Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year.... I forgot my camera, but Teresa took a family picture of us....so it's all I've got!

On Sunday, Matt, Nolan, and Natalie went down to his parents. Nathan and I stayed at home until Tuesday when we too went to Steve and Teresa's house. Matt went earlier than me for a couple reasons....he wanted to go hunting with his dad, and I wanted to stay and do some Christmas shopping. It worked out great for us. Matt said the kids did well on the way down with him, and were both very excited to see Mom-o and Pops. I was a little concerned about travelling with Nathan (just because in the past, he would cry for nearly an hour of the ride). However, he was perfect this time! He slept for about an hour, and then was awake...sucking his thumb and playing with a toy for the other 2 hours! I was so relieved!

Tuesday evening, I took Nolan over to Jason & Kim's house so that Nolan could play with Judson. They had a blast of course! Kim even saved some clothes for Nolan to put into the dryer. The boys were playing in Judson's playroom, and then marched downstairs playing "instruments" for us to hear! It was a little loud, but so funny.

On Wednesday, we went to my grandparents' house. It was a nice day, so Poppy and Matt got the lawn tractors out and took Nolan & Natalie for rides. Poor little Nathan was so tired, and out of his element. He would hardly let me put him down (this went on for the 4 days that we were away from home). As soon as we were getting ready to leave, Granny had rocked Nathan to sleep...what horrible parents we were to grab our sleeping baby just to put him in the van again!

Thursday, we went to my other grandparents' house. We got to visit with Jason and Kim again and Les was there too with his baby. We had a nice time with all the kids together. Of course Judson and Nolan were playing hard and Natalie was following them around trying to figure out if she could fit in with these boys! The babies (Nathan and Joseph) were very good. Though Nathan, again very tired and out of his element, had his fussy moments, and wanted to be held a lot! But little Joseph was an absolute angel! I never heard him fuss at all, and he was so content that he fell asleep in Mom-maw's arms. Next, we headed to Matt's parents for another dinner. The kids continued to be very well-behaved considering how tired everyone was. Nathan was showing his tiredness the most, and I thought my arms were going to fall off from holding him so much. But with so much family around, he was passed around quite a bit. When our niece Hannah got him, he was extremely content. She rocked him in a chair, and he fell asleep briefly. When he woke up, he continued to sit on her lap, sucking his thumb....just as happy as he could be.

Friday, Matt and his dad went hunting again. They came back at about noon, and I shortly afterwards, loaded up Natalie and Nathan so we could head back home. Matt and Nolan stayed Friday night so that Matt could go to Saint Albans' football game. The kids were very behaved in the van. They both slept for a little over an hour. When they woke up, Natalie was fussy, so I stopped at a rest area. We went to the bathroom, and then directly back to the van...but just this little bit of "stretching" helped calm Natalie down...thank goodness! The kids were happy to be home. Nathan went to bed at 5:30 last night, and got up this morning at 7:15. Natalie went to bed around 6:30 and awoke at 8:30 this morning. So needless to say, the kids are trying to catch up on some sleep!