Thanksgiving 2014- part 2

Thanksgiving morning was great- we read the paper (sales fliers mostly of course) and watched the Macy's Day Parade together. Perfect. But, them it was time to get going for the big surprise...

We had about an hour and a half drive and along the way, Brian kept telling Tate that he hoped he wouldn't be too bored at Nick's aunts house. I threw in there that the only cousins would all be teenagers. Tate was a little apprehensive, but still walked right up to the door and rang the doorbell first. 

Little did he know that on the other side of the door was Nick- and all his family members waiting to see the big surprise! (Nick knew...) 

I was texting with Sara along the way, so she knew exactly when we would be arriving. The family was outside playing football, but she rushed them all in before we pulled up!

Ding dong! Look at Tate's smile-

"Hi Nick."

A big hug-

And that was it! They were off, like it was no big deal and no time had passed! (We hadn't seen Nick since August. But we talk about him A LOT!)

Sara's awesome in-laws were so gracious to invite us to spend Thanksgiving day with them- 

All the kids/cousins- not a teenager in sight!

Leadbetter/McCullough reunion. We hadn't all ever been together, as Sara was pregnant with Drew when we left Germany in 2011, then they came to Cali in 2012, but without Shane. I saw them all in 2013 and 2014, but each time I visited without Brian. Brian and Chris had a guys trip in 2013 and all us adults went on a trip together in 2014, but no kids. SO here we all are-

Tate was so very excited when I told him that the fun would continue and all the Leadbetters were staying with us for the weekend! Two peas in a pod at bedtime-

Macy managed to convince Shane to sleep in her room the first night-

But the second night, he wanted to be with the boys, so he followed him in there for a slumber party-

She just wants to be his BFF! Who can blame her?

Friday morning Nick came up wearing the shirt that we got him for his Bday, from DC. Tate thought that was very cool and was thrilled when I tossed one at him and told him to go get changed so they could be twins!

Friday the dads took all 5 kids to the movies to see Big Hero 6, which they all loved. Meanwhile, Sara and I went out to knock out some Black Friday Christmas shopping! We did great. Then we switched with the guys, put the kids down for naps/reading time and the dads went out to grab a beer and watch some football. Score for us all.

Friday night we enjoyed a ton of Thanksgiving leftovers- YES! And then had the Robert's over for drinks and dessert. We were all stationed together in Germany, and now the Robert's are here with us.

Amy, me & Sara-

Brian, Chris & Rick-

I love our house mostly for the basement! It was so awesome to have all the kids downstairs watching a movie while we adults got to have kid free time upstairs!

Saturday morning we unfortunately had to say goodbye to our beloved Leadbetter family, but our hearts were warmed and our souls were filled with their quick visit!

That afternoon we took our minds off being sad buy organizing and purging toys... Brian was such a trooper to help and me the kids were awesome about it. We organized all the Playmobil, with the billions of teeny, tiny parts. Here is the farm, for example-

It even has tiny horse poop!

And we purged. I was most sad about getting rid of the play kitchen! I remember the day I bought that for Tate, when he was about 18 months old. We got our moneys worth, for sure.