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Saturday was the big day. It may have only been 2 days since Thanksgiving, but it was time for the big family Christmas celebration. But since we were all staying together (mostly), we have some time to hang out together before the official festivities began. I even managed to get in a couple of the pictures myself.

The game of the gathering was Spoons. Our girls had never played, but they quickly grew to love it.

These girls didn’t actually make it to the finals, but they were asked to stand in for those who did.

There was also a lot of foosball played.

Nutter Butters and Oreos are great, but they’re even better when decorated.

There was also some hula hooping. Note that Molly’s cream soda bottle is empty. She just likes to show that she could drink something while hula hooping.

There were several important activities during the official gathering. Chief among these was eating (sorry, no pictures of people shoveling food into their mouths). There was also the gift exchange (more on that later). There was watching the Iron Bowl (sadly, not a fun year for this). And possibly most importantly, there was a corn hole competition. We’re not really corn hole playing people in our family, but we picked up the intricacies of the game throughout the day. In particular, Leah got really good at it.

We took a short break from corn hole to exchange gifts.

Molly was a huge fan of the mermaid blanket her cousin got her.

And we had to take a group picture.

Then it was back to the corn hole competition. It lasted well past dusk. Despite being the only all-kid team, Leah and Emmie defeated their dads to make it to the finals.

Leah and Emmie defeated Maddie and John to win the whole tournament.

We had a great time gathering with everyone.

Friday was a fun day in between Thanksgiving and the Christmas celebration. There was plenty of time for some family fun.

It may have been November, but we still got out on the lake for a boat ride. The kids immediately found a seat in the back.

JJ managed to fall asleep in his seat on the boat. That can’t be comfortable.

Since we would not be together at Christmas, we exchanged gifts with Uncle J, Aunt ‘Chelle, Emmie, and JJ. Leah might have been excited about this clay charm-making kit.

Of course, there were Shopkins.

Aunt ‘Chelle had a fun nighttime activity. Put glow bracelets in water bottles, and use them for bowling pins. Molly got almost all of them on this roll.

Nice toss, Leah.

She also set up a ring toss. Leah’s aiming perfectly with this toss flying through the air.

By Friday evening the place was getting pretty full. Almost everyone had arrived, and that meant for a very crowded dinner table. The three brothers took up positions together at the end of the table (though they did not supply us with pizza).

All this is still preliminaries, though. The main event was still to come on Saturday.

For Thanksgiving day, we were joined by lots more family. It was a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal, since a more traditional meal was already planned for Saturday.

After leaving the cold of Maryland, we really enjoyed temperatures in the 60s in Alabama. The girls had a bunch of fun on Uncle J’s truck.

Who needs fancy toys when you’ve got a bunch of rocks.

JJ loved playing in the rocks as well.

JJ’s still in the rocks, but Leah’s stealing the picture showing off her dance moves.

Emmie was rocking out to the music. An empty cream soda bottle makes a great microphone.

Sisters, best friends, by a lake.

It was too dry to make an outdoor fire, but that didn’t stop us from making s’mores.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Every year, Jen’s extended family (meaning all the way out to second cousins of hers) gathers for a Christmas celebration. Occasionally, this celebration has happened around Thanksgiving. This year, they decided to celebrate Thanksgiving weekend at the family lake house. So, we flew down the Tuesday before Thanksgiving for some family time.

The crowd at the lake house grew over time. Our first night, it was just G’Mom, Grampa, Aunt ‘Chelle, Uncle J, Emmie, JJ, and us. It was great to be together the next day, as it was G’Mom’s birthday. So, her brother came to visit for lunch.

Emmie showed off her skills and gave us a violin concert.

Molly didn’t have her viola to play, so she borrowed Emmie’s violin. I was amazed that she played it very well. The strings of a viola are shifted lower than a violin, so she just played songs on strings in different positions from what she was used to without any trouble. I know I couldn’t pull that off on a guitar.

Then it was time for some birthday presents.

Jen made G’Mom a delicious pumpkin gooey cake in lieu of a birthday cake to celebrate.

Happy birthday, G’Mom! So glad we got to celebrate with you.

EA and Scott asked me if I could take some family pictures for them. It’s a busy time of year, but we found a good time that worked for all of us. Sadly, when I arrived at their house. it was cold and windy. We still managed to get some good outdoor pictures despite the dreary conditions, though we didn’t stay outside for long.

OK, maybe it wasn’t quite that bleak.

Excuse me, I’m coming through.

I think Charlie is happy to back in the warmth of the indoors.

I took a bunch more, but those are some of my favorites.

We got together with my side of the family the day before Halloween for a little preliminary fun. Here we all are.

Charlie, Aunt EA, and Uncle Scott were gnomes. I wonder if they could get me a good deal on a flight or hotel.

