a little recap

...for you. The Thanksgiving holiday was so much fun. We had 7 little ones running around, jumping on the "jump-o-lene" as my niece Isabel called it, playing video games, opening Christmas presents and celebrating their birthdays. I loved getting to spend time with my family and was pretty sad yesterday when everyone had to leave. It just went by too fast.

Some highlights:

Downtown in December: Oklahoma City's Bricktown had a Christmas tree lighting ceremony with fireworks. That was pretty neat by itself but we also all went for ice cream and for a boat ride around the river. I loved that Rhett and Nicolas kept asking questions on the boat. I loved that Cameron was so excited to be on the boat. I loved that Isabel thought that she would get to see dolphins on the boat.

The weather: It was so beautiful. Not cold at all. We had our pictures made by a friend of a friend (and now a new friend of mine) outside at a park and I think she got some good ones. The ones she posted at her blog were good anyway. I am excited to see the rest. I know it was really difficult to shoot 16 people--7 of them being impatient children--so thank you Kim for this! It means so much to me and my family! Anyway, after the pictures, we enjoyed the park for awhile and took a little stroll on the hiking path. I love those kids!

The jump-o-lene/trampolene: The kids spent most of their time outdoors on this thing. They loved it! I think this was one of the best things we have ever gotten for our kids. The trampolene helped us bond with Phoebe, who wasn't too sure of all of us. It was so funny to see them interact with each other on it. Cameron and Isabel just loved getting on and off of it. The bigger boys played rough on it, even tackling Grandmom, which made Isabel cry. Mallory loved jumping on it with me or her mom.

Late night talks: We were wiped out most of the time but I am so glad that we stayed up to talk and catch up. My sisters and brothers (including Chris) are so interesting to me and they mean the world to me!

I will post some pictures soon. But for now, I am going to finish decorating for Christmas. It is raining right now, so I can't finish the trees outside, but that gives me a chance to clean up in the house....

Have a great day!