Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Sunday rather than actual Thanksgiving Day. Lady was staying at our house from when she was here for Kate's birthday and we didn't want to make her and Paw-Paw be away from each other on Thanksgiving so we moved it up so she could go home a couple days early to celebrate Thanksgiving with Paw-Paw and Grandma. It worked out nicely for us because Steve deploys Monday so we are able to have some down time from the holidays before he leaves.

He broke out his ugly Christmas sweater for the occasion since he won't be around to wear it for Christmas.

 Laura and Lady.

 Nate, Kate and Reagan.

 Shelly, Lady, Steve and Laura.

Last week Kathryn had her Thanksgiving program at school. Lady got to see it this year. It was so cute!   I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to get her to take her bathing suit off before school that morning, but she compromised and only left the top on.

She's front and center.

Daddy with his little Indian girl.

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

Roasting Marshmallows

We got together with some friends for a cookout and roasted marshmallows. Kathryn loved it!

Bragging Rights

While we were in Georgia we were finally able to compete in the family race around the house. Nate has been planning this since July and it finally happened.

I don't have any pictures of the race, but I'll give a spoiler. Nate won. Kicked all our butts. I'll upload pictures after I get them from Paw-Paw.

Georgia for Joe

I blame Instagram for my lack of blogging lately. I am going to at least try to catch up from the month of November. Here it goes…

We started the month off driving up to Georgia to meet up with Uncle Joe and family while he was on his R&R. Nate wanted to get there as early as possible, so I agreed to leave at 5 a.m. Of course, things never go as planned and that morning I loaded up the car and buckled the kids in just to have it not start. Steve was TDY (as usual) so I had been driving his car around for the week because I cleaned my car and I didn't want it to get messy before we left for our trip. I hate starting out with a messy car. Luckily my friend lives down the street so the kids and I ran down to her house and drove her car back and I jumped it off. We ended up leaving an hour later than planned. (***I couldn't get to the battery in Steve's car because it's under the trunk space and Steve had the full size spare tire just sitting in the trunk.)

It was a quick trip, but if Nate ever found out Uncle Joe and family were in Georgia and I didn't take him during the year long deployment I would never hear the end of it.

 During Jessica and Allison's naps the kids played outside with Paw-Paw and Lady.

All Nate could talk about was how cute Allison is. I think he was still expecting her to be a little baby. The last time we saw them was at Kathryn's birthday party last year.

 He's right. She is just so cute.

 Unbelievable cute!

She crawled up on the dining room table and helped herself to some cheese puffs while dressed as a gorilla. Hilarious!

The Korey family came for a visit. Andrew amazed us with his super powers.

 We took a picture of Grandma with all six of her great grandchildren too.

 We had dinner to celebrate Kate and Allison's birthdays.

 It was quite the turnout for these little girls.

 Turning four years old!

 Making a wish.

Paw-Paw and Allison had some serious coloring time.

 Winding down for the night.

 Kathryn dressed in her after Halloween discount costume putting lipstick on Lady.

 Cousin huddle.

Boomba's Birthday Bash

November is almost over and I haven't even done a post so far this month. I'm going to jump to what's important and go back and fill in afterwards. I can't wait to share the excitement of Kate's birthday party. It was another hit. We had 21 kids + parents and the party was perfect! She asked for a Daisy Duck party, so a Daisy Duck party is what she got! The bounce house has Daisy Duck on the corner. It's hard to find anything just Daisy Duck.

She was out playing in the bounce house by 8 a.m.

She was exhausted before the party even started at noon.

Birthday balloons.

Nate was out there playing bright and early too, but he wasn't anywhere near being tired. He even had a friend over Friday night to bounce with him after we picked up the bounce house.

Some of Nate and Kate's B-1 friends.

We had hotdogs on the rollers. They are so good. There is something about rolling hotdogs that makes them delicious.

Friends gathered around.

Nate and friends.

 They look worn out!

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Kathryn was certain she wanted a piñata at her party. This was one of my favorite parts. It was so funny to watch these kids go up there and whack it as hard as they could. Birthday girl got the first turn.

Here goes Ray-Ray (Reagan) taking her turn.

 Paw-Paw got a picture of every child taking their turn. Here's a sample of a few of the kids. Libby.

 Colton.

Alan.

Here goes Nate Dogg.

We gave the big kids their turns last. They busted it open for the little ones.

Hannah.

 Claire.

They all rushed the candy pile.

They're so serious about the candy!

There's the lucky birthday girl!

Gifts and cupcakes. (I baked the cupcakes, but my friend who makes cakes frosted them for me to make them look pretty.)

 

We sang Happy Birthday to Kate and enjoyed these yummy cupcakes.

 My baby girl and her four candles.

Nate and Boomba.

Getting ready to dig in.

We made sure it was a peanut free party for Nate and Kate's friend, Claire. It looks like she was happy!

All lined up enjoying cupcakes.

Kate's friends Sophia and Libby.

 More bounce house fun.

 Nate and his friend Hannah enjoying bossing the younger kids around in the bounce house.

 This sleepy little princess needed a moment on Paw-Paw's lap.

 Sophia, Libby and Rachel.

 Present time!

 She got so many gifts I don't know what I'm going to do with all of them.

I didn't think we were ever going to get to the bottom of the pile!

 She has been opening a new toy every waking hour since Sunday morning!

 She was definitely happy with her party!

 All the kids loved this gift and they rushed her as she was opening it.

 Looking more and more worn out.

 A few more minutes of bouncing before it was time to go home.

She thanked all her friends for coming and celebrating her birthday with her.

Another party, another year older! She needs to stop right there! She's getting too big! Happy Birthday, Boomba, my baby girl!