The Thornells: Our first Thanksgiving

Yesterday, my fabulous SIL hosted Thanksgiving at her house for our family. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed seeing the kids play together. I think the last time we all got together really was in July for the family reunion. We did see each other in August briefly for a quick photo session but that was it. The kids are starting to play well with each other now and it's fun to see their little personalities all coming out. Ethan was quite the attention seeker and loved to show off his wonderful talents to the entire room. Abby and Jake were all about using the time wisely to play with their cousins cars. They even showed Ethan and Paige how to climb on the roof of the cars to get to other areas of the room such as the TV stand (Jake even pondered trying to stand on the roof to reach the ceiling fan!). Paige would check in with everyone from time to time and remind Abby & Jake that the cars were actually hers and she could take them back at anytime. There were a few scuffles and I have to admit Abby lost the fight between her and Paige over one of the cars.
John's brother Brandon made a rare appearance and the kids all loved hanging out with him. Ethan would peak at him from behind the couch and Abby plopped right beside him on the couch, taking his keys at one point.
Everyone pitched in and brought food to share - we all ate way too much and loved every minute of it. We had planned on getting their early since all the kids nap after lunch now, but we ran into traffic and didn't get to Lisa's until 11. We also started the food a bit late and didn't have lunch until 1. However, all the kids did great and weren't cranky at all really. Our guys even lasted until almost 3 with no nap! I think Abby would have continued playing hard with Dallas if we hadn't left when we did. But as soon as we got in the car, heavy eyes were upon everyone.
Thanks for having us all over!!!