Thanksgiving

It was sooo nice traveling 12 or 13 minutes, as compared with 12 or 13 hours, to get to Grammy and Papa's house for Thanksgiving this year. What a treat! We celebrated the holiday by attending a late morning church service all together at Trinity and then meeting at Mom and Dad's for lunch. When we arrived, Mom asked each family member to write or draw a list of Thanksgiving blessings.

Here were Jaden and Cody's contributions. Cody asked Jason and me to draw several of his pictures for him, but some of these (like the house, the flowers, and the jacket) he actually did on his own. He's quite the budding little artist! :) My favorite item on Jaden's list of thankfulness was "a shiver when you are cold" with the squiggly line. So funny!

The family's posters made a nice little collage on Dad and Mom's dining room wall.

Mom and Dad added several fun touches to the meal specifically designed for the kids' enjoyment-- like these Rice Krispie turkeys...

...and this turkey made with apple slices and caramel dip. The grandsons noticed these special touches right away and loved them!

Dad and Mom whipped up an absolutely delicious turkey meal (and didn't let any of the rest of us bring a thing!).

In addition to our family and Grammy and Papa, our Thanksgiving clan included Matt and Kim's family and Jon and Chelsea's family. We love these blended Schleicher-Walquist gatherings! :)

After enjoying the yummy meal, Mom and Dad asked each of us to share our "thankful items" from our posters. We certainly have so much to give God thanks for!

All of the kids-- even down to little Nathan and Isaiah-- shared their posters. The kids got a kick out of using Mom's little hand pointer.

After mealtime included dinner clean-up, naps for the kiddos (and a few adults), goofy playtime by the cousins (as always),

some football watching (Go Lions!!),

and a few family games (like this Buzz game that our boys recently learned and Cody requested).

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for being such wonderful hosts! 

We enjoyed our holiday together.