Thanksgiving At Dad's '14

Everyone made it, it was awesome!

Kids immediately started baking with Aunt Dyan!

Pics with Uncle Bob are SO few and far between, and he's so stinking photogenic and loved, that I just decided to dump all these fabulous ones on here.

In addition to Thanksgiving, we also celebrated Uncle Brent's and Sherry Berry's birthdays!!

2 kids giving Aunt Dyan a makeover whilst one provides ambiance on the piano...

Time for Grandmom's mani....

Finished manicures...

Apparently we needed to scare the crap out of silly Mommy by sending the 10 year up the flag pole to take down and replace the flag.  It was SCARY, but he did awesome!

duets....

Iris reading comics to Uncle Brent...

HOW do I have NO pics of Dad in here???  Dad, where were you???  In the jungle??  David??  Where are you??

Thanksgiving At Cracker Barrel

So Thanksgiving Day was a wee bit weird this year...  We did get to see my mom's family, but we ate out at Cracker Barrel.  And we were NOT the only people that chose this unconventional option.  They get so crowded that one day, they only serve one meal! 

Some group pics!

My Awesomest-Sister-In-The-World brought Lucy an entire meal, sides, dessert and all, which she DEVOURED!!

 Good to see family, but missed a lot of you!!!

Sherry's Birthday (poorly celebrated by her sister)

Oh my poor sister.  She had her birthday back in November, and all I did was give her a gift in the parking lot on the way to go mall walking with our mom.  But she's always appreciative and gracious of EVERYTHING, of course.  And it's just not fair because she is the BEST SISTER / AUNT EVER!!!

Here she opening the kids' cards!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST SISTER IN ALL THE WORLD!!!!

Mt View Reunion

Normally when our old church (which we attended from the time Lucy was 4 months old until she was 5 years old) had reunions, we were always on family vacations.  But this last Oct we got to ...finally and see our lovely friends!!  I was so excited and cried the moment I saw them!!  Some were missing, but it was so great to see the ones that made it!!

Mr Tom, as always, at the kid table :)

Travis all grown up and married!  LOVE his wife!

Mrs Fran hugging on Iris while John roasts a hot dog.

Kristin all grown up sitting with Ivan and Oksana.  Miss them so much.

Girls on trampoline :)

Group shot!!

Good times!!  So thankful Tom and Fran put this together.  We drove away and I couldn't stop crying.  Really miss having these people as a regular part of our lives.

Museum with Friends

Stephen went out of town.  Due to my anxiety problems, he wouldn't let me stay home.  We had stayed at my Mom's the last time, my sister's the time before that, and my Dad's the time before that, and though they all assured me I was welcome again, we decided to 'spread the love' and took our close friends up on their offer to stay with them.

But lo and behold they swept us away to the Tellus Science Museum.  Picture two moms, one expecting, plus 9 kids at a museum.

We had most of it to ourseleves.

Focault's Pendulum..

Meg digs... you get to keep one fossil or shark tooth of your choice that you find.

Clyde, Land and Iris dig...

Clyde and Land panning for gems...

Iris and Teva panning...

Lilly and Courtney....

Lu....

Happily tired of panning and digging...

Group pic in front of giant geode....

exploring...

Courtney getting her chance to touch fossilized dinosaur poop! The other big girls had been highly anticipating Courtney getting to experience this. :)

Big girls running from a giant sea monster skeleton :)  They requested this pic.

 The kids were so awesome!!  Amy and I kept talking about how we did not feel like we had just spent many hours in a museum with 9 kids!!

But we made up for it.  We got back to her house, where I promptly started having a syncope episode and a bit of anxiety and her baby promptly drained all her energy.  We deposited ourselves on recliners and had to be served dinner. 

Good memories!!

Little Girls' Slumber Party

Clyde spent the night with his buddy, McKellan.  Lucy spent the night with Meg, Lilly & Courtney.  And we got the little girls again.  I tell you, we always luck out!  Little girls are so fun!

Apparently Ada enjoyed my nut/dye/milk free iced chai tea latte!  She kind of adopted it.

When I asked what they wanted to do for the day, they decided they all wanted Anna's (from Frozen) coronation day hairstyle.

Three little Anna's watching a movie.

We had lots of fun!!

Costume Parties At Local Churches (Picture Dump)

Starting off at our first church fall party...

A close-up of this lovely face...

SO many little girls were smitten by my two big ones.  Lots of them wanted to "meet Anna & Elsa" and got very sheepish once they did.

pony rides...my pics of Elsa and Captain American on horseback didn't turn out so swell.

Elsa feeding the goats.

Cuddles with Daddy.

Elsa golfing.

Dorothy tossing for a soda.

Ninja made EVERY football toss he attempted.  Notice his proud father on the right.

Turns out, Cap is pretty good at shooting baskets.

Little girls make a happy landing x100.

Cap takes putting very seriously.

Elsa explains the basics of mini-golf to a Lalaloopsy doll.

Lalaloopsy gets plenty more advice.  This happens many times.

More Daddy cuddles.

Ninja and Parents.  Some of my favorite peeps.

Lalaloopsy a wee dab happy.

Beginning Baby bump.  Come on #7!  We're excited!

Happy Girls.

Star throwing Ninja.

Papa and Elsa.

Morgan LaFaye, Elsa, Victorian girl and Sockhop girl await balloons.

Kids with Nena and Papa.

Sockhop Girl attempts bucket toss.

Victorian Lady with her prize.

Elsa and Morgan test whose powers are stronger.

Besties!! Dorothy and Anna.

Mr Matt with just a portion of his offsprings' loot.