Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving visiting family. Mark had to work Thursday and Friday, so the kids and I hung out at home. I grilled out a turkey in the snow(!) and we did lots of playing. We left to visit family late Friday and got in even later (well past the kids' bedtime). Of course they were still up early Saturday so we put all of them (and Mark :)) down for a rest at 10:30 Saturday morning so they could have some down time before family arrived.

And when they arrived, the kids had a blast. They had lots of second cousins to play with and of course lots of food to eat. Once lunch was done, Mark and I took all of the kids (still loving the 12-passenger van) to a playground. We had to laugh when we got out at the playground and watched the other moms' faces when 8 kids got out of our van, ages 13, 13, 8, 7, 7, 6, 5, and 5.

The other adults at my mom's house were quite happy we had rescued them from the swarm of small children. :)

We spent about an hour at the playground before heading back to my mom's house. The cousins had to head home (two of them were in the car three hours each way--just for lunch!) so the kids all said goodbye but are excited about the possibility to see everyone again at Christmas.

I loved getting to meet my 3-month-old niece for the first time. She's a sweetie and the kids adored her--although Alex decided she needed to go home and take a nap when she was crying.

We've paid for the quick trip and the overstimulation of lots of people with some increased negative behaviors with Danielle and Emily. It's unfortunate, but it's going to be quite a while before they're really able to handle a lot of family. Of all the things we have to be thankful for, I am so thankful for our supportive family and their understanding of our need to do things differently for our kids. It sometimes takes a little extra planning, but it helps so much to be able to have them rest, or take breaks, or whatever they need to help them better process and enjoy the holidays. :)