thanks

This year we spent Thanksgiving in Ponca City with Brandon's family! When you get married and have kids splitting holidays can be stressful but when you have a great family it can also be a lot of fun. I love that Brandon's side of the family wants to embrace their own traditions but also adopt some of the traditions from each of the boys' wives' families as well! The blend becomes its own new and very special set of traditions unique to the Knight family.

We love hanging out with Brandon's brothers and their families and I personally have a special love for letting my boys get to know their cousins. I was always close to my cousins growing up and I want desperately to pass that tradition on for my kids. Maddox is such a wonderful playmate to his younger cousins. He plays hard with them and they play hard right back! Little Miss Natalie and cousin Maddox seem to have a ton in common and when they're together there's always the possibility of double trouble!

Peek-A-Boo!!!!

Natalie got very attached (or maybe addicted is a better word...) to Auntie Ucka's iPad during our visit. She knows how to work the thing better than I do and she's not even two yet! By the end of our trip I would find her wandering into our room (sometimes when we weren't even in there!) saying "Games! Games!" over and over again! Ha! She's so cute! And very persistent...

Evie got her fill of the iPad too! I love her facial expressions!

I don't know what it is about kids and a piano but they can't ever resist the urge to play! I love this pic of Evie sitting at the piano. She has such a solemn expression. I almost expect her to suddenly explode into a beautiful, classical composition and then walk away like it was no big deal.

I LOOOOVE to play Scrabble! Over Thanksgiving I was able to (finally!) teach Ash how to play and now he's just as addicted as me! We've been playing ever since!

On Thanksgiving Day, I was able to pass on one of my families nearest and dearest holiday traditions of making biscuits and gravy for Thanksgiving Day breakfast while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! Hallelujah!

I love when the kiddos love my cooking!

Sometimes I feel bad because we can't get a dog for Maddox. He LOVES dogs! Uncle Tyler has a golden retriever and Maddox would spend every minute outside with her if we let him. In Maddox, the old saying holds true about a boy and his dog. Maybe someday Maddox...maybe someday...

Again, Maddox and Natalie. Love.

My boys usually lose interest in the Thanksgiving Day Parade at some point during the morning (I want to say that disappoints me but honestly I can't blame them...) and so when the end of the parade is drawing near and we can see Santa coming down the lane being pulled in his sleigh by his flying reindeer I always call the boys back into the room so they can see him! I've been taking this exact same picture for years!

What would Thanksgiving Day be without a nap for the men!?

It was really hard to get a picture with the boys and Evie together. Evie simply did not want to have her picture taken. I wasn't willing to give up, though, and kept trying and trying and trying...

The morning after Thanksgiving Uncle Nathan made breakfast from our Thanksgiving leftovers. The slam dunk had to be the sweet potato pancakes with pecans! Yum! Even Ash loved them! They went FAST!

I know Noni doesn't like it when her yard is full of leaves, but on this visit all those leaves turned out to be a wonderful thing! Talk about seeing the glass half full instead of half empty! The kids had a blast playing outside in the mountains and mountains of leaves that had fallen from all of Noni's trees! Brandon would rake them up and then the kids would go to town! We did this until everyone's noses were running and their skin was itching!

 

 

Another attempt at a picture of Maddox and Evie. She's trying to get away...

BEWARE THE LEAF MONSTER!!!!

Since we wouldn't be getting together again at Christmastime we went ahead and opened gifts together with Brandon's side of the family during our Thanksgiving visit. One of the presents Ash received was this awesome science experiment book! We had to do at least one experiment before we headed home. We found an experiment where you put an ice cube in two separate bowls, cover one with a scoop of salt and see which one melts faster. It was fun to do this experiment with Ash and see the wheels turning in my his mind as he soaked up the knowledge and learned something new.

It turns out ice covered in salt melts faster than ice without! Ash recorded his conclusions in his experiment book. My budding scientist!

Oh man! I waited all week to get a picture of the boys and Evie together and when Aunt Dana FINALLY convinced Evie to give Maddox a hug and kiss I barely had time to snap a picture and I missed the moment! Evie is pulling away after giving Maddox some love. I guess we'll always just have to remember that that is what was happening in this picture! Ha!

We finished our trip to Ponca City by driving through the park of Christmas lights that the city sets up each year. This is the display I visited as a child and now years later taking my kids back to see the same lights (much of them are exactly the same!) is so special.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope your holiday was as much fun as ours!