Thanksmas 2014

For the Thanksgiving holiday, the Courtright family had another wonderful visit to Michigan to hang out with Jeff's Mom's side of the family. We call this tradition "Thanksmas" because we are able to celebrate both Thanksgiving and Christmas all in one. Jeff's extended family is large, loud, and so much fun!!! I always feel right at home! ;-)

Thanksmas is always hosted at Jeff's Aunt Patti and Uncle John's home in Saugatuck. What a gorgeous home that we are so blessed to enjoy year after year! And this year, we were able to enjoy another snowy visit. It's the one time of year that we can hope for snow so that the kids can experience the conditions we'll probably never have down here in Katy. What a blast, for little and big kids alike!

John and Patti's gorgeous home in the snowy weather.

Playing in the snow, not sure who had the most fun!

I ventured out for a quick pic. So cold!

Our favorite mountain dog, Riley, rolling around in the snow.

Connor in a snowball fight with his cousins and Collin and Kevin.

And of course, it's the one time each year that we get to visit with our cousins from all over the country. Our families are at the phase in life where each new year, there are new little cousins to add to the mix. Connor and Kaitlynn love all the cousin time! This year, Kaitlynn had an extra special time with all the sweet girl cousins in the family. Our newest cousin, Roslyn, was adored by ALL and greeted us all with huge smiles.

This year the princess castle took over the downstairs "man cave" in the basement, ha!

 

Lennyn and Kaitlynn, sweet cousins.

Collin enjoyed some cuddle time with Lennyn and Kaitlynn.

Cousin Jon didn't know what to think about holding the little ones, ha!

Kaitlynn and Lennyn; love how little girls hold hands to how their friendship.

Leighton and Kaitlynn playing in Aunt Patti's toys.



Leighton, Emmaline, Kaitlynn, and Willow. (Emma and Willow are twins; I may have gotten them mixed up, oops!)

Connor and Liam fighting over the football. They are great buddies!

Sweet smiles at dinner.

A quick funny story about the little girl cousins: when baby Roslyn first arrived, her Mom Jessie set her down in the living room in her baby carrier. Within seconds, every single one of the other girls were crowded around Roslyn's carrier to take a peek. The boys were nowhere to be found, but the girl couldn't get enough face time with the precious baby. Even the toddler twin "babies" were admiring the baby, LOVE it!

All the little girls welcoming baby Roslyn, and she loves every second of the attention!

Then the girls had to take turns holding the baby. So sweet!

Our tradition for Thanksmas each year includes Christmas carols and gifts on the night before Thanksgiving Day. That, of course, is always the kids favorite part!

Ready for Christmas carols.

I never get tired of the surprised expressions from kids opening gifts. K got her Elsa doll!

Jeff's gift from Cousin Jon, a custom jersey from Jeff's alma matter.

Uncle Chris gets some love from Riley.

Daddy horsie rides.

Poker time.

I told the girls to give me their best poses. Ummm....

Love my girl!

We stayed at a nearby hotel with an indoor swimming pool, so the kids enjoyed swimming by morning and snowball fights by afternoon. Gotta love that!

Out for a Christmas treat with Aunt Patti and Lennyn and her twin sisters. So precious!

The girls with their treats.

This year at Thanksmas, Aunt Patti arranged for a photographer to come take pictures of all the families and the entire group. There was a lot of moaning and complaining by the guys of the group, but it's so nice to have these pictures to compare year after year.

The Courtright family.

Our extended family with Nana, Grandpa, and Uncle Chris.

The entire gang, that's a big group!

Sooner than we realized, it was time to head back home. We flew through Minneapolis this time and were all really impressed with that airport. There were great food options, lots of fun shopping, and even a kids' play area. Every airport needs one of those!

Fun at the kids play area.

Haha!

K spotted an Anna and Elsa sign and had to get her picture taken with them. Is it just me or has Frozen taken over the world?

One last story from the trip home to Houston. We had 2 flights, one to Minneapolis followed by one to Houston. I had the pleasure of cuddling with Connor on the first flight and Kaitlynn on the second. There must be something to the Mother's touch, because for the flights when they were sitting next to me, they both fell asleep almost instantly and slept the entire time. When we were about to land in Minneapolis, Connor started waking up and I asked how he slept. For some reason, he always denies that he was asleep even when it's obvious that he's OUT. Right after he insisted that he was just resting and wasn't asleep, he said, "Has the snack cart come by yet?" Ummm, buddy, we just landed. So yeah, you kind of slept through the snack cart! Ha!

Naptime on the plane.