Thankful

I am slowly catching up to speed over here after some crazy days.  But as I was looking back at our pictures from when I last blogged I forgot we had such a fun trip to Alabmaba and Divot got to have one last final trip to the lake and he swam, and fetched and played.  I was so glad he got to be there with us!

We spent a little over a week in Alabama this year for Thanksgiving and took about a bagillion pictures.  Here are a few!

On Tuesday we went into Montgomery and went to the zoo with cousins and friends

Cousins!!!  So happy to be together

This was Hunter's favorite animal there.  Which was funny because he did not move at all. I am not even sure he was real.   Not really but it was just funny

One of the oddest animals I know...the Anteater 

One of the cutest!

Uhg...spiders and snakes don't bother me, but frogs.....EWWWW AND UHHHGGGG!!!! And this particular one eats other frogs and small animals.  I could not be more disgusted!

And these guys are part of the reason I have a love/hate relationship with zoos...I know that a lot of zoos are protecting the population of certain animals, but I also know that they don't belong in a cage.  These poor guys were just pacing back and forth, back and forth by the cage.  Trying to figure out how to get out of there!

Hunter and Drake sure love their little cousin...I was actually quite surprised at how well they took to him!  They loved looking at him and playing with him!  (but how could you not, right?)

Monkeys...

Monkeys...

And more Monkeys!

Kyle's favorite animal

Wednesday:  Cousins arrived at the lake and lots of fun, craziness, loudness and excitement happened that day and the rest of the week!

Kyle, the boys and I went on a hike while we were waiting for everyone to arrive.  It was a nice morning  and we got to walk with the doggies which was fun.

Kyle and baby Jason...or Lord Helmet and Kyle called him with Drake's hat on

That cute baby!  I could love on him all day!

Drakey LOVED his baby cousin.  He wanted to hold him all the time.  For being the tough guy that he is, he was surprisingly gentle with his little cousin.

Sheesh, I look old and tired and hate this picture of myself, but Jason and Drake are so cute and Drakey looks so happy that he held his cousin

On Wednesday Kyle was doing a little fishing with his sweet doggy and buddy, Divot...

And the boys did a little digging...boys and their dirt!

Christopher got the award for being the dirtiest!  And boy did he have fun doing it!

After the craziness of the day, dinner and baths and before bedtime and gift opening, Kyle enforced his "Cleanup Inspection Routine" with the kiddos.  We do this at home and he makes them clean the playroom and then has the boys line up against the wall with their hands behind their back and walks to different sections of the room and will say "CHECK!" when he approves that it is clean enough.  They boys think it is fun and hilarious and it actually works too!  Drake is now the best cleaner and does it in an organized way.  He makes sure certain things go in certain spots (I think I might have rubbed off on him a little too much in that regard)   

After it was done and everything was clean and put away in its proper place, they all did a hand stack and I think they said "Christmas presents!" but I cannot quite remember

Wednesday night all the cousins got to open Christmas presents from each other!  They took turns starting with the oldest and it went pretty smoothly I might say

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Christopher went first and everyone is always excited to see what the other person got.

Hunter is the game and puzzle master so he was so excited to get a new game!!!    Which I certainly don't mind playing with him because I loved this game growing up!

And then Drakey opened up his cash register which he loooves to play with because he loooves to play in the kitchen and said: "This is JUST what we needed for our house!"  That sweet guy

And then Hunty and Drakey got to open their shark!!!!!  If you have not seen one of these yet, you MUST google it, and I will try and get some videos of the boys flying it around.  It is a huge helium shark that you can fly around the house.  Don't know how much better it gets than that (well other than a cash register and Guess Who!!!)
Needless to say the boys loved their wonderful presents from their aunts and uncles!

Sophie got her Hello Kitty boots and was so excited..in case you cannot tell!

And then she opened a bag full of Hello Kitty goodies and I think Drake was just as curious and excited about what she got as she was.  He is going to be such a good husband one day:)

I love the fact that Sophie has on her ear muffs while opening the rest of her gifts.

And Hunter helping Uncle Trey open Jason's presents.  He is easy.  The present doesn't have to be for him...he just likes opening them!

A little bit of the joy after gifts were opened
( please notice Drake back over with Sophie wearing her Hello Kitty ear muffs)
But overall Drake was more excited about his cash register that Christopher and Sophie gave him rather than Hello Kitty.  When he opened it he said "This is exactly what i needed at my house!"

And then he was finally distracted by Uncle Trey and Jason reading a new book.  Sweet boys!

Jason and his new tool box.  He looks like a pro already!  What a cute baby I could just squeeze him!

Anne Morgan excited about her new goodies too!  Look at the concentration...

Thanksgiving morning:  The kiddos ALL love looking at and loving on their baby cousin Jason

The boys went into the shop with Pop for a while and worked on some projects while the feast was being prepared

I am not sure how I did not get a picture of the beautiful meal that Grammie prepared.  It was wonderful and delicious and I am hoping someone grabbed a few pictures of it!

Later that day all the kiddos went outside...

and Sophie ended up the muddiest!!!!  

Friday, Kyle and I went in to Montgomery while the boys stayed back with cousins, Aunt B and Grammie and Pop.  

They bobed for hanging donuts hanging in th air...too funny!

And then when we got back they had a fire going so we roatsed marshmellows and s'mores.  Yummy!!!

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Bella and her usual way of showing D love

Saturday morning: The new tank Kyle and Pop built in the workshop.  They love to go in there and invent cool things!  It even shoots out bottle rockets!

Pop running after lighting the bottle rocket for blast off!

Saturday:  The Iron Bowl Game!

 Then Kyle left to go to the Iron Bowl and Grammie, Pop and the boys and I went to Catherine's and to the horse stables.  It was a gorgeous day and gorgeous scenenry

Going to see some of the horses...they were just GORGEOUS!!!!!

AND they were friendly and sweet!  What a treat to get to pet them