family thanksgiving

We had such fun this Thanksgiving celebrating with my sister and her crew, my parents, and of course Claire and Cynthia. It's such a special time for us to be together because we also have three birthdays to celebrate. My niece Abigail, my nephew Elijah, and my dad all have birthdays right at and around Thanksgiving. This year, we had the pleasure of hosting. It really was wonderful. I'm not going to lie, hosting 17 people, 11 of which stayed at our house, 7 of them being children 11 and younger, is a bit daunting. But thankfully my family is quite laid back and also very happy to pitch in quite a bit. And it didn't hurt that Natalie hosted Adeline and Hayes at her house for three days prior so that I could do all the cooking, cleaning, and grocery shopping (oh my goodness, the grocery shopping!) that was required. By the time everyone arrived, I felt fully prepared so that we could spend as much time as possible just enjoying each others company.

As happens many, many times when we all get together, I just don't get my camera out as much as I'd like. There is so much hustle and bustle that I just don't feel like I can step back and take pictures. For goodness sake, there are 10 children running around that need to be fed and tended to. :) But I did take the camera with me as we headed to the school track across the street. The kids ran, rode bikes, kicked balls, flew kites, rode scooters, and generally exhausted themselves in the wide open field. A much more suitable place than the living room, indeed.

{This is "miracle" (our nickname for him). If you knew his story you would be amazed.}

{Being on two wheels is exhilarating.}

{How old would you guess Abigail is? I'm betting very few people would guess eight. Which is how old she turned just 4 days after Thanksgiving. If I didn't know her I would have guessed 12.}

{Sai-Sai. His feet never touch the ground.}

{The famous Aunt Natalie, and her better half Uncle Mike in the distance.}

{Did I mention they ran?}

{... and ran, and ran, and ran...}

{Sweet big sis}

{...and more running.}

{They are twins. I love that in this moment they are so close, so sweet...}

{... and the next moment they are fighting. Sometimes that's just the way it goes when you are that close with someone.}

{Working off more energy}

{He's obviously a very talented kite flyer.}