So much to be thankful for

Well, I am going to try to recap the last few days without writing several pages.  I tend to be wordy and detailed when I am recalling events.  I want to try to capture events without being too lengthy with my posts.  It was great to have my parents and my sister and her family at our house this year for Thanksgiving!  I really like having family visit.  The boys loved spending time with their grandparents, and aunt and uncle, and had a blast playing with their cousins.  When family visits the house is filled with love and laughter!  Everyone arrived on Wednesday and settled in.  Thursday morning Mom, Angela, and I started cooking.  We had discussed what we would have ahead of time and each had our dishes that we wanted to prepare.  The kids were having fun playing at the house, but since we weren't planning to have our big meal until 5:00 we knew that it might seem like a long time to them if they didn't get out of the house for a little while.  Okay yes, we thought some peace and quiet for a little while might be nice for us as well.    Dinner ended up being closer to 6:00, but it was well worth the wait!  After dinner we went to the Gwinnett Fairgrounds to see a Christmas light show that we had read about in the newspaper.  When we got there we were directed to turn our radios to a certain station and the music for the light show was played.  The lights were synchronized to the music perfectly and it was really neat.  After the light show we parked and got some cotton candy and hot chocolate.  William and I went on a train ride with the kids.  It was basically a tractor pulling something that kind of looked like a train and basically did circles in the parking lot.  The kids enjoyed it, but it was kind of comical.  Santa Claus was also at the light show, but the kids didn't seem to eager to sit on his lap so we decided that we would do that another time.  Friday Mom, Ang, and I decided to check out the Black Friday sales.  We like to shop and appreciate a bargain, but were not willing to get up at the crack of dawn to stand in lines.  We left about 10:00 with no big agenda other than just looking around and enjoying a mother-daughter day.  We each got a little bit accomplished as well.  Saturday about noon we met our friend Sara who is a photographer at park to have her take our picture.  We have never taken a professional big family picture and thought it would be nice to have.  The sun was shining, but it was only in the high 40s and windy so we were pretty cold.  Of course it was hard to get all the kids to look at the camera and smile at the same time, but the kids did well and there were some pictures that turned out very nice.  After the photo session the boys and I took my dad to the airport and Mom and the Cliffords went to IKEA where we met them after the airport.  After a long afternoon and evening at the IKEA the kids were tired, but Isaac said something about roasting marshmallows.  Well, I had forgotten, but of course Isaac hadn't.  When we went to the light show some people were roasting marshmallows and Terry promised the kids that we would do that at our house one night.  So, Terry made good on his promise.  While we were at IKEA Terry went to Walmart and got marshmallows and coals.  We set up a fire on a small grill on our back patio and the kids were delighted!  My mom and the Clifford went home after lunch today.  It was really a great 5 days with family!  As I am sitting here typing and thinking about our time together I am finding that it is hard to put into words how much we enjoy being together and the memories that we made.  It is really fun to watch all the kids personalities grow.  We were constantly commenting on something one of them said or did.  We always love being together, but it was especially nice to be together for Thanksgiving.  In Bible class this morning Terry had us share what we are thankful for and as he said we could go on and on and on about all our blessings!  I am thankful for so much, but right now I am thinking about all our wonderful family, those we were just with and those we weren't with, but are always in our hearts.  I will be posting pictures soon.