (4), Nathan (7), Katherine (4.5), Caroline (2), Emily (9.5)
Grammy, Grandad and the Grandkids.
Our family of 4
The kids and grandkids.
On Friday only our family was there so Grammy and Katherine had some special time and made a gingerbread train.
Caroline loved being buried under everyone's stuff.
One goal of the weekend was to get a good picture of all of us. I think that we did a great job, especially considering that the photo was taken with a timer so you never know what kind of faces the kids are going to give. We also tried to take photos of just the kids. That was not as easy. Our camera had already been set up for the big family photo shoot so when Sam aimed at the kids we had a wonderful backdrop of the neighbor's trash cans. Hopefully someone else got a better picture of the kids. 
As to be expected we did a lot of eating and a lot of hanging out - a perfect way to spend Thanksgiving.
Don't be fooled by the large amount of food on Katherine's plate. I think she ate the roll.
Caroline fell asleep on the floor in the same room as the chaos and slept through Thanksgiving lunch. It was kind of nice not to have to hold a baby while eating for once.
The kids had fun playing in the yard and playing video games (old school intelivision, no Wii for us).
And we finished off the evening with a bath. I like to call this photo "Rub a dub dub, three toddlers in a tub."
Both girls were on the floor as Aunt Jaime waved a scarf over their faces. There were many giggles by the girls.
Katherine had a new interest in her exersaucer when Sophia was playing with it.
We gave them a bath and there were more screams than laughs. Both girls usually enjoy bath time so we were not sure why they were so upset over this bath.
You can tell in these photos that even though Sophia is a year younger, she is one pound heavier. No more hand me downs as they wear the same size. Let the hand me ups begin!
Sophia tried several new things to eat at Thanksgiving dinner. She was not too thrilled with any of them and made some really funny faces.
This time Sophia was not excited about sharing though Katherine actually was playing nicely. I think she felt crowded.
Katherine loves her Pops.
Wednesday night we were the only one at Grammy and Grandad's house so there was a lot of grandparent time. Usually there are 5 grand kids so this was a special treat. Katherine had fun building a tower with Grandad (or she says daddad).
Then she had fun climbing into the wagon that the Lego's come in. 
She kept wanting to be pulled in the wagon. Finally we showed her how to pull her baby and that was better.
Grammy bought her a baby carrier for her baby doll. It is similar to the one that mommy used to carry her. It was pretty cute.
On Thursday Uncle Ryan, Aunt Carissa and Cousin Ty arrived for lunch. Ty is 5 months older than Katherine. They usually are with the other grand kids and it is general chaos so it was fun for them to only have the two of them to play. They got along very well and there were no struggles with sharing toys!
