Happy Thanksgiving!

So many wonderful things to be thankful for, but on this particular day I was thankful for this picture.  We got all five kids to look "in the direction" of the camera AND smile!!!  We spent Thanksgiving at Uncle Brian and Aunt Linzy's house, where the kids ran around and played non-stop!  Another reason this photo is a miracle.  G-ma and G-pa C (or as Gavin would say "Papa Jim and his friend Grandma") came in town to help celebrate.  The food was great and the kids had a blast, but the evening ended with Dan not feeling so well. :(

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went out to G-ma and G-pa Fritz's house for a second Thanksgiving.  The weather was beautiful and got up into the 60's!  So I took the opportunity to take what I hoped would be descent pictures for our christmas cards this year.

Ava was all over the idea of a photo shoot.  She must have struck a hundred poses, most of which I could never put on a card. :)  

I did appreciate her effort though…with each child the effort I received dwindled.  Most of Ava's pictures just make me realize how big she's getting!  (Bittersweet)

Ella didn't mind the photo session and gave some of the sweetest smiles.  

She got bored quickly though and wanted something to pose with…Zoe worked well.

Speaking of Ella…we took a quick family trip to Dick's Sporting Goods last week to try and find some ski googles for her "in case" Dan takes the girls skiing this year, and Ella was a big fan of Dick's.  When asked where we were going I said to Dick's. Upon arriving to Dick's Ella asked "what is Dick's" to which I responded "it's just the name of the store".  She then proceeded to walk through the parking lot and store singing "I like dicks, fun dicks, silly dicks, big dicks and little dicks".  I silenced her very quickly and I don't think anyone heard, but she could not understand why she couldn't sing about the store?  I told her it's hard to explain but she'll understand when she's older and surprisingly, she left it at that….Thank God!  Anyway, back to Thanksgiving #2/photo shoot.  The girls did great and I got some pretty good shots.

Then it was Gavin's turn.  This picture…yeah, super cute…NOT easy!!!

This is more of what I get when I ask Gavin to let me take a picture of him, or smile, or pose or stand still!?

He is very into "pretend" ninja fighting.  He poses, makes the face, has sound effects but doesn't usually touch or hit anything…yet…luckily!

He is NOT shy and usually makes friends with anyone and everyone around.  Within minutes he is asking them for their mother's name, last name, middle name, first name, dad's name and so on.  The obsession has kind of shifted from garage doors to knowing all the names in everyone's family.  Quite a task for a 3 year old, but he's up for it and giving it his best effort.  He will still take anyone up on an offer to play with a garage door, but we can finally go for a drive without hearing "door up, door up, door down, door down, door up, door down, TWO DOORS MOM THEY HAVE TWO GARAGE DOORS, door up, door down, NO DOOR MOM THEY NO HAVE GARAGE DOOR!"  Not kidding, it was funny for awhile, but got old after about two months.

There's also this Gavin…. he starts getting upset when "he's" done having his photo taken and wants to go play.  He can give one of the saddest faces (this one is nothing compared to what I've seen) and unfortunately, it usually works on me.

He has to be able to melt my heart because he is more work than I can handle sometimes.  He fights me on almost everything, on purpose, but he kisses me good night and tells me I'm his sweetheart.  He tells me he missed me so much while he is at school, he loves me so much and just yesterday I got to hear that I am his best friend.  He has the biggest wildest heart…I love it!!

That was the end of the photo session.  I lost Ava to Fiona, lost Ella to Zoe and junk food, and lost Gavin to his "car".  He was headed to work.  We talked the other day about his "work" and he said "Mommy, when me get big me be a daddy and me go to work and drink wine".  Gotta hand it to him, he is quite observant! ;)

Poor Penny wasn't feeling well along with Aunt Courtney.  As peaceful as she seems here, it was the only nap she took that day without being held.  I'm happy to report after a long nasty cold she is all better now!

If you've found yourself out at G-ma and G-pa F's house wishing there was something to do other than swim, jump or zip line, I have your answer.  While it's technically Uncle Brad's, there was a slack line (tight rope) to try on our last visit. Ava was very determined to walk the line "with no help".  She did really well and while I didn't try it myself, I was told it's a lot harder than it looks.

Ella got some help from Uncle Chris.  She could NOT stop leaning forward, which was not helping her balance.  Ella only tried it two or three times then threw in the towel.  We need to work on balance!!

Gavin got the concept a little better, but he too struggled to stay balanced.  Grandpa did what he could, but Gavin lost interest quickly.  So far, Ava is the slack line champion.

 Our visit lasted all day and there was plenty of fun and great food!  The kids of course preferred the desserts! It's hard to believe that Christmas is less than a month away.  Let the holiday craze begin!!