Thanksgiving 2013

It's Thanksgiving, and we have a lot to be thankful for.  We have these two amazing humans that look to us as their entire world.  Little do they know that they are our entire world.

We are making the BIG move right after we get back from Ohio for Thanksgiving, so we put in a lot of effort to pack this week.  Which left us with random toys and dishes as the boxes filled up.  Luckily, there were enough "Jake headbands" to go around. #piratefamily4life

This face cracks me up.  Whitney has been eating up a storm.  She is a much better eater than Chase ever was.  Here she is gobbling up some carrots and squash.

We made the trip out to Ohio this time during the night.  There is always so much traffic and the kids (ok, really me) get so fussy with the long trip.  This trip was easier for sure!

We settled in at the Homan house and got down to business... making memories! As usual, we got some snow, so we had to get all the kids out in it! Chase figured out how to make a snowball and it was game on!  MeMa let him get her good... she is a saint!  Whitney and Mason were unimpressed with the cold and snow!

Mostly, we just enjoyed (managed) the chaos of the cousins together! There were kids everywhere! HAHAH!  And oh, the crying! We had to keep telling ourselves.... we'll look back on these tantrums with smiles, right?  Hilarious and loud!

The best part of the visit was getting to play with family.  A highlight... Snuggling in for Ruldolph with Aunt Megan!  These are the memories I have from childhood and so it was an incredible feeling to have my little guy sandwiched between us watching the classic!

Oh, and there is never a dull moment with Chase.  Here he is trying to help make milk for Whitney, from his belly button. Yep. Blackmail in 15 years.

 Despite her smiles, Whitney was pretty sick, she had an ear infection before we left and the cold weather and travel didn't seem to help.  She was pretty clingy and still hurting. Poor baby girl.

 These two were so funny.  Best friends and then enemies! haha.  They are only 5 months apart which will be so fun to watch them grow up together!

Chase spent a lot of time in the basement with Pop Pop and the trains.  It is so special to see Pop Pop get so excited about the trains again.  I know there was a few decades when he didn't have someone to share in the fun, but now Chase is his new buddy in all things trains.  Definitely a special bond for years to come.

I love Thanksgiving at the Homans.  Each family has their signature dishes, and I love the contributions from both sides of the family, but MeeMa's sausage stuffing.... nothing can compete. nothing. It is the best!

The kids had everyone smiling with their festive headgear courtesy of crafts from Nana's.

As the dinner wound down and many of us found our way into comfy clothes, Chase and Megan got into a rousing game of Spiderman.  I love his auntie, she jumps right in.  She loves these kids so much and it is so evident from the unexpected events of Thanksgiving night.  Shorty after "shooting spiderwebs" around the house, we were starting to realize that Whitney wasn't getting any better, in fact she was getting worse.

With nothing open Thanksgiving night, Megan jumped in the car with me and a SCREAMING Whitney as we headed down to Nationwide Children's in Columbus.  This is not what we were expecting for such a fun night.

But our Megan was in full Auntie mode and cuddled and rocked my baby as if she was her own. Not knowing what was going on with Whitney and being far from home, we needed Megan and she was there for us.

We found out that the Whitney wasn't responding the the antibiotic for the ear infection and we just needed to try something stronger.  We are so thankful that it wasn't more serious.  With nerves frayed (she cried for about 3 hours straight) we were on our way home with new medicine and hopefully a happy baby around the corner.

The next day was party time!!  As special as Thanksgiving is, we had a bigger event to celebrate!  My main squeeze, and godson, Mr. Mason was turning 1!!!  This was a hard year for Megan and Mason and so it was more important than ever to celebrate in a big way!

The decorations were absolutely adorable and everyone donned mustaches for the "Mustache bash"!

The cake was incredible!  It was so perfect I didn't want Mason to smash it.  Actually, who am I kidding, of course we did!   SMASH CAKE time!!

Isn't she the prettiest and most proud momma ever!  

It was the best way to cap off such a fun visit.  It is such a bummer that we live so far away, but that means that the time we spend is extra special, and this visit was no exception.  It was awesome to see the cousins play together and to make special memories for a lifetime!  Can't wait to see everyone soon!  Mason, don't grow up!