Inaugural Friendsgiving!

We are thankful for a lot of things this year (as always), but one of the new things we are thankful for is our small group. We met these other three couples and their kids back in February when our church had a small group creation event. It was nerve-racking and scary but we did it and it has been a HUGE blessing to our family. These people are literally some of our best friends in just a few short months. We decided to have our inaugural friendsgiving this year and it was a blast! Seth and I hosted. We put the grown ups (our small group + a neighbor of one of the couples!) inside and the kids in the garage with an indoor/outdoor rug and some heaters. It worked like a charm and we couldn't believe it. The kids were able to be loud, they were warm (actually, it was warmer out there than in our house), and we could eat in peace! :) 

We deep fried the turkey (YUM) and while we did so, we had apps and snuggled the babies! After dinner, the kids watched a movie in the basement and we watched National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (of course!!!). 

We had turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, baked corn, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and rolls. Oh--and lots of desserts (with many, MANY leftovers).

It was such a blast and we can't wait to make this a yearly tradition with these amazing friends!

Thanksgiving by Carter

In case you can't read it, this says "I am thankful for famle (family), fiod (food), God, toyz (toys) and haws (house)." So precious. 

Thanksgiving 2014

This year, we spent Thanksgiving on the Lauver side. With a new "family" now in Bradley and Ashley, we were all miraculously available to be there this day. As strange as it sounds, we got a bunch of little things done around the house the morning of Thanksgiving. The kids were a little "off" (as they tend to be on holidays), but thankfully they shaped up by the time we headed out. (We've since learned this weekend that Addison has an ear infection and is getting two two-year molars, which explains a lot). 

What I'm thankful for: my parents decided to sit at the kids' table in the kitchen to allow us the option to eat in peace. Do you hear the Hallelujah chorus singing too or was that just Michelle, Jason, Seth and I? :)

The kids went a little crazy at first, running all over the house, hiding in the shower and whatnot. I quickly decided that obnoxiously loud but happy is worlds better than miserable!

It snowed the day before Thanksgiving so the kids got a kick out of being able to go sledding. Shockingly, it lasted more than 5 minutes, which is generally the length of time my kids last before they want to come back inside. They made a cute little snowman, too. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent with playing kids, watching football, eating too many desserts, etc. Even Owen got tuckered out. SO CUTE. #tryptophan

We headed home around 7:30 because Seth's parents were coming for the weekend. It was probably one of the chillest Thanksgivings in awhile and thankfully, our nap-less kids were happy (and fell immediately to sleep at 7:30 for a blissfully peaceful ride home)...can we be thankful for that too?

We are incredibly blessed. Some days are really hard and some days are less hard. But at the end of all of them, we've got more than we deserve or need and are surrounded by people we love.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving, too!

We're Alive!

Pretty much every day, I say I am going to jump on and blog and pretty much every day, I decide to just sit and chill when we finally get the kids to bed. Nice on one hand, not-so-nice on the other...mostly when I put my blog into a book for us as a keepsake and I have nothing to speak of our lives for weeks at a time! :)

We're alive--getting through the madness of work the days before a holiday and we are excited to relax (hopefully) and enjoy some downtime Wednesday through the weekend.

Our house is decorated for Christmas really early this year though we are still "respecting the turkey." But, when you find an ounce of spare time with two toddlers, you RUN WITH IT. :)

More to come (with some pics) soon on our trip to Christmas Candylane on Saturday with the kids. As a summary: FREEZING.