Thanksgiving in Michigan...Part 2

After being in Reading until Tuesday we were headed an hour away to Blissfield to see my parents.  Also, Auntie V and soon to be uncle Evan were flying in from Vegas!!!  So we were excited to get there.

It has become a sort of tradition for Grammie and Clare to decorate the tree when we get there on Thanksgiving.  Before we gave hugs Clare had her coat and shoes off and left in the middle of the floor and was waiting patiently in front of the tree. 

I love this picture of her decorating.

While we decorated Elle entertained herself with other decorations ;)

After a good nights sleep this is how Clare spent EVERY morning...reading LOTS of new books.

And as son as breakfast was over Clare was BEGGING Papa to take her fishing!

By evening everyone started rolling in.  My aunt Tina, uncle and their 3 kids stayed Wednesday night with us so it was a full house.  It was so fun to have everyone together getting ready for Thanksgiving.  Aunt Tina is a preschool teacher and brought lots of crafts for Clare.

And of course...more reading before bedtime....

AND a puzzle with Papa!

Elle also got lots of snuggles with Papa

This year we were feeling adventurous and decided to see both families on Thanksgiving.  My sweet friend Teresa made these turkey shirts for the girls...and they came out SO cute. 

Back at the Jacksons we finally got a four generations picture!!

And it was a FULL house for Thanksgiving dinner.  I think there were 20 of us!

By Friday morning Clare was ready to head back out to fish!

While Elle stayed inside and enjoyed new toys!

My older sister Debbie surprised LD with THREE Michigan tickets to the big Michigan vs Ohio State game on Saturday.  We were supposed to be having our big family Christmas but we worked around the game day schedule.  LD took my dad and was planning on taking his dad, but he came down with a cold so a college friend met them at the game.

And Saturday evening we all bundled up and headed to the Blissfield light parade.  Here Clare is with Auntie V and Uncle Evan.

We left all the little babies at home.  Here is Elle with her sweet cousin Joseph.

And here's our crew awaiting the parade.  It was really nice out and so nice we weren't all freezing.

Can you tell Clare was having a hard time patiently waiting?? ;)

But the end result was seeing Santa, so whats better than that??

When we got home we took a family photo.  Yup, this is my immediate family!!  I LOVE when we are all together and love the chaos of all the kiddos and conversations.

We celebrated Jayden and Anthony's birthdays before we celebrated Christmas.  We aren't together often so we had a LOT to fit in!!

And then we celebrated Christmas!!

Everyone was so sleepy.  This is my sweet nephew Joseph.  Don't you think a little boy looks good on me??

Man, we packed a LOT in to our week!  We really did have a great Thanksgiving and are so incredibly blessed to have a loving and supportive family.  It is hard being far away, but it makes being together incredibly special!