{full house}

All this week I have been telling the children...only 1 more week to break. well come to find out there are actually two weeks & I am bummed. The week of thanksgiving break was so nice that I am anxious for more alarm clock free mornings & relaxing evenings. Thanksgiving is such a tease in that way. This thanksgiving had a lot of exciting build up. We hosted my parents, brother, sister in law & baby Norah and Rod was coming home for the holiday too. The house was going to be full & I was ready for every second of it. Except in my readiness I somewhere forgot that my children are just that, Children. They are busy, destructive, loud & sometimes in their moments of distress they are very overwhelming. I am used to it. Immune even, & to an extent I think my Mom & Dad are too. But, poor Brad & his little family! Norah joins right in & calls after the kids. Its a dream. But the look on Brads face when all mine are being not their best is equal parts hilarious & stressful. For one reason or another my children chose Thanksgiving day to be a good day to be crazy or grumpy. Everyone was feeling it so Rod, My Mom & I took all 6 kids to the neighborhood playground to play off some energy & soak in the beautiful weather. It did the trick. We all felt much more relaxed after our run through the field & trips down the slide. My favorite part of the dinner was my fathers prayer. I remember clearly my grandfather offering the holiday dinner prayers...actually all family dinners. There is something about having the head of the family speaking from the heart allowed, sharing their testimony in some way, speaking of gratitude & asking for blessings. Its comforting to me. other highlights were homemade pumpkin spice donuts & the Macy's day parade, making centerpieces with the boys, play dough, christmas songs, & the biggest high light was Cooper's 2nd birthday! I cannot even believe it! Its so strange not having a tiny baby as one turns 2. Cooper is hilarious! He speaks 5 word sentences & loves all things with wheels. He is such a riot! He has an opinion on his clothes & tells me he won't use a pink fork at meals. He is brilliant. He knows colors & some shapes. He makes me so happy. He loves to ride my foot up and downhill yelling "ready set go!" He rides his motorcycle in the house, jumps on the trampoline & asks for chocolate all the time. He acts like such a big boy in so many ways.  I wish everyone could have a few moments with this boy. His smile is infectious!