Thanksgiving (and other stuff)

left to right: Jaxen (?), Bridget, Cade, Marlowe, Jenny, Ethan, Grandma Karrol, Cindy, Kaleb (?), Brandon, Sterling, Ruthie's head…and no, I can't tell the twins apart unless I make a really big effort and ask them at the beginning of the day.

 I know, I know, this camera is TERRIBLE. But, thanks to Black Friday, birthdays, Christmas, anniversaries, and any other thing I could possible need a present for, I won't be using this camera for long! YAY! 

We started out our Thanksgiving celebrations at Sterling's fam's. Sterling studied all morning long, so we got there right as we sat down to eat. We had turkey, potatoes, sweet potatoes, several salads, rolls, gravy, and LOTS of pies. (and probably even more than that!) I was in charge of making the seven-layer salad. I've never had it before I married Sterling, but it's a Thanksgiving staple at that house. We chatted, relaxed, and then did a craft--gingerbread men ornaments. They turned out SO CUTE, I need to take a picture! Even Marlowe and Cade joined in the sewing and crafting and it was really fun. 

For some reason I didn't pull my camera out at all the rest of the afternoon, so that is the extent of the pictures I have from those festivities. But we stayed really late and played games and it was a blast. I love playing Blokus with Cindy and Marlowe and Sterling---especially when Marlowe gets a tad bit hyper, it's pretty hilarious! 

The very next day we had Thanksgiving celebrations with my family at my sister Megan's house. I did take more pictures, but most of them are pretty poor quality, so sorry in advance!

 I made coconut cream pie for the very first time, and it looked absolutely LOVELY when it came out of the oven, and then it fell. A lot. And when we went to eat it the middle was quite runny. Sterling ate the leftovers last night though, and the middle had hardened up from being cold in the fridge and he loved it. so not all was lost, I guess.

Helping me make sweet potatoes and pie!

We kept him happy with cheerios while cooking! 

So, funny story. See those Club mini crackers on the far back of the counter? My sister Megan made this delicious cream cheese pomegranate salsa dip and bought crackers to go with. Only she didn't realize she was purchasing 'mini's' when she got them…and they were REALLY mini. Not so great for dipping into salsa. But pretty funny.

It was my niece, Danica's FIFTEENTH birthday so we celebrated that along with Thanksgiving. She wanted a cherry cheesecake pie, and she loved it. 

Megan whipping some cream with her new shnazzy boots on.  

AHAAHAAAHAA!!!

Why are these so blurry? No idea. Andrea and Harriet. 

I know this is horribly blurry, but these boys were being hilarious! 

 We also had a wonderful time with my family. We played some Dominion with Tim, Andrea, and Danica, only it had some expansions and it was so different that I couldn't quite catch how to win…and lost miserably every time. They also played a storytelling game after that (while we were packing up and getting kids in the van) that sounded HILARIOUS and we will have to play soon. It was a wonderful break and it was also wonderful to spend some time with my husband for a small moment because now he will be incredibly busy and crazy until graduation on the 13th. Poor boy. 

On to my own little munchkins. They are hilarious. Will can officially pull himself up to a standing position on things, and then walk using whatever it is he is on. Like the bench at church. He pulled himself up onto it and then walked along it all Sacrament Meeting long. He also bit my finger in that same meeting yesterday. Bit it SO incredibly hard that it drew blood. Not just a little prick of blood, but enough blood that I was looking for a bandaid so I wouldn't get my blood on Ruth's cute dress. I kept telling Sterling all day that it really hurt, and when I woke up this morning it had a nice little blister-looking thing on it. Sterling said it was probably a bit infected. Nice. My son bit me and now my finger is infected. He has GOT to stop teething! 

Will also plays with the idea of actually crawling on his hands and knees frequently, but never actually does. He rocks back and forth, he'll even move from one toy to another on his knees, but when it comes to actually crawling--he goes right back to his army crawl. Which is getting faster and faster. He pushes so hard with his legs sometimes that he completely sails over his arms--it's so funny!

They have not been great sleepers lately, but luckily they seem to be on the mend. Will only woke up once (which is his normal, we feed him, and he lays back down) and Ruth slept through the night last night. Hallelujah. Also, they didn't wake up until 7:20…they've been getting up at around 5:30 lately and that is just horrible. 

They love the tub.

Look at Will's chubby round tummy and arms and cheeks! I just love chub!

 He stands up on everything now, because he can. Even if it is super unstable--like in a wet tub. The minute you try to sit him down he is scrabbling to get back up. Crazy boy. Ruth is pretty nice about it. She helps him stand up all the time--sometimes making them both fall over in the process, but cute nonetheless.

MOM! I can't quite get there! This isn't funny anymore!

Will also is in love with our rocking bear. Ruth is not too happy about this development because she also loves our rocking bear. Sharing is a big learning curve I've discovered.

After every set of pictures I keep thinking, I should break this into more posts, but since they're already uploaded, I'm too lazy to go back now. So…on to Will eating. He is an eating MONSTER lately, as opposed to Ruth who I can barely get to eat anything. Except rice, that girl LOVES her some rice! Will eats like crazy and the only problem with that is he'd prefer to feed it to himself. Always. Oh the battle of that!

I love love LOVE this picture! 

Yay food!

Upon finishing this post I'm noticing it's a little Will-heavy and not so much Ruthie. I will remedy that when I get my NEW CAMERA! Ruthie is doing great, helpful as always, usually sweet, still throwing crazy tantrums, loving our van dvd player (that we got for Black Friday in preparation for the 33 hour drive to Miami) and still loves her cousins and playing with other people. She is so incredibly extroverted sometimes it is exhausting for me. I just want to stay home by ourselves! Lindsay Ann babysat for me two days last week while I worked at an office in Logan and I made a comment that Ruth should have been a middle child because she loves all the crazy-busy-loudness of lots of bodies doing lots of things. Lindsay Ann, by the end of the two days, completely agrees with me. Ruth jumps right into the masses and joins in! One of my favorite things about Ruth lately is that she sings along with the hymns in church. She's done that for a long time a little bit, but now, as soon as the music starts she sits down with her hymn book, and starts singing with everyone else and finishes when we do. It is her own unique melody and words but she sings it LOUD and clear! Haha. Basically my kids are the best and we had a fabulous Thanksgiving!