Happy Thanks Day 2013

For Thanksgiving this year we ate at the Rollins.  Before we began with the feast, Mom really wanted to get a big family picture.  So we went in the backyard and had her neighbor take the picture with Paul's really nice camera.  Super easy, super fast and pretty much the best way to do it with this family. :) 

Here are the attempts of getting a picture of all the grandkids.  It was hilarious.

After eating a big turkey dinner, which I must have really enjoyed because I didn't stop eating to take a picture of it, we decorated gingerbread houses.  A Fun tradition and we kind of let the girls do what they wanted with it.  I've given up trying to make it look professional.

I made sure to take a picture of Livi because I always seem to forget to get her in the pictures.

Aivree decorating and sneaking a taste (or a lot of tastes...we all did)

Fortunately this year I had most of Christmas already bought so I didn't have to worry about braving Black Friday shopping.  I did order some things online that were a good deal, but there wasn't anything that I felt like I just had to have, so it was nice to not deal with the madness.

So instead I dealt with the madness at home of bringing out the Christmas decorations.  We were so excited this year to decorate for Christmas!  In fact, we'd already been listening to Christmas music for weeks now.  Maybe the fact that Rob had a job that made the holiday enjoyable was the reason behind our excitement, I'm not sure.  But we just couldn't wait for the season to begin!

The girls decorating the tree.  They wanted blue and red ribbon this year and as usual, I let them be in charge of all the ornaments.  I really enjoy the non stress of it all.

Here's Alivia breaking an ornament...its become a tradition

And of course we have to put lights on the house!  That's a big part of the excitement.  Here's Rob on the roof and the girls looking at him up there.  Luckily we had some nice weather to enjoy for the holiday.

We feel like we have so much to be thankful for this year, although we could honestly say that every year.  But the biggest blessing of this year would be that Rob was able to get a new job that he loves and that provides him the flexibility to spend time with us.  We are so happy with our beautiful family of five and feel beyond grateful.