The Martison's Visit

Brad's cousin Molly and her family were in town from Colorado for Thanksgiving.  They came out to our house one night for dinner.  We were excited to have them over and the kids were really excited to play with their little cousins.  Graham and Hunter are Joel’s age, but they are as tall or taller than Vincent.  Vincent had a hard time remembering they were little and not 5 years old.  Cecilia liked tagging along with the older kids but was very fascinated by Elliot who is 6 months old.  The boys had fun playing in the basement and upstairs and by the end of the night no one was being shy anymore.

Graham, Hunter, Joel and Cecilia playing Hungry, Hungry, Hippo

Dinner time was entertaining.  Vincent had set the table earlier and had picked out where he thought everyone should sit.  We were using our 3 bar stools at the table because we didn’t have enough booster seats for everyone.  Plus my kids think it is super cool to sit on the stools at the table.  Vincent wanted to sit by Graham and Hunter, but they both wanted to be by their dad.  Joel wanted to be in his blue booster seat and Cecilia insisted she was sitting on a stool.  After 3-4 seat changes Vincent wanted Graham and Hunter and himself to have the three stools.  Graham and Hunter ended up by their dad on chairs.  Vincent was in a chair near them and Brad, Kurt and I ended up on stools.  By the time all the rearranging was done Joel was done eating and off playing toys and the rest of the kids were ready to join him.  It was entertaining to say the least!

Most of the kids looking at the camera!

We had a great night getting to visit with Kurt, Molly and their 3 boys!  It is too bad we couldn’t all live closer together and see each other more often. 

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday!  Time set aside to thank God for everything we have with no pressure on finding the perfect gift.  Plus I get to see cousins, aunts, and uncles that I don’t see very often.  Oh, and eat delicious food.

Eddy, my dad, and Uncle Joe

Alyse, Azra, Jill and Aunt Mary

Cousins!

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the mass emails that go out before hand to figure out who is coming to Thanksgiving and what everyone is bringing.  Along with t-shirt orders and a little teasing back and forth.  We aren’t talking 5-10 emails.  There were 50+ emails sent in the first 24 hours!

A handful of Ruggiero Cousins!

1 of 6 delicious turkeys

Thanksgiving was the usual running around with cousins; older cousins, aunt and uncles telling stories and giving each other a hard time by the fire pit and grills, and people visiting in the house.  Plus the usual fight over turkey cookies!  It is really a great time and one of my favorite holidays.

Story time

The kids were all sound asleep in the car when we arrived, so we left them in the car and kept going back and forth to check on them.  I went back to check on them one time and Cecilia was awake and Vincent was missing.  She told me Vincent tried to undo her buckle and that he woke her up.  All probably true.  Vincent's shoes were still in the car along with his coat and he was nowhere to be found outside.  I went in the house and he was sitting on the couch with some cousins and chatting like it was no big deal he just broke out of his car seat and the car and didn't even seem to care where his parents happened to be.

Cecilia and Daddy

Nanno and Joel

Amanda and Winston

Brad’s cousin Amanda lives in Connecticut with her husband, Matt, and her son, Winston.  They were in town for a week to visit family.  We were able to see them a couple times.  Once at my in laws and once at our house.  Vincent loved Winston and had a lot of fun showing him around.  Joel and Cecilia had fun with him too.  At the farm Joel showed Winston how to climb in the rabbit cage.  They both ended up in there, it was kind of funny!

Joel and Winston in a rabbit cage.

At our house the kids were happy to give Winston a tour of the house and all of their toys.  Winston had fun but at first didn’t know what to think about these 3 kids that kept hugging him and wanting to be by him and drag him around and show him everything!  Vincent is already planning his next trip to CT to visit Winston!  Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of Vincent and Winston.

Cecilia and Winston.

Cecilia, Joel and Winston playing piano.

Konow's Farm

The kids all had a day off in October so we went to Konow’s Farm.  They have corn mazes, a petting zoo, mechanical bull, corn pit, pile of straw to climb on, jumping pillow, pedal tractors, a cow train, pumpkins, etc.  It is a really fun place and kind of busy on a day the kids are off school.  Diane and Keith came with us and we met up with Kristy, Brett and Luke and the Kirk’s.  Due to the timing of everything we only had 2 hours there, because I had to be at Bible Study and they all needed to get some sleep before school the next day.  I told my carload of kids when we got there that we only had 2 hours and if they wanted to see everything I could keep telling them when it was time to switch activities or they could decide on their own.  They wanted my help.  I also told them that we were not going on the pony rides or the hayrides or the bigger corn maze.  They were all fine with that.  In reality it was only Keith and Vincent that cared about anything I was saying.

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Joel looking at the deer.

Cecilia and the goats.

Sweet piglets!  I love pigs!

Grandma Diane and Cecilia

Brett and Luke trying to climb in with the goats.

A jumping pillow.

Joel riding a tractor.

Cecilia and Maggie!

Diane and Joel.

We had fun at the petting zoo and jumping pillow and then headed to the cow train.  They were almost out of cows to ride in, but had one left.  It wasn’t big enough for me to ride with Joel, but the guy in the cow next to Joel was very nice and kept an eye on him for us.  Joel did great!  Cecilia rode on Jackie’s lap and Vincent and Austin were quick to grab the cow’s at the front of the train.  When the train came back Kristy, Brett and Luke went on it and Vincent sat with Brett! 

Jackie, Tyler, Vincent, Keith, Joel, Austin, Cecilia, and Maggie.

Amy, Maggie, Cecilia and Jackie

Vincent being a goof and Austin.

Tyler and Keith.

Joel and his new friend.

The cow train!

Brett, Luke, Kristy and Vincent.

Our fearless leaders in the corn maze!

Jackie and Cecilia going down the really fast slide.

Keith's turn!

The maze was ok, I am not sure we went all the way thru it because we came out the entrance, but the kids had fun.  Tyler grabbed Joel’s hand and kept an eye on him without anyone asking and Joel was happy to be with the big kids.  After that we headed to the straw pile that had a really fast slide that was a lot of fun!  Even Cecilia and I went down it!  From there we met up with Kristy, Brett and Luke in the corn pit.  I jumped in with the kids and somehow they decided it would be fun to bury me.  I ended up with corn in my pockets, my pants, and my underwear.  If you were wondering having corn kernels in your underwear is not very comfortable.  All the kids (except Maggie) seemed to love the corn pit.

Tyler helping Joel.

Cecilia following Joel into a long dark tunnel.

Cecilia wasn't happy until she made it all the way to the top.

The corn pit!

Joel.

Cecilia getting buried.

She loved it!

Keith getting buried.  Brett was helping too!

Luke and Vincent.

It is hard to remember what we did after the corn pit but we did a couple more activities and then left.  We stopped and grabbed food along the way and Keith had to work to earn his supper.  He was in the back with the kids so he had to keep handing them food.  It’s hard work being the oldest!  It is probably very different for Keith going from being the youngest in his family to the oldest when he spends time with us.  We were running late so they dropped me off at Bible Study on the way home.  While I was there I spent a good portion of the night picking up corn kernels that kept falling out of my pockets!  It was a fun afternoon!

Adorable Luke!

Maggie did NOT like the corn.

Vincent buried.

Brett had fun burying Vincent.

Cecilia and Mommy.

Austin jumping.

Brett and Vincent getting ready to jump.

Keith, Jackie, Joel and Austin....the sun was really bright.

Vincent, Austin, Keith, Cecilia and Tyler

Diane, Amy and Maggie.

Joel and his big buddy Tyler.