Thanksgiving-Two weeks late

We had a great Thanksgiving with my family this year. Three of my sisters were there, which was so nice! We missed Melanie and her family along with Camille! I hadn't seen two of my sisters since June, so it was nice to be reunited again. Halle was so excited to see and play with her cousin, Burton, and I was excited for Ryan to see Brooke. Ryan and Brooke are only 12 days apart, but Ryan is so much bigger than she is! I guess that is the difference between boys and girls. She is such a sweet, petite girl. She is also walking around everywhere and I hoped that Ryan would pick up on that, but sadly that didn't happen. He is now 16 months and still not walking! Everyone says I should be happy because then he will really be into everything, but it would be nice to be able to put him down and have him walk instead of crawling everywhere or holding him. He is getting pretty heavy! Someday. Anyway, here they are playing on the couch together.

Halle and Burton sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner. We had my immediate family, my Uncle David's family, as well as the missionaries for Thanksgiving this year.
Ryan and Daddy. Ryan needs a haircut so bad! One of these days we'll buckle down and do it.
My Dad and Uncle David. Major points if you can tell them apart (sisters don't count). Halle always calls my Uncle David, "Grandpa." It is confusing for a four year old! :)
The Food! My Mom always makes her 12 layer jello and crescent rolls. Olga salad( a rice salad) is also a family favorite. Everything was delicious as always.
So, usually we buy our pies from Marie Callendars, but this year we thought it would be fun to all make a different kind of pie. Amelia actually made two, so we had seven different kinds to choose from. I made everyone take a picture with their pie. Haha, they are such good sports.
Amelia: chocolate coconut and pecan.

Megan: mini oreo cheesecakes.

Katherine: Apple. This was my very first time making a pie. I got the recipe off of My Sister's Cafe blog, which turned out really good! Amelia helped me with the lattice. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be.
My mom: Chocolate cream.
Chris: He felt left out, so we let him hold the Pumpkin Pie from Costco. :)
Melissa and Greg made a Razzleberry pie, but I guess all of the tryptophan in the turkey made them too sleepy to take a picture, so we took the pie to them and snapped a picture anyway. That nap probably came in handy as my sisters, mom, and I then went Black Friday shopping that night. We wanted to hit up Toys R Us and Target. Little did we know how crazy it would be! We put the kids to bed and pulled into Toys R Us at 10:00 PM. They opened at 9:00 and for some reason thought we would be able to walk right in. Boy were we wrong! There was a huge line wrapping around the store just to get in! Usually I would have just driven right back out, but for some reason we got into the line and waited an hour and a half just to get into the store. Melissa and Megan peeled off and decided to wait outside of Target for it to open at midnight. It was crazy, but still fun! I was able to have some sister time, which is always nice! I climbed into bed after 3 AM! We got some good deals, but I think this was my last year of Black Friday shopping. It is just too crazy!!

We also went to a pizza buffet/arcade one night while we were there. The kids always love it and I think the adults do too! They have a bunch of different kinds of pizza to choose from including macaroni and cheese and peanut butter pizza, as well as salad, pasta, and a variety of bread and desserts. The kids love all of the games and rides.

Notice Ryan with a cookie in each hand. This kid LOVES chocolate chip cookies.
They had this roller coaster ride, which Halle and Burton really liked. You wouldn't be able to tell from their faces, but they loved it! It is a virtual roller coaster where you watch a screen, your chair shakes, and air blows on you at different points during the ride. They were hilarious to watch! They were holding on for dear life!

We had a great time filled with food, family, and shopping! A perfect combination in my opinion. It always goes by way too fast, but we had an awesome time! Thanks Mom and Dad for everything! We'll look forward to next time. Now onto the Christmas season!