Thanksgiving 2021

 ...was a great one. :) 

Mom, Dad, Sarah, and Andy flew to Virginia from California this year to have Thanksgiving at our new house. Except for Mom, it was everyone's first time being here. It was also my first time meeting Andy and everyone's (except Mom) first time meeting baby Elise!

For our big Thanksgiving dinner, the Sunday before Thanksgiving we invited our new friends the Nordmans, who we met through the cultural sponsorship program at Matt's work, to join us. Marta, Henning, and their 3 year old son Odin are at Ft. Lee from Norway for 6 months. It's been fun getting to know them, and especially inviting them to their first American Thanksgiving! Marta brought Norwegian pancakes with brown cheese to share with us. Delicious and so fun!

During the week that Mom and Dad were here they stayed at a cute Airbnb cottage 15 minutes away in what felt like the country. Sarah and Andy stayed there too for the days they were here. 

Everyone spent the week playing with the kids, taking walks around our neighborhood, playing in the yard, reading books out loud to the kids (including Andy reading A Plump and Perky Turkey to the entire family in his amazing British accent!).

One night Matt and Andy set up our Christmas tree and Matt, the kids and I decorated it while blasting Christmas music! And while most of the week was very kid-centric, we made sure to get one adults-only evening out to dinner at The Boathouse and left the kids with a babysitter. 

We also got the girls together to go shopping at the big mall while Grandpa stayed home with Luke - and ended up taking him and Barkley on a walk! A very brave thing to do with our energetic boys and it was a success.

It's hard to pick a favorite moment, but I'd have to say watching Home Alone 2 (and skipping through the violent scenes, ha!) all together the night of Thanksgiving was the best part. The kids were being quiet for once (Elise was asleep on Mom, Luke sat on my lap perfectly still and quiet). We were all together and Lydia kept saying "I don't like this movie" but then would laugh out loud as she watched. The house was all lit up with our pretty Christmas garland and it was perfect.

We even managed to get a grandchildren picture for Mom and Dad's Christmas card, complete with Guittard chocolate chips for bribery.

Missing everyone already!!

Elise's first time on a swing!! :) 

Barkley's paw on Dad 💗