so nine people and a dog walk into a bar...

We spent Thanksgiving with Stephen's family. His sister hosted, she is such a good sport, and we did it co-op style. Everyone brought something and everything was delicious. I made rolls and pies.

We did have some misadventures on the drive down - Colin & Megan's van broke down as they tried to leave Dallas at noon on Tuesday. And no rental cars available on account of the holiday. It truly was one thing after another - if National Lampoon ever makes a Thanksgiving Adventure, they should give us a call. Really. Anything that could possibly go wrong did. It's normally a 3 hour drive. It took us 2 hours just to leave Dallas. We piled in our two cars with four adults, three infants, two children and a dog. Plus gear. We had to go the opposite direction in rush hour traffic to pick up Colin at the car dealership. There was an accident, and I almost called him to tell him to just start walking south - it was that bad. We didn't get there until midnight. Lesson learned: don't try to cheer anybody up by pointing out that things can't really be that bad since no one has thrown up. It only makes the universe want someone to throw up.

I am proud to say that I found a good crew to do the Turkey Trot 5k with. Stephen, Stella, and our nephews Max, Zach, Aidan & Jack, and our niece Isabelle all got up early to do what I hope can be a tradition on that side of the family. My goal was to run the whole thing, and Max agreed to do it with me. When we started running, all the other boys ran with us too. It was fun, weaving through the crowd of walkers. But it left Stephen with the stroller and Isabelle, who is pretty little for the distance. So I sent some of the boys back to check on them, and sure enough, Isabelle was getting tired. So after about two miles or so, I circled back to walk with them. Isabelle did great, we stopped to rest and I gave her a brief shoulder ride, but she did it. They had a pancake breakfast after, which all the kids enjoyed. One of them said they had never eaten breakfast outside before. It was fun, and their parents enjoyed a few hours of kid-free holiday preparation. I think we wore them out!

Here's our crew:

Stella's still smiling at the end:

Stephen, Max, Jack and Isabelle at the finish. Max ran the whole thing. This is what I got when I told them to smile. I would say they are in serious need of some pancakes here.
Stella LOVED playing with her cousins all weekend.



We had a great time visiting family. Black Friday just isn't the same without my mom around - she is serious about it. We slept in instead. Stella is unofficially crawling. More of a scoot, but she is definitely mobile.