A Very Happy Thanksgiving

One day the kids and I were at Old Navy,
and we walked passed a skirt in the little girls'
section and Ellory loved it when she saw it
and asked if she could have it.
She said, "Mom, can I have the princess?"
How do you say no to that?
Especially when it's only 10 bucks??
So we grabbed it and a sweater that was
on on clearance to go with it.
And she looks even more adorable than
you ever imagined:

When I put it on her,

she stood up and just twirled.

And then she said,

"I gotta go show daddy."

And she went and twirled for him.

Precious.

Also, my sister-in-law, Heather,

made these super cute bows

for Ellory,

and I love them!

This one matched so perfectly,

and she sent Ellory a bunch

more of different colors.

Thanks Aunt Heather!

For Thanksgiving we got to

have Grandma Pam come stay

with us for a whole week!!

Kale was counting down the days

until she got here.

And once she was here,

he never stopped playing with her

and showing her all his favorite things.

I wanted to have some fun things

for Kale to do at Thanksgiving time,

especially crafts since he loves them so much.

So, I decided to have him weave placemats for us.

Do remember weaving paper in school??

Well, on the night before Thanksgiving we

found out we were having a few extra

people joining us,

so we made enough for everyone,

and we decided to get that stuff to laminate them.

It was really fun making them together!

Kale loves to help cook.

Here his is squeezing the lemon juice

into Pam's famous clam dip:

On Thanksgiving morning, while we were

busy getting food made,

Kale and Grandma colored some Thanksgiving 

pictures together:

The couple we were having over

have a one-year-old, so we got our

high chair out for her.

But Ellory wanted it...

This was our table situation!

We had one of Tyler's 

athletic training students come.

His name is Kengo,

and he's from Japan,

so his family isn't exactly around,

plus they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.

He was so fun to have!

He played with Kale

and was fun and easy to talk to.

We also had a little family over

that Tyler had recently met 

when going on visits for his calling

in the Elders Quorum Presidency.

They are from Brazil,

and their names are Davi, Aline, and Sophie.

They are a wonderful little family.

Their daughter is SOOO cute,

and skeptical of others.

It was so wonderful to invite

others to share Thanksgiving with us!

Here was my plate:

We had ham, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls,

stuffing, roasted butternut squash/carrots/asparagus,

and Pam made this super yummy sweet potato souffle.

It was pretty delicious!!

And then we kept up our tradition of making

pumpkin cobbler for dessert.

Before:

and after (of the other one)

We decided to put up our

Christmas decorations while Pam was still

with us.

Up goes the tree!

Pam gave the kids Old Maid

and Crazy 8's.

Kale could not get enough

of playing them.

I think Pam would be ok if

she never played those games again.

One night, Kale and Ellory decided

they really loved each other:

And then it was time for Pam 

to go back home.

It's always sad to say goodbye,

but were are so happy she could come!

We also went to a drive through

Christmas lights display with her

which was cute.

And she and Tyler and Kale went and 

saw Moana.

Thanks for coming!!

Grandma's are the best :)