A Bountiful Thanksgiving

my christmas sweeties

As usual, the Parker clan had an awesome Thanksgiving. The kids have had a LOT of togetherness and have done really well consdiering the weather has kept us all inside.

Monday, Pete went fishing with Pops, Zach and Grandma Freda. When he came home, he brought Avery with him and she stayed with us until Wednesday. Wednesday, Soren, Reese, Avery and I headed to the mall to meet Kara and her kids, Jodi, Grandma Freda, and Granny. We took Christmas pictures of the kids and then went to Kara's house for some play time. That night it was fish fry time at Granny and Granddad's. I have been asking Zach to catch some crappie for me for 3 years; I finally got my fill - there was so much fish!

the gang

After stuffing ourselves for the first of many times, we crashed at Pops and Nana's for the night. Thursday morning we got up early and braved the cold for the Forrestridge 5k. Our family had participants aging from 8 to 83! Amazing! We had 3 people do the 1 1/2 mile and 9 do the full 5k. Nana was excited to have jogged farther than she ever has; Wyatt, Soren and Kara jogged with her; Pops did his speed walking (he walks as fast as I jog!); Zach and Mat did sprint/walk rotations; Jodi, Grandma Freda, and Granddad strolled briskly together; Pete was the first person to cross the finish line, setting a new PR for himself and I was the first woman across! A very successful event!

Then the cooking and eating began and it did not stop until we left the house late that night. As we loaded up the car, Nana decided that the three oldest kids needed to stay an extra night so they could go to the movies. So we came home with one of our two kids. Friday was a sleep-in day (no shopping for me this year) and then the last of my long training runs! All I have left is a few taper runs! I cannot believe I made it through all of those 20+ mile runs. So cool. I am pumped for the marathon...bring it on!

Today we are decorating. The girls have already put up their 3 trees up stairs. The weather is perfect for the project and we are getting excited about the holiday season. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving and we are anticipating a very blessed Christmas season with lots of loving family and friends.

Reese and Avery stopped to say hi to Santa at the mall