Feasting with Family

My little helpers! Here is the prep-work for having a bed for Grandma and Grandpa. Both Mya and Emily wanted to help make the bed "blow up". The girls were SO excited to have nana and papa sleep in their room with them.
Emily didn't want to give up her car to sissy. So, she thought she would do the pump while sitting on it. Silly girl!
Some play time after several days of getting prepared for family. This was the last chance to play in the fire (we don't always allow this :) ) before having wood in it for the winter.
The girls thought it was pretty neat that Katelynne's phone took pictures. Kate was kind enough to let them take their own pictures of eachother. You're the best Kate! They adore you!
This is the cooking crew. Mya has pie weights on her head. She was so excited to get them, thinking they were marshmallows!
Little hands are really fast! Uh oh. We're not done with that Emily!
Okay. Now we're done. You can have the bowl. She was pleased to feed auntie Kate. Please note she didn't keep it in the mouth. There was such a laugh about it, she thought she would be funny too.......

..so she did this to herself!
After auntie cleaned off all the stickies, they went to the pampering treatment. Emily loves to have her fingers painted. She does tend to forget her age and think she's big enough to do it herself. Our table has proof to show that. Man!
Matt and Ashlie were kind enough to let the kiddos pile in while they got the room set up. Mya is plugging her ears because of the loud blower. They couldn't wait until it was big since Ashlie and Matt said the kids could have fun jumping on it when it was done.
Night before dessert preparations.
While the girls were cooking, the boys had fun playing video games.
Relaxing and visiting. Kate is under-cover. Zeke was having fun hiding her.
Grandma has just arrived! She's greeted with snuggles from two sleepy kids.
A quick tea and cookie before heading to bed.
Apparently, the desserts looked too good to not be real. She had to try it out.
Nana reads bedtime stories.
Early morning snuggles.
Love this picture.
We're just about ready.... if only I had taken a picture of all our desserts too. We had 2 pumpkin pies, 2 Chocolate Merengues, Oreo Cheescake, Cherry Cheescake, Lemon Merengue, fruit salad and YUMMY cranberry jello. I'm telling you.... that many people and we're still drowning in food. While the adults enjoyed playing games.....
Nana and Papa snuggled with the kids. So nice to have that time!

We had the best Thanksgiving we've had in years! We were able to spend the time with a house full of family. Joe, Sarah and Zeke drove 7 hours and arrived Wednesday night. Cody and Katelynne flew in Wednesday night as well. On Thursday, Matt and Ashlie arrived from a long 12 hour drive. They are troopers! Mom and Dad flew in Thursday night. We had a busling house full of laughter and thankfulness to all be together. What a treat! We had our Thanksgiving meal on Friday, and it was WONDERFUL! What a menu! We had two Settler's games going, and had to play in tournament style with that many people. Joe and Matt (Ashlie's Matt) turned out to be the all-time champions, although Kate and Cody held the second title. After kids were tucked in for the night, we all gathered around to play more games. What a special time we had. Today, everyone had to head back home. We are now in a empty house, and it is so quiet. Goodbyes are always so hard.