Charlie put on his Darth Vader outfit to add some dark side to our Star Wars party.

Leah also showed off some fierce moves for the camera with her staff. And Molly may have photobombed her at one point.

Charlie tried on one more outfit in addition to the costumes - this new fun dino romper. Aunt EA asked Jen to make a few winter rompers for Charlie. Jen, of course, was happy to oblige!

Jen doesn’t sew for little boys often, so she had fun trying a new dino appliqué.

A week later, we got together at Aunt EA and Uncle Scott’s house for the Auburn-LSU game. Since Aunt EA is an LSU graduate, we try to get together to watch the game every year. This also served as an opportunity to celebrate Leah’s birthday again - this time with the Sellers side of the family.

Before the food, fun, and football, the girls had fun playing with their youngest cousin.

For this birthday celebration, Uncle Scott and Aunt EA made beignets.

Here we all are. Grams wore LSU apparel since they were otherwise outnumbered.

Leah also got some more presents.

Twenty dollars is a fortune to this kid!

Leah was so excited to get a tennis outfit for her doll (including dress, shoes, racquet, and ball), she had to put it on her doll immediately.

We then headed home to get the girls in bed. The game wasn’t over yet, but it was getting late. We did manage to see the ending right after we got home, which was wild to say the least.

The day after Leah’s birthday, we continued celebrating with a day trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania for some fun. In looking for things to do, the girls were the most excited about visiting Aimee and Daria’s Doll Outlet. The place is impressive, in the number of doll accessories offered as well as the prices when compared to those of the American Girl brand.

While the downstairs of the Doll Outlet is full of doll accessories to buy, the upstairs contains a “nursery” with lots of baby dolls and other stuff. The girls got to sit in the princess chairs up there for a picture.

The girls (and their dolls) and their loot.

We then wanted to learn a bit about the Amish. The folks at the Doll outlet recommended we head to The Amish Farm and House. We did, and took the house tour, then headed out to explore the farm. We even got to take a buggy ride around the farm.

They had Amish scooters that we could ride around a track.

For dinner, we went to the Strasburg Shoppes. They have a great deli for dinner, then followed up with some delicious ice cream from the creamery there.

Yummy rainbow sherbet. And the waffle cones were made there fresh daily (we saw the rows of waffle makers and had to get some).

We then drove home for a late bedtime. It was a fun day and we’d love to do it again.

Sunday we had some relaxing time in the lake house before cleaning up and heading to the airport. Naturally, the girls organized a coronation. Here come the princesses.

Queen Molly and King Rhino crowned the two princesses.

The entire royal family, including Great Queen G’Mom and Prince JJ as well.

Later, we had some family music time. Here’s Uncle J on guitar, Emmie on violin, Leah on bongos, Jen and Molly on shakers, and JJ on harmonica.

And then we headed home to Maryland. Thanks for all the water fun!

Saturday was our last full day to enjoy the water, so we made sure to take advantage. But first, some dry fun - Bingo!

And then we were back on the tube. JJ showed that he didn’t need to use his hands.

After riding with JJ, Uncle J got to ride on the tube with Leah as well.

Leah caught some air.

In the span of 3 days, Emmie went from fear to fun on the tube. Two days before this I never would have thought she’d have such a grin. And yes, Uncle J got to ride for a third time in a row, ensuring maximum tiredness.

Then it was Molly’s turn to get sprayed in the face with water.

No hands!

Not sure if she’s sticking her tongue out at me or tasting the lake water (yuck).

The kids started practicing rolling off the side at the end of their ride. Here goes Molly.

G’Mom even got on the tube. She had a great time.

It wasn’t all grins; sometimes things got serious.

We then had our second great uncle/aunt visit. Great Uncle Rick and Great Aunt Roxanne dropped in to hang out.

Saturday afternoon when we went to get in the ski boat, the kids noticed a snake in the fishing boat. None of us were sure if it was dangerous or what to do about it. Uncle J went and got his hunting rifle (not sure what he was going to do with it). Then our neighbor walked over and picked it up. He said it wasn’t poisonous, and he clearly knew how to handle snakes properly. The kids even all petted it once he had it. It’s good to have someone around who knows about snakes.

Saturday afternoon we took the boat out to some swimming destinations. Here are the four of us having fun in the water. We also checked out the rope swing, though it was too high for any of our kids at this point.

We also went to swim at the rock. There’s a very high (maybe 30 feet) ledge, and a somewhat lower (10-12 feet) ledge. We figured we’d just watch, but then Emmie surprised us all and started climbing up. Molly quickly followed behind. After seeing another adult climb up to assist a kid who got scared, Uncle J and I figured we’d be climbing up soon. But we were wrong. They jumped on their own and loved it. Then they climbed up to do it again, this time joined by Leah. All 3 girls jumped a bunch of times.

We all slept well that night.