Thanksgiving in Buckhannon

 Paul's scouts on their campout last weekend.

 On Sunday, Charlie tried on his new bear hat from Grandma Terisa. Maybe he'd be warmer if we'd let him wear clothes!

 Grace in her hippo towel after her shower.

It's been really cold so the kids wear footie pajamas most nights now.

On Monday, Alice went to preschool (and made playdoh - her favorite!), and Grace taught FHE on loving others. Then Paul did the traditional hide-and-seek of the turkey decorations, and we ate the chocolate turkeys he got from work.

On Tuesday, it rained all day. We picked Paul up from the train station by the temple, and took turns doing initiatories. The kids loved all the Christmas trees up at the visitors center!

It rained all day Wednesday. Grace didn't have school, but Paul went to work. I spent the day getting ready for our trip, including loading everything into the car in the pouring rain. Paul's boss surprised them all by letting them get off work 2 hours early, which was exciting, but stressful for me, since I had so much to do. We picked him up at the train station around 2:15, then sat in crawling traffic, and drove through rain and snow until we finally got to Sarah's house almost 2 hours later than we'd planned. We couldn't get up their icy steep driveway until Grace said a prayer for us. We put the kids straight to bed, then hung out with Sarah and Matt, and ate pie that was supposed to be for Thanksgiving!

 On Thanksgiving morning, Sarah and I got to work on the food. I did my traditional buttery turkey.

 Charlie and Hazel were pretty good friends (when they weren't hitting each other), and loved watching everyone play in the snow from inside the warm house. Sarah and I were happy to stay inside with them - it was like 20 degrees!

 Paul came prepared.

 Grace and Alice in the snow. Their steep yard makes for a great sledding hill.

 Alice is such a snow baby!

 Kids kept trickling inside as they got too cold, but Alice stayed out there with Paul after everyone else was in. She loved it!

Then we wrote what we were thankful for on leaves, and decorated the fridge with them.

Everyone dressed up nice for Thanksgiving. Joel and Charlie LOVE each other! 

 Alice riding a tiger.

 Norah and Alice had a lot of fun together when neither one was having a meltdown.

 Paul looked great!

 Va va voom!

 The kids set the Thanksgiving tables.

 People played and watched movies in the family room.

 Plenty of cool whip for all the pies Sarah and Merrody made the day before. (This picture is for Melanie and Kelsey, who have never seen cool whip before.)

 Everyone's favorite toy of the weekend: magformers. They are super cool, but expensive. I hope Santa can handle Grace's request for them.

 Paul and Merrody did all the napkin folding.

 Joel and his magformers.

 My turkey turned out delicious and moist! And there's our hosts: Sarah and Matt - thanks for the party!

 All the kids seemed to enjoy the meal (then only ate rolls). We had the sister missionaries with us too.

 Charlie chowed down!

That's exactly what I wanted in my cornucopia!

 Then we were all tired. Paul played magformers with the kids.

 He's good with those kids.

 Jack's creation. Then the adults took naps (the babies were asleep).

Around 5, Paul, Matt, and the oldest 4 kids went to the parish house to serve Thanksgiving dinner to seniors. Grace did great as the roll girl, and smiled at everyone. Sarah and I tried to take the little kids to Wal-Mart for groceries, but Black Friday started early, and there was nowhere to park. Cars were literally circling the parking lot but there weren't any spots. We decided not to try to go there with 4 little kids. The other 2 grocery stores in town were closed. We got the kids to bed, then Merrody was in charge as the 4 adults went on a date to Wal-Mart. Paul had to climb over displays of Black Friday sale movies to get to the yogurt! It was wild.

 On Friday, Matt took me to his office to check out my sensitive tooth (it's fine), and Sarah and Paul helped the kids do a Christmas craft with felt.

 They had a lot of fun!

 Then we got our kids dressed up for a photo shoot. I helped Charlie practice.

Isn't he great? The best pictures from the photo shoot follow:

Sarah is such a good photographer, and nice to do it. She and I went shopping at Gabe's in the afternoon while Paul and Matt took care of the kids. Or Matt napped.

 Charlie was pretty sad when he woke up from HIS nap.

 By this time, Sarah needed a nap, so I helped the boys with a 1000-piece moon puzzle.

 While the girls did a solar system craft.

 I made turkey and cheese quesadillas for dinner, with mint chip brownies.

Then we bathed all the kids, and had a Christmas music dance party. Grace, Alice, and Norah loved it the most! Then the adults played Acquire and visited until 1 am.
On Saturday, we got up and ate breakfast (those who could stomach any more food), and packed up to go home. Matt washed our car windows while Sarah packed us a lunch - so nice! The roads were clear, we made one gas stop, and we were home by 2.

 After some unpacking and little resting, we got out the Christmas decorations!

 Headgear required.

 We are Santa's elves!

 We switched hats quite a lot.

 Santa Alice.

 Charlie gave up on his nap and joined the party!

 Putting up the tree.

 Playing with the tree skirt.

 Ho ho ho!

 Ornament time!

 Grace can really do it on her own now.

 Alice was so sweet, waiting for the ornaments that had the bigger hooks on them, since she couldn't do the small-hooked ones.

 The magical glow of the Christmas tree.

 Finished! We have the tree downstairs, and the stockings hang under the pass-through upstairs. Our piano and 3 shelves are covered in decorations, and all our Christmas books, music, and movies are out. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We let Alice and Grace decorate a small tree for their room, and of course Charlie's room gets the Charlie Brown tree. Happy December!!