Thanksgiving Weekend 2017

It's fun going back and looking at Thanksgiving from last year after having just celebrated Thanksgiving this year. 

Out at Auburn for the Copp Thanksgiving we had a really nice time. While I love it when we are able to get the entire family together it is nice when there are fewer people and there is more time to visit and really catch up. 

I love this photo of father and son reading the paper. 

Dad and Grandad

 I don't take many pictures with my parents so it was nice to get a few. 

 Sticker fun to keep the girls busy. 

It was a lovely day out so we took some time to walk around outside. There are many photos because the farm provides so many wonderful photo opportunities. 

Hailie, Mom, and Anna

 Old trucks make great photo backgrounds. 

Add caption

 The horses were out near the house and Jane was pretty excited to come out and take a look. I love this photo of her with that run and smile. It makes my heart happy. 

Checking out the horses. 

My cousin Jake was kind enough to get out some food and let the girls feed the horses. He is really good with the kids and is always up for showing them things. 

The donkey was a big hit too. It was a great afternoon!

We had a second Thanksgiving back in Topeka with the Kent side. I don't have as many photos over there. Many of them were blurry with kids running around and pictures of us playing board games (which are a blast) don't usually turn out that great. It was still a lot of fun though!

Patti, Jane, and Butter

 Board game shenanigans!

Jane was a Grandma's girl that night (this happens a lot when Anna and Adell get together. Three kids is a tough dynamic). She had fun laughing with us though!

Anna is 5!

I loaded these pictures form Anna's 5th birthday almost a year ago. We just celebrated Anna's 6th birthday this past weekend so I thought that I'd better make an attempt to post a few things before I get much more behind. I've missed posting but this past year has been one of the most hectic and crazy years on record. Let's see what I can do to catch up a little bit on this last year. 

Anna wanted a Moana birthday party and in looking at pictures (especially comparing them to what I did this year) I may have gone a little overboard on the decorations. It was a really fun party to plan and I did reuse some decorations from Anna's Under the Sea party a few years ago.

Making the volcano!

Heart of Te Fiti cookies that I actually made myself. I think they tasted okay. Coconut flavor! 

Heart of Te Fiti cookies

Anna also really wanted Tamatoa cupcakes so I did my best. I think they turned out pretty well considering my lack of baking abilities.

Tamatoa "Shiny" Cupcakes!

Here is where I reused decorations. All the fish, the shark, and the jellyfish were from the sea birthday party. Anna's name was from her space party the year before. This is why I save things people!

I had to have a craft! The kids made their own shiny crabs and there was also coconut playdough to play with. 

One of my favorite things to make was the Kakamora party favors. I just think they're so cute (even thought the kakamora aren't so cute in the movie)

I definitely wasted too much time making these flower lights but they are really pretty. I like to do crafty things when I'm stressed out and with all the house projects we had going on last year I was definitely stressed out!

The volcano was a big hit...even with Hailie and Seth even though Seth told me "This is the easiest science experiment ever". 

Jane and Eric

Anna and Ruby

Louis, Ethan, and Julia

Adell and Jane

Anna and Margot

 Jane working on her crab!

Playdough fun!

Kevin and Theresa

Sparkly Grandma, Hailie, and Red Grandma

The Grandpas

Brotherly love

Louis and Anna

Ethan, Anna, and Eric

Grandpa Chuck, Anna, and Red Grandma

Hailie and Anna

Sparkly Grandma and Grandpa

Jack, Anna, Julia, and Jane

 We bought Anna a new bike last year and she loved it because red. 

We often forget a family picture but last year we managed to remember before bed and used the timer to snag one. 

Here is Anna on her actual 5th birthday. I looked on my Facebook birthday post to see what I wrote about Anna on her birthday last year. I said "She is such an inquisitive, adventurous, caring little person and I can't believe how lucky I am to be her Mommy". 

At that time Anna wanted to be an astronaut but also a librarian in case she didn't like space. She loves the color red, making her own tacos, and mismatched sock/pajamas. She wanted to go on vacation to climb the highest mountain which we managed to talk her out of so she settled on the beach. Many of these things are still the same but she has grown so much in so many ways in the last year. Except for maybe in height. At Anna's 5 year appointment she was 10% for height and 30% for weight. I can't wait to see where she's at for her 6 year appointment. 

We sure love this little lady.