a weekend to be thankful for.

This past weekend we traveled some more...this time back to Indiana for Thanksgiving!  It was the first time that we have been back home since we moved to Missouri, so we were more than ready to see everyone.

We stayed at Nathan's parents' house.  They have a great setup for our family to stay on our short breaks (like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring break).  Our kids love all the attention they get from their grandparents :)

On Thanksgiving morning, we had church services at our church.  It was so great to be back in our home church again!  Look at super-daddy, straightening Halle's hair before church :)

After church we had Thanksgiving dinner with Nathan's family.  Thanks, Mom M. and grandma, for all you put into that...it was a great meal!

(Kaine found a stash of Miami Dolphins hats, put away from Nathan's childhood.  Nathan's mom graciously gave them all to Kaine--thanks, mom!  Now my son is constantly wearing a vintage Dolphins hat on his head :) ) 

Our kids loved the Thanksgiving meal, too!  Here is Halle, smashing on her pumpkin pie.  I love how she picked the whole thing up :)

Daisy also approved of the meal :)

We celebrated Layla's birthday during our dinner (how many celebrations can one kid have?  I think it was like her fifth one!!)

Here she is, showing off one of her new sweatshirts that Nathan's parents gave her...

Nathan and I very spontaneously decided to go shopping that night!  We left around 9:00.  I am not the most spontaneous person, so this was a little crazy for me.  And I really am not sure what to think about all the Black Friday craziness...but we definitely don't get into all the push and shove of trying to get good deals.  We just thought it sounded like a fun date!  How many times in life do I get to go on a middle-of-the-night date with my hubby?  It was so much fun :)

So here we are, ready to go to Fort Wayne--when we should have been thinking of heading to bed! Crazy :)

We randomly met up with Michael and Jane at Kohls and Target!  How fun--here we are, eating pizza and drinking Starbucks at 3:00 am. :)

We also spent time at my parents' house, with a couple of different Thankgiving gatherings.  

Kaine and my grandpa... 

The "kids table"...

 Kaine and his good friend/cousin Avery.  They are both missing their 2 front teeth!

Ha!  I love this of Daisy and her cousin Atlas...they both have blond hair in their eyes :)

Nathan and Aaron played some football with Kaine...

And then, the drive back to Missouri.  It is about a 9 hour drive, so it isn't terrible...but the last couple of hours kind of drag.  I know we will have to be getting used to this traveling around, with a missionary life, but I don't know if I am ready for it!  Snack bags from Grandma Jan helped...

And some surprise bags from Grandpa Dave and Grandma Terri...

And of course, electronics are a blessing on long drives :)  We try to limit them, but they are pretty nice.  Kaine and Halle like taking turns on the ipad, so I feel like they are at least interacting with each other too, and not just the ipad.

Nathan rigged a pretty awesome way to attach the ipad to our ceiling.  Then we hook a little speaker to it, and we rent a movie on itunes...the kids love it!  And actually, so do I:)  I sit in the back with Kaine and Halle during the movie, and Nathan sits up front listening to sermons on the ipod.  It works well for all of us :)

What a great Thanksgiving weekend!  Now, back to a couple weeks of classes and then the semester is done.  That is so crazy.  Where does the time go?  Soon we will be headed back to Indiana for Christmas!