Happy Chaos

I've been referring to our Thanksgiving as 'happy chaos'. We had a wonderful time with my family. Thanks to Uncle Nick being in Philly the weekend before, Emily & I were able to be there for a whole week (Alasdair came up a few days later) and had a couple quiet days before the big events began. We spent an evening with just my dad & a day with just my mom. Stocked up on winter clothes for Emi. Played with cousin Rosalie. Took advantage of extra hands to hold the baby and went running. Made pretty baby hair clips. Dressed the girls in matching outfits and enjoyed watching Emily start to hold her own in cousins photo shoots.

The night before Thanksgiving, I got a phone call from some of our best friends who just happened to be stuck at Logan Airport & needed a place to stay that night. We were thrilled, since they live in GA & have a 6 week old we hadn't met yet! So, thought there was technically 'no room in the in' (my parents, plus our family of 3 in my old room, Mike's family of 3 in his, a friend of M&B's in Nick's room, and Nick in the den) ... we made up some beds in the rec room and were SO glad to see Dave & Virginia and meet baby Hannah Snow. It was especially fun for us to have Rosalie, Emily & Hannah in the same place, since they are all exactly 4 months apart. Seeing the three of them side by side we were amazed at how close Emily (5.5 mo) looked to Rosalie (9.5 mo) and how BIG she looked next to Hannah (1.5 mo).

Thanksgiving day: the traditional WA high school football game (which we won in dramatic OT fashion!) and dinner with Auntie Cindy, Uncle Jim, Stephen & Amanda. That night we took a quick jaunt out to Sunny Hill to be with my dad's entire side of the family for a complete family photo with all the new spouses & babies. (Of course the photo wasn't entirely complete - we missed Grampy a lot... but know he watched & took great joy in the occasion.)
Friday after Thanksgiving: the annual church soccer game, always a blast. M&B and A&I were all able to play thanks to the babysitting services of my mom & Uncle Nick. The Ware family came back to our house for pulled pork sandwiches & Nertz. Brief but nice visit from my cousin Dianna & her boyfriend Kevin.
Saturday: Surprise 80th birthday brunch for Granny Ware. More family time. :)

Then, a little bit of relaxing and Emily's first visit to the church I grew up in, and we headed for home first thing Monday morning. A very full and very lovely Thanksgiving.