Thanksgiving Week at the Farm

Since all the kids were out of school for the full week of Thanksgiving, we loaded