Oh, So Thankful!

I am writing this the week after Thanksgiving and I am having a bummer week. So, I probably don't have the right excitement level but I'll do my best. Thanksgiving rocked and we had a fantastic time relaxing and enjoying family time at Cousin Robin's house. Everyone was there together and it was great!

Thanksgiving morning Cody, Khan and some of the kids headed out for a Turkey Trot.

Kegan was super excited as you can tell!

Morgan and William didn't want to go but Pepper was excited to run.
As you can tell by this picture.

This is more like it. Look at that girl go!

While they were racing the rest of us were hanging out, cooking yummy food and running errands.

Ali, Cris and Pepper having some snacks.

Joanna took Robin to Walgreens to give her a crash course in couponing. Robin was very proud of her haul.

Hazel was a big hit with everyone but Antonio was her special buddy.

My boys hanging out and looking handsome!

Karissa and Ali being goofy as usual.

Yay for Cris! Go Edison!

Seems Hazel wants to take after her sister with trying to steal soda. All weekend every time I turned around Pepper was trying to steal drinks out of someone's soda can. Who knows how much caffiene that girl had.

Best buddies.

This is how we hang out now. Everyone in the same room but on their own devices.

Caught in the act.

Can you tell how Karissa kept herself entertained while the adults were out shopping?

Time to eat!

An after meal and nap snuggle.
Little Hazel is really the best snuggler.

We love this couple! They are crazy and fun and such great hosts.

We were very happy to spend time with these two lovely people as well!
We are so thankful to live close to everyone. Such great memories.

Robin, Pepper and Chip. This is not an optical illusion, Chip is really that tall, 6'9''.

Still on their devices, despite Aaron's best efforts to distract them.

After dinner, we all spent a lot of time doing nothing but hanging out and planning some shopping trips. Robin and Cris's friend, Chip, hung out with us most of the weekend and we all had a great time. Pepper especially loved Chip once he picked her up by her feet and swung her around. To truly understand how awesome this is you have to remember how tall Chip is. Here's a video (sorry for the quality it was from my phone) to show the awesomness:

I am thankful for this face!

And I am thankful for moments like this!

Thursday night, most everyone headed out for early Black Friday shopping. Cody and I stayed home and put the little ones to bed and cleaned up. Then we played some games and had a nice quiet evening with Aaron and Antonio. We were both very grateful that we stayed home and did not go shopping with all the crazy people. Khan left the house at around 9 pm and returned home the next morning around 10am. Crazy!

Friday late morning, Robin, Joanna and I headed out for a girls day out. We did some Black Friday shopping at Joann Fabrics and then had lunch. It was so great to be able to spend some time with them and catch up. I am very thankful for those two amazing women and am so glad that I married into their wonderful family (I guess Joanna married in too, but she got there first so I guess it qualifies as her family too:)). I am a lucky lady!

On Friday afternoon, Ali wanted me to dip dye her hair in Kool-Aid. We did purple on Ali first and it didn't work because her hair is too dark. Andie and Pepper both started lobbying to get their hair done so Robin and I caved.
Pepper picked purple as well.

Andie picked blue.

Not the best pic but it turned out really well and is very fun. I was kind of hoping if I washed it that night it would mostly wash out. That didn't happen but luckily it is pretty rockin so I don't mind too much. Pepper loves it and can't wait to show everyone her purple hair.

Ali take 2. This time we tried red and it worked well.

We had put Andie's hair in a ponytail before dipping it, just like I did with Pepper. Turns out that is not a good idea with straight hair. It is super dark and still fun albeit a little crooked.

Cody makes fun of this turtleneck every time Hazel wears it. He says she looks like a swinger from the 60s. I think she's cute no matter what her outfit is!

All the kids had fun playing with Hazel and everyone was trying to get her to walk. We are pretty sure she took one step but we didn't document it nor could we get her to do it again.

Saturday morning we just relaxed and hung out, played some more games and got ready to head home.

Someone may have been getting loved on a little TOO much.

Pepper's self portrait.

To sum up this fantastic weekend, we ate LOTS of yummy food, played tons of super fun games (Wits & Wagers, buy it, trust me,) did some bargain shopping and generally had a wonderful time. We are all looking forward to going back for some more relaxing time after Christmas. The kids ask everyday when we're going back to Robin's house. Soon kids, very soon.