Thanksgiving

First up was dinner with the Meneely side on Thanksgiving Day.  Actually it was Thanksmas because Thanksgiving dinner was directly followed by our annual white elephant gift exchange.  I'm going to miss those weirdos at Christmas this year.

 cousins

 cousins + spouses

cousins + spouses + kids

sisters

creeper

Casey and Marissa are playing some intense thumb war in one of the stellar white elephant gifts.

But the best present was chip clips which are literally clothes pins labeled "chip clips."  Apparently regular clothes pins can't do the job.  Note the sheer joy on Lauren's face when she received the best present of Christmas.

And there was a lot of coloring going on.

And a lot of silly faces.

And even some rides on Steve's feet.

While in Chillicothe we also had Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house and visited Great-grandma Alice, but I didn't take any pictures.  Oops.  Then we headed back to KC to host a Thanksgiving dinner for Steve's side of the family.  It was our first time hosting and the girls were EXCITED.  They helped with shopping for groceries, cooking the food, setting the table, and making lots of lists.  MBT is mashed potatoes, GB is green beans, TG is turkey, and FC is famous cranberry bread.  Hannah brought home a recipe from school for "famous cranberry bread" and insisted we make it.

Cooking with the girls was so much fun.  It was probably my favorite memory of the weekend.

They set the table and included name cards for everyone.  

Unfortunately Granny was sick, so it just ended up being Steve's sister and her girls.  More unfortunately (?) I didn't get any pictures of the cousins. :(  Boo.  I guess I was too preoccupied with the meal.  But everyone had a blast and we pulled off the cooking without any mishaps, so it was a success.  We can't wait to host again!

Saturday night Walter came back for another visit on his way back to Colorado.

And the girls made him play lots of legos.  I'm surprised he didn't spell out "HELP."