6 Miles

Ahhh…it's nice to be back!  While we had a good time, it is nice to be home.  I thought I'd share a few highlights of the week for those of you who weren't there (though I know half of you who read the blog were there!).

First, we had our Thansgiving Snow:

As I mentioned before, Will had a great time playing in the snow Sunday and Monday.  Tuesday, all the snow melted. I did a shopping trip and James' brother RD and his family came out to join the fun. Wednesday we got to go pick out a Christmas tree! We went out to a tree farm and picked one and then James' B-I-L chopped it down.  The kids had fun helping decorate it.

Wednesday and Thursday James' other two brothers and their fiances (or about to be fiance) came. It was fun to meet them. I hope we didn't overwhelm them too much–they claimed it wasn't too bad. Plus they did have the advantage to meeting us in small doses before this weekend. But I remember feeling overwhelmed when I first met the family at Christmas back in 2000.  And that was when there was only one grandchild! (Now there are 8, which do help add to the general chaos a bit!)  Anyway, the two are very nice and we're excited for their future addition to the family. 

Thursday we had a small Thansgiving lunch. James' sister had made a turkey earlier in the week, so I just made the sides and we had a Thanksgiving lunch.  Then his B-I-L enjoyed watching the Packers win (a Packers fan living in the Philly area enjoys every chance he can get to watch his team).  That evening, we had a great time watching the Colts win as well.

Friday we took the kids roller skating. Will made it around the rink once.  He did skate on the carpet some as well, but spent most of his time pretending to drive the different games they had at the rink.  Alex loved riding around with James and was sad he couldn't go on the rink. Maybe next year his feet will be big enough to fit into the skates they have.

Friday evening we had Christmas dinner and opened presents. Once again we let the kids open theirs, then took a break to put them down for bed and then the adults had a nice time talking and opening their gifts.  This year Alex fit into the sweater that matches James' sweater.

Saturday we had a shower for Teri and his fiance. It was a fun time and a nice chance for people to meet her who can't come out to the wedding this winter. I picked the one picture that has the three wives in it–we usually take the pictures and it's nice to see proof we all exist!

Everyone one who was visiting left Sunday, except for us. (Two years ago we discovered the Sunday after Thansgiving makes for busy travel on the road in the evening coming home, and since James had the vacation days we took one more off.) We enjoyed one last day to relax/recover from the crazy weekend.  Will had a great time playing with his cousins and exploring the farm. Below you see two eggs he collected from the hen house.  Both he and Alex were talking about their tractor ride today (two days later). 

Yesterday we spent the whole day driving back to our house.  It was wonderful to come back into a clean house–yet it was sad I spent SO much time cleaning it before we left. Between unloading everything last night and then boys rediscovering their toys this morning, it is pretty much a huge mess again. Today was spent getting food, unpacking and doing my FINAL volunteer shift for my MOPS group and the photography fundraiser we had a few weeks ago.  That done, we're looking forward to nothing that big happening until Friday. And now, it's late and I must head to bed. Please excuse spelling errors and grammatical mistakes!  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!