Thanksgiving 2010

The house seemed very quiet today after the Axene family headed back home to sunny California. We had so much fun with Josh, Tiff and their three girls (Cadence and Brielle (3.5) and Peyton (20 months) this past week during their visit. We had a snowy Thanksgiving in Washington which made the week even more enjoyable. We made snow ice cream, did some sledding, built snowmen, played Scrabble, watched lots of movies, consumed tons of food and overall had a wonderful time spending time together and letting our kids get to know each other better. The 10 of us spent Thanksgiving with my parents and some extended family, who were gracious enough to let six kids under age 4 take over their house for the evening.
Today, Grandpa Dirk joined us on a trip to Squak Mountain nursery to pick out a gorgeous 8 foot Noble Fir Christmas tree. Every year, John tries to talk me into getting an artificial tree (I have yet to give in). This year he was definitely wishing we had gotten one, after we forgot that the tree was on the van and attempted to drive into the garage, breaking our tree stand and shedding branches and needles everywhere. Now that the tree is finally inside, it looks beautiful....addendum: the tree just fell over, shattering glass balls and needles everywhere. Hmm...an artificial tree is sounding better and better. At least the house smells good :-)

Here are a few pictures of the past week (the 'good' ones were taken by our good friend, Bryson. Thanks!):