Thanksgiving weekend 2012

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

 I hope all of you had a relaxing and enjoyable weekend.  Dave and I both spent Saturday working- but enjoyed Sunday and Monday mostly off from the grind.

We got to celebrate a wonderful meal on Sunday with our Ottawa friends the Denne/Meredith clan.  This is the family I nannied for the first year we were in Ottawa!  It has been 6 thanksgivings we have celebrated with them.  Things have certainly changed since our first one as childless newlyweds!  Strangely, however, as we keep adding kids to the mix- it felt like a very calm and relaxed dinner this year.  Perhaps it is just Dave and I mellowing out with all the noise and business!  Maybe it is the fact Cameron and Abby are no longer 3 and 4, but 9 and 10!  We had a FANTASTIC meal and visit as usual, complete with 3 options for dessert ( 2 of which were gluten free).  Jesse had a blast being silly with the older kids, and Janna had fun feeding and stalking their dog! 

 Today, we hit up the Jack Pine Trail for our 3^rd annual thanksgiving hike!  Dave had to put in a few hours at work this morning, so I planned things so we could get there, hike, and home before kids hit past nap times.   Well, the kids had a blast running through the leaves, exploring nature, and feeding the birds (well Jesse liked to watch us feed the birds- NOT have them land on his own hands)  Unfortunately our trail guide (who shall remain nameless- *cough-Dave*) took a wrong turn and added about an extra kilometer onto our hike.  Not a big deal if you are on your own.  But going the speed of a 1 and 3 year old, added about 30 minutes to our adventure, and put us WAY past nap times.  The last 30 minutes were not so good, and the last 10 minutes were pretty brutal.  I carried Janna and Dave carried Jesse and we power walked through the last bit.  I was having contractions and just focusing on breathing and not passing out, Janna was crying, Jesse was begging daddy to put him down, and Dave was trying to keep it together.  Let’s just say- it was glorious to get home and get the kids down for their naps!

 We ended our afternoon by getting together with friends from church.  More specifically, Dave is in a small group with the guys, and I am in a group with the wives.  There are some kids in there too.  So today we joined up with 13 adults, and 7 children under 3 to celebrate.  We did a potluck sort of thing, and all piled into the Potters townhouse to feast together and take communion.  It was loud and busy and good!  Three of us are pregnant and so next year we will be adding another 3 kids to that number.  There will come a day in a few years when the grown-ups will probably be out numbered.  Now that will be craaaaaazy.

 

Anyways, it was a great weekend.  Lots of reminders of the wonderful things we have in our lives.    Also- a reminder of how much we miss having our families close by.    Looking forward to having some visitors when little girl arrives J  Speaking of little girl- she is making me ridiculously tired these days.   I think I have been in bed by 9 the past few nights in a row- and tonight I won’t be too far off.  Thanks for reading! I’m out.