Thanksgiving in Port Hope

We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Port Hope this year with (most of) my family and I'm so glad we could swing almost a full week in Michigan! Just like this summer, we traipsed back and forth between the house and the Mercantile a few times and I loved seeing the Christmas display in the front windows!

Jake had a great time as usual, playing with Cana and running around the house. Those two are always glued at the hip when they get together and I love watching them play. Jake got to watch The Grinch (Jim Carrey version) for the first time and he loved it. I'm so excited to expand his repertoire of Christmas movies over the next few years!

Poor Reid, however, got sick with just enough cough and congestion to feel miserable and sleep terribly, therefore no one in our family got much sleep during the trip. But two naps during the car ride home and some major naps in his own bed these last few days, and he's much more like his normal self. This is how he spent the majority of his days-- pinned to Deric's legs:

He did manage to spare some energy to climb onto the chairs and try to "help" with the jigsaw puzzle. 

Reid and I got a few early mornings to ourselves thanks to his coughing so we took one for the team and made pancakes for everyone to fill the time!

I saw flurries for a bit during the first day we were there but nothing came of it, sadly. Each day got a little warmer so we ventured outside occasionally to run off some cabin fever.

Thanksgiving dinner did not disappoint, not that I was expecting it to! Along with the turkey, Dad smoked a ham all day and oh my gosh, I've never had a better ham. I actually didn't have any turkey at all because the ham was so good. Add in sweet potato casserole, pineapple casserole...I'm just sad we didn't bring a cooler with us to steal some leftovers for the ride home.

A little backgammon with Grandad before Thanksgiving dinner!

On our last night we all went over to a friend of my parents to check out her Christmas light display and I was blown away! So many displays outside, but the inside of her house was like walking into the North Pole! I didn't count how many (full-sized) Christmas trees she had up, but I would guess five!! It was beautiful. The kids were in awe and had it not been so cold, they could have run around the property forever.

Like usual, I forgot to get a picture of our family and our extended family, but we'll make up for that with Christmas photos! We had a great Thanksgiving and we're grateful now to be home, cozying up for Christmas and looking forward to seeing our family again soon!

a space-themed Halloween!

Halloween was so much fun this year! Every year has gotten more fun as the boys understand trick-or-treating a little more, plus I love seeing them dressed up in their costumes. We had friends over for dinner and then scoured the neighborhood with them. I feel like we got a late start on trick or treating but we started at 6! We had a group of kids ring the doorbell at 5:30 and it totally surprised me. So by the time we headed out just a little later, it seemed like we were the last ones out the door...and we were the last ones walking home at 7:45, surprisingly!

Jake was hung up between being a robot or an astronaut for probably a month leading up to Halloween! I'll admit, I steer his decisions based on what I can feasibly create, but he also loves robots and astronauts so I didn't feel too bad. ;) But then after looking online for costume ideas, I worked harder to steer him in the astronaut direction because 1) we already have an astronaut costume and 2) the diy robots just weren't that much fun unless you want to go all out with a cardboard head, and I knew Jake would hate to wear that. So he settled on the astronaut as long as he could have a "robot" jet pack, aka a jet pack he could actually play with! That was just fine with me. Deric figured out the jet pack while I worked on making Reid a rocket ship costume.

(I thought I might have better luck with some photos if I put them in their costumes earlier that afternoon before the excitement but clearly, no. Reid couldn't stand the thought of staying *on* the porch long enough to get a picture!)

This one's a framer. ;)

I love how the rocketship costume turned out but it was freezing that night. So after we stuffed Reid into two jackets, the costume was a *bit* snug. (I'd planned for just one jacket!) But he didn't care. He managed to walk to a few houses and then Reid and our friends' youngest snuggled up in the double stroller and let the big kids get the candy for them. Smart move!

We loved being able to trick or treat in our own neighborhood this year and meet a few more neighbors! It makes me excited for years to come and traditions to continue!