thanksgiving

My parents hosted the Thanksgiving feast this year & Kenton's parents joined us.  We missed having Brian with us, but enjoyed celebrating with both sides of our families.

Everyone brought sides, drinks & desserts to contribute. My mom & Outi both made turkeys!

Games while waiting for the meal to come together.

Kevin carved their turkey.

Kenton took notes.  ;)

I made a pumpkin pie & a sour cream apple pie (click the links to find the recipes).

I couldn't keep myself from eating the delicious appetizers!  :P

Kenton taking a turn.

Elsa was sporting a Tate hand-me-down.

Meeting Giovani Lara, Uncle Aaron & Aunt Becca's newest nephew.

Gretchen got a chance to meet Gio too.

Tate fell asleep on Josh's lap.

The girl cousins.

The Ladies

The Guys

Elsa & her Pappa

Kenton & me

Becca & Aaron

Gretchen with Ronan coming out of the side of her hair & Josh with Erik coming in for a kiss.  Had to do a retake, but this one cracked us up!

There.  No photobombs in this one!

Can't get enough of those cheeks!  Adorbs.

More games after dinner.

One last shot of Elsa on her first Thanksgiving.

3 months old?!

 I went into Elsa's room to take pictures of her sleeping, but the sound of me opening the blinds woke her up.

 Waking up...

 Hi, sweet girl.

 Cracking a smile...

 There it is!

 Taking our monthly photo on the rocking chair...

 ...and more monthly photos on her quilt with her Elsa-bug.

And she's done with all these photos!

At three months old, Elsa is sleeping through the night consistently (knock on wood!). She goes to sleep in her own crib between 8:00 & 9:00 pm & wakes up between 7:00 & 9:00 am.  She sometimes stirs in the middle of the night, but goes back to sleep with her pacifier.  She still loves diaper changes & moves her arms & legs all over as soon as the diaper comes off!  She smiles, coos & blows spit bubbles, much to her Mama & Dad's amusement.  ;)  

Elsa does not love being in her car seat & often stops crying as soon as we arrive at our destination & turn off the car.  But she is also beginning to tolerate the car rides more & doesn't always cry anymore.  Elsa is trying to roll to the side, but hasn't rolled all the way over yet.  

She loves watching her brothers & smiles when they do silly things or sing silly songs.  She flinches when they get too close, though.  Smart girl! ;)  She watches all of us closely & I sometimes catch her smiling at me when I'm not trying to get her to smile.  The feeling is mutual!  I (we!) love this little girl.  She is such a blessing & I still can't believe we get to have her in our family! Kenton & I often ask each other, "Can you believe we have another baby?! Crazy!"  

cohen's sports party

 Cohen's 8th birthday party was at the Willamalane Center for Sports & Recreation.  The kids had a court to themselves & played games organized by Aaron, Cohen's dad.

Super cool cake made by Becca, Cohen's mom.  :)

 I had fun wrapping Cohen's gift.  :P

 There was quite a crowd surrounding the birthday boy!

What a fun party!  We hope you have fun being 8!  What a big kid.  Crazy!  :)

a party at home

 At Finley's request, we hosted an ice cream sundae & video games birthday party at our house.

 I had to put aside my concerns of our house being too small for such an event.  We rarely host events during the cooler months of the year, when it's less appealing to use our backyard.  But the birthday boy always wants to have friends & cousins over to his house to play, so this was what we did!  And it was a lot of fun!

 Cedar was feeling a little disappointed with how the game was going for him.  ;)

 Singing "Happy Birthday" to our 7 year old!

 A gathering of 40 people in our small home.

So much love for our oldest boy!

The kids were given the "go-ahead" to make their ice cream sundaes & they instantly mobbed the kitchen!  They were ready!  ;)

 There were 4 babies under the age of 6 months.  I kept hearing one cry out & searching to see if it was Elsa needing me.  :P

 Nursing Mamas

 Ready for gifts!

 Photos of the birthday boy.

 There he is!

 It was fun to see that his gift opening etiquette had improved since last year.  He opened cards first & read them on his own.  He rarely needed to be reminded to say "Thank you."  ;)

 Our neighbors, Lewis & Prescott

 Sweet smiles.

 The Novemberists sticking close.

 I love how the kids gather close to get a good look at each gift.

 Funny candids.  I like Aaron & Elsa's expressions, in particular.  ;)

 Poor Macey bonked her head & had a pretty big goose-egg for the rest of the evening.  :(

I asked Finley what he thought of his party & he said "It was AWESOME!"  Lovely to this Mama's ears.  :)