Thanksgiving and more Randoms

My sister Catherine and her cute family came to visit us for Thanksgiving.  It was so fun having them here.  We had a great time watching movies, baking and cooking, crafting, playing games, and just chatting.

 I made my first apple pie the day before Thanksgiving, and if I do say so myself, it was delicious!

 We set up the tea table just for the little girls-Jane and Catherine's two girls-Claire and Cora.

 Talk about cute!

 There was no shortage of food!  The green salad was untouched because everyone got too full off rolls, turkey, steak, sparkling juice, potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. We gave ourselves a few hours to let the food digest, then we dug into the apple pie with vanilla ice cream and a homemade chocolate pie!

 This was my first year cooking a turkey and it turned out to be divine! I brined it the night before and it was so tender and flavorful! There's nothing worse than a piece of dry turkey.

 Lincoln had a great day too, even though he didn't get any pie.  :)

 Rob made our first fire and Lincoln took a nap by the fireplace.  So warm and cozy!  I wanted to snuggle up next to him.  This was a cold week!

 The next day-Black Friday-we all stayed in, because it's my motto never to go out on that crazy day. Catherine and I made some yummies and some adorable wooden Christmas trees.  I wish she lived closer, but we were so glad they made the trip out.

On Saturday we took the kids to the park, even though it was freezing!  They seemed unphased by the cold, so we stayed for two hours!

 I love that these kids want to hold their baby brother all the time.  Lincoln just adores them.

 Big yawn!

 Lincoln is such a happy boy and a total joy to have in our family.  He's sleeping pretty well too! Most nights he wakes up once or twice.  I can handle that!

 Rob went out of town the Monday after Thanksgiving, but the kids wanted to decorate their Gingerbread house that evening, so we did.  Then we watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

 I can't believe how far he can push up already!  I'll blink and he's going to be rolling over!  Time stand still, please!

 The other day the kids wanted me to go outside with them and watch them climb our tree.  It was such a nice day that we also played tennis together...in December in the mountains, that's crazy!

Rob took Natalie to The Nutcracker Ballet this day and Lincoln was napping, so we took advantage of our time together.