Our November Nutshell

We had a pretty low-key November this year... I didn't take very many pictures at all!  Shocking, I know, but it was a conscious decision on my part- since we do a lot of the same things over and over, and I don't want to ever be a slave to getting that perfect shot at the expense of just being present with my children, I have been making a point to not always bring my camera.  I mean, I still bring my camera most of the time, but now rather than automatically grabbing my camera I take the time to consider the pros of bringing it vs the pros of leaving it home, trying to leave it home if I don't feel it's entirely necessary... to me documenting my kids' childhood is always entirely necessary, but not as necessary as making the most of every moment.

But I do have some photos from November to share with you!

First, a video of one of the games that entertained the boys on one of our low-key November days... note the volume of toys that were all over  the place!

Second, to further illustrate the low-key-ness of our November, a few shots of my boys chillaxing around the house:

 

 

And from Jack's preschool Thanksgiving celebration... my handsome little pilgrims!

 

On Thanksgiving day the four of us headed over to the nursing home to visit Dave's mom.  The boys are so good when we visit her- they both get excited to see grandma Han!  They especially enjoy "being gentlemen" and helping daddy push her wheelchair.

 

After visiting grandma Han we headed over to my Aunt June's house to celebrate with our extended family.  Sam got a nice nap, both of the boys had a great time pretending to ride my cousin's motorcycles, and we got a nice family picture as well as a nice picture of my parents and their three grandsons!  We had a really nice Thanksgiving :)

 

 

 

Being Thankful

This year we went to my mom's house to celebrate Thanksgiving with the usual crew (extended family on my mom's side).  This year has been amazing... I know that every year I always say that I have so much to be thankful for, but every year it is true!  And this year, we had a huge reason to be thankful...

This year was Sam's first Thanksgiving, and he definitely had a great one!  We were surrounded by family, and though he was a little (okay, a LOT) overwhelmed by the number of people that were there, he really enjoyed clinging to his mama and eating his first Thanksgiving dinner!  He was making the transition to table foods at that time and he did great eating bits of a few of the dishes in addition to the purees I had made for him.  

Jack had a blast, too!  Grandma had recently redone her scrapbooking room to turn it into a scrapbook/toy room and had also bought a new train track for her house... guess where Jack was the whole time!

Some more photos from that day:

Just before bedtime that night, Jack tripped and fell (no surprise there!) and ended up with his face on the tray of the easel.  He was okay, but he was sad so I gave in when he insisted that he needed a bandaid.  I tried very hard not to crack up at him when I saw where he wanted me to put the bandaid!  Doesn't he look so heartbreakingly hilarious?!

Don't worry, I was properly sympathetic and held off most of my giggles until after he had gone to bed!

 

Thanksgiving

This was the first year that Dave had Thanksgiving off in a very long time! We've had a lot going on this year, but overall it is still so easy to see how much we are blessed. Having Dave home was just icing on the cake this year, as we have so much to be thankful for! So much, in fact, that I'm not even going to try to list them here ;)

Dave was working the day before, so on his way home that morning he stopped to pick up his mom on the way home and the four of us (well, including Sam, the five of us!) went out for a yummy Thanksgiving breakfast at The Original Pancake House- one of my favorite places! Not very Thanksgiving-y, but I adore breakfast foods, so I was thankful! Jack Jack was thankful, too... he loves his Grandma Han and was very excited that she was with us. And he got to eat pancakes! When we were on our way home, Jack was a little concerned that going home meant that Thanksgiving was over, but we assured him that we still had a lot of fun planned for the day. He asked if Grandma Han could stay and play with him for a little bit, and was very excited when we told him yes! He had a lot of fun with her, and Dave and I were very pleased to see how happy Jack made her.

I was so pleased to get such a nice picture of the two of them both smiling! It's going up in Jack's room (once we get our act together and start putting his Big Boy room together), and she's getting one as part of her Christmas present. Don't tell her!

After Jack and Grandma Han got to play together, we took her home and then headed over to my aunt's house for a Thanksgiving feast! Jack was also very excited about that. He loves to go to Nana's house(he calls her Nana because that's what her grandkids- his cousins- call her), and he was very excited that we were going to get to "eat Thanksgiving"! He was having so much fun, that he cried when it was time to go home! Poor kid!

Yes, I always look this tired. Yes, I am as tired as I look. Yes, I'm pretty blessed to have such a handsome and sexy husband who tells me I look beautiful even though I know otherwise.


Jack's favorite part of Thanksgiving- playing with grandpa!


Jack's other favorite part of Thanksgiving- holding baby Luke!


And just for fun, here is me at 27 weeks pregnant.

I hope your Thanksgiving was a great as ours was!