November 26

Happy Thanksgiving!

We always have so much to be thankful for, but I feel like this year has been rockier than most, and therefore I feel more thankful than normal. This year, we have experienced a premature baby, mastitis that lasted much too long, a broken leg, tubes in Lily's ears, postpartum depression, and more. People, it has been tough. But God has seen us through every storm. He is faithful, and He is good, even when our circumstances are crummy.

For that I am ever thankful.

I am also thankful that this year we didn't have to host Thanksgiving. We were expecting to, but then my parents decided that they really wanted to do it. That meant that instead of cooking and cleaning all day today, we hung out. Chris put up the Christmas lights. Re-keyed our new front door locks to match our other keys. Started to decorate the Christmas tree, but then got distracted. It was low-key and lovely.

Eli was really interested in the Christmas tree, but only when I didn't have the camera. As soon as I put my eye to the viewfinder, he became interested in the doll house. Stinker.

He's also interested in climbing. The boy has made some big jumps in gross motor skills in the past week, and now he is consistently pulling up to his knees. Yay, Eli!

Meanwhile, in the background...

Apparently Daisy thinks she is a cat. I have no idea.

While the little ones napped, Chris and Caleb played chess. Chris decided to teach Caleb how to play a week or two ago, and Caleb is really into it. This scene makes my heart so happy.

Funny story: All morning, the kids were asking when we could go to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Finally, at 11:30 I grew frustrated and told them, "WE ARE GOING TO GRANDMA AND GRANDPA'S HOUSE AFTER YOU NAP. THE SOONER YOU NAP, THE SOONER WE GO. THE LONGER YOU NAP, THE LONGER WE CAN STAY."

At 11:51, Caleb and Daisy went into their room, climbed into their beds, and tried to nap. 

It was the funniest thing ever. I guess they were really excited about going to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

We got there right on time, and things were not quite ready. The kids were thrilled - it meant they could play! I started mixing up the icing for the gingerbread turkey kit I picked up at Trader Joes, and then the kids helped me decorate it.

They had so much fun, and I think our first-ever gingerbread turkey was a success! It was also quite tasty.

Eli had so much fun crawling around the house. He discovered the stairs, and it was like a whole  new world was opened to him.

"I can go up?"

He didn't successfully climb any stairs, but he had lots of fun trying.

And unfortunately, those are the only pictures I took today. I don't have pictures of all the fun the kids had with Max and Jace. I don't have pictures of Lily and Jace - a perfectly matched set - chasing each other around the house. I don't have pictures of Jace talking to and loving on Eli, or of Max and Caleb wrestling. But it was lovely, and it made my heart happy to have some low-key time to hang out with my family.