Thanksgiving

Paul and I thought it was just going to be the three of us for Thanksgiving, but it turned out we were able to spend it with family after all. Carrie (Paul's sister) came to visit us in Atlanta with

her family, which consists of her husband, Rich, and her 5 kids: Braden, Brooke, Emma, Colton,
and Seth. And yes, they all stayed in our 2-bedroom apartment with us.

We had lots of great food and enjoyed being around each other. Olivia especially loved playing with her cousins. She was so happy to have constant companions around for a few days.

Paul swinging the kids on the porch

The porch was the hot hangout spot for the kids

Paul and Seth taking a snooze together

Colton being cute

Olivia loved playing with all her cousins, but she adored Braden and Brooke...

...especially Braden. She would crawl into his lap and cuddle with him

Giggling and playing under the blanket

I tried hard to catch Seth's smiles, but I never did. He still has a cute face in this one though.

Cousins! Colton, Braden holding Seth, Olivia, Emma, Brooke

Family Picture

Paul and Rich played in the church Turkey Bowl the morning of Thanksgiving while Carrie and I prepared our feast. They had fun playing, but they were sore and hurting the next day.

Carrie and I decided to be crazy and go shopping at Target at midnight for Black Friday. We didn't have anything really specific in mind to get - we just wanted to see what was on sale and hope to find some Christmas gifts for great prices...and we did! We were pleasantly surprised at how nice the employees were. One guy walked us halfway across the store to show us where something was even though we told him he didn't have to. We were also surprised at how cordial the other shoppers were. Everyone was saying, "Excuse me," and apologizing while moving out of each other's way if they were blocking the isle. We were not expecting that at all but were happy that that's what we got! Maybe we just got lucky and were at a good Target.

Carrie and I waiting to get into Target (not the best pic, but oh well)

Jayne and Elizabeth (Paul's mom and other sister) came into town on Friday afternoon. And no, they didn't stay in the apartment with us. A hotel was much more comfortable for them rather than squishing themselves into our apartment that was already housing 4 adults and 6 kids ages 8 and under. We hung out and then enjoyed a yummy dinner and dessert at the Cheesecake

Factory.

Carrie's family left early Saturday morning, so we said our goodbyes to our half-asleep nieces and nephews. Jayne, Elizabeth, Olivia, and I went to Ikea and met Paul there when he got off work. We had lots of fun checking things out and even ate lunch there. We really enjoyed each other's company and were sad when they had to head back to SC later that day.

Hanging out with Grandma on the swing

Sleeping with Aunt Elizabeth in Ikea

I love holidays and the fun times spent with family.