Being Thankful

Last weekend we loaded up the car and headed down to grandma's for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I had debated making this trip two weeks ago by myself but was snowed out - plus its always much more fun when James can join us.  It's a long trip with the kiddos, especially since Catherine isn't the car sleeper that Matthew was and Matthew talks/sings/whines all.the.time.  While I was able/willing to do it with just Matthew, adding Catherine somehow quadruples the distractions and toy handing and soothing and snack management so having help dividing the driving/kid management labor is nice, and gave me the chance to catch this beautiful sunset:

 Besides the weather risks of traveling in fall/winter, it's also tough because it gets dark sooo early and makes the trip feel longer than it was.  We actually made good time but when we stopped for dinner at 6p, it felt closer to midnight for us, though the kids were as wild as ever.

 We got in, tucked the kids in bed and work up the next morning for turkey pumpkin pancakes

 baking pies

 And some short walks

 and chats with Catherine:

 We then headed over to my aunt and uncle's house for a delicious meal.  Catherine was pretty amped up afterward!

 We ended the evening with watching some Charlie Brown goodness:

 While Catherine crawled away for a quick cat, errrr, dog nap.

 The kids were pretty into Charlie Brown and wouldn't look toward the camera for anything:

The rest of the weekend was filled with leftovers, football, stories:

 And a quick trip to the Children's Museum when the kids were about to drive all of us batty:

 Catherine mastered the slide all by herself:

 And Matthew LOVED the phosphorus wall:

 He tried making a buffalo shadow:

 And as we would later discover a chimpanzee (he stood at the wall and giggled and wiggled but we couldn't figure out what he was doing until he explained that night):

The kids took some time to fight wildfires:

And Catherine some time for daddy cuddles:

One last attempt at a picture with both kids before we left:

I wish we'd gotten around to see more family and friends but there's something nice about settling in for the weekend, and the kiddos do better with it.  I'm always so thankful for any time we get with grandma and sure do miss living just down the road where I could pop in and visit more often. Our trip back was thankfully uneventful even as the weather threatened to turn on us.  Now we're enjoying a week to readjust before the "Christmas season" gets into full swing.