Full House for Thanksgiving. Yes, Please

Our little family had been anxiously awaiting Thanksgiving this year. Being with family makes the holidays so much more enjoyable; Dad, Mom, Ann, Sandy, Eli, Livi, Shad, Ty, and Laurie all came to Washington to spend the holiday with us!

The Thankful Ties for church

Ty and Laurie spent a little time with some of Laurie's friends in Seattle so we headed to Seattle with them to visit the Troll and go to Pike's Place the day the Lilyas were driving up. I had a flower bouquet and chocolate chip cream cheese cinnamon roll calling my name

I didn't noticed how neat the underside of the bridge looked last time we visited the Troll. Glad I had my phone for a pic

I had a really fun time at the market, I think we all did. We snacked a lot, sampled as much as possible, window shopped, and the boys finally got their sand-filled snake they've been wanting for over a year. Plus, this time of year the market wasn't half as crowded as it was when we were there with the Johnson's this past July.

We strolled down to visit the gum wall; Mom wasn't impressed!

Ty bought some bottles of Cola Champagne that my boys LOVED. Ty was introduced to this bubble-gumish drink while serving a mission in Guatemala. I love how pike's place can be so culturally inclusive and help with the nostalgia; Jer has bought some butter that he was introduced to while serving his mission in England.

Mission accomplished. $15 dried flower bouquet and my delicious treat

The boys loved having their cousins visit, we didn't want them to leave! This is the only picture i got with all of the kids together. I guess a movie and popcorn is the trick

I thought this was pretty funny. The kids had a couple slumber parties and I don't know how Troy ended up flipped with his feet near poor Eli's face

I told the boys they could skip school on Tuesday and Wednesday since we had family visiting. The friday before everyone got here, I got a letter from Troy's school saying that Troy was chosen as student of the month and we were invited to the assembly for his surprise recognition the day before Thanksgiving. I knew Troy would absolutely love being there for the assembly but I also didn't want him to miss time with everyone. So, we all showed up for the assembly then played hooky afterwards. We told Troy that we were just going to his school so he could show it to the Lilyas. He caught on quickly and knew what was up. It's kind of sad how schools can really dampen kids' personalities, though. I know Troy would have loved to jump up and down while shouting with excitement as he received his certificate; the student body wasn't even allowed to clap!? I understand that they need to keep everyone under control but I do have a point.

Both Cael and Shad feel asleep during the (long) assembly but isn't this group adorable? I can't believe how much they've all grown! Eli is practically Troy's big sister and Livi is Brock's little twin

The four explorers

Shad and Cael weren't impressed with their mustaches at all but we wrangled the older kids into (barely) sitting still for a picture 

Cael loved having Tio Ty lift him up to touch the ceiling. I lost count of how many times Tyler lifted up the kids. Cael loves giving high-fives and knuckle bumps so after each ceiling touch he'd come down and have to give both high fives and knuckles, then he'd show off by "jumping". Though his feet don't leave the ground when he jumps, his action of jumping could fool anyone. Sometimes one leg will lift while the opposite arm flies up in the air, but mostly it's a a looooong, low squat, much anticipation, then he springs up while arms fly high over his head all the while his tongue is hanging out of his mouth.

I wish I would have snapped a big group picture, the times I thought of it someone was napping or kids were busy, or blaa blaa :( We had so much yummy Thanksgiving food and Jer loved having company for his black friday shopping this year. Jer, Ty, and Laurie pulled an all nighter at Cabellas and were joined by Dad and Sandy early in the morning for some pretty sweet deals. I was excited for them but enjoyed my nice, warm bed. We were sad to see the week come to an end, we thoroughly enjoyed all of our visitors! Come BACK!!