Thanksgiving 2013

Thanksgiving started early for Lauren & Lindsay again this year. On Sunday, 11/24, Mimi & Pap drove 1/2 way & Chris drove the other half, and they ended up in Ohio that night! Here they are in the car...

That night at Aunt Ashley & Uncle Donnie's house

Panera bread with Mimi... love their cookies!

And this was Monday night... playing book-store :)

They had lunch with Elle at school

Tuesday night at the Mexican restaurant... a favorite, El Barzone.

And Wednesday night, we arrived! The little two spent countless hours at this craft table :)

Thursday, 11/28/13

The 10K Turkey Troy in Cincinnati! Such a beautiful morning for a run, and a gorgeous setting!

Beth (Flemming) Patrick & Carrie (Spruance), classmates of Donnie & Ashley...

Beth married Jason Patrick, from my class, and I haven't seen him or her in YEARS! So it was very cool to spend time with them on the car ride down and during the run.

And Carrie married Jeff Judd, Donnie & Ashley's classmate :)

Here Jeff & I are trying to rub it in to Donnie that I'm his new BFF ;) Donnie just loves it when I come into town ;) so much so, that he complains to all of his friends.. they give him a lot of grief for it :D

So starting out, it was COLD. I'm not used to standing and waiting to start. My toes were numb, that's how cold I was :) but after mile 2, everything warmed up. And it was SO COOL to run across 3 bridges, downtown Cincinnati... and we were a herd of people! I could not get over how many people there were...Jeff snapped this picture for me. I was missing Maggie & Maria and wanted to share the experience with them.

We finished, it actually was 6.3 miles and quickly headed towards the van to warm up and have our post-run-beer that Jason so lovingly packed for all of us!

While I was gone, this was what I missed :)

Luckily, we didn't have Thanksgiving until 5pm that night. Which btw, I loved. It was nice to end the day with the celebration, rather than having it in the middle. Mimi wanted a Christmas card pic, so we tried our best... was a bit too windy & chilly to try outside.

This is what we got for our family... no one was really into it except the big girls and myself ;)

LeaAnn made herself at home, right in front of the food :)

Great Aunt Lori taught her how to put the black olives on her fingers, and pop them right off!

The carvers...

The cooks...

The observers with the wine! ;)

We had an amazing feast as usual!

Complete with pie :)

and shades ;)

and foot-massages...

and rough-housing of course!

Pap started it ... and antagonized them! Imagine that ;)

Love, love, love!

Great Aunt Jayne got in on the action, and chased them all down the hall!

We had such a nice time!

Not sure if this is Friday or not? But a good synopsis of the entire week... cousin play :)

We saw the movie, Frozen on Friday... SO good. I put it right up there with Tangled, Princess and the Frog and the Little Mermaid. LOVE IT!

And Olaf is the best!

Saturday I did a little shopping and Mimi & Chris took the girls to the park b/c it was nice outside!

And I'm pretty sure this is Friday night, a little out of order? But regarless, really pretty pictures.

love LeaAnn's march...

I know this is Saturday night :) we went to Cassano's for pizza, before heading to Niederman farms..

This is an example, a fraction of what LeaAnn does in the car. She talks, she sings... she does whatever aside from keep quiet or watch any sort of movie :)

We went to Niederman's farm last year too... so neat. The entire Bible's story told in a mile-long square and decorated with Christmas lights...

And at the end they have hot chocolate and cookies for everyone. And this year we were there just in time to see a Juggler for Christ. He was SO good! Kids got to be in on the action and everything :)

That night, the kids did not want the fun to end, so the Koontz kids got to play for a while. Lydia decorated King Dad with his crown, and took his hat and put it on me :) A wonderful way to end a fabulous Thanksgiving in Ohio! Thanks for everything Mimi & Pap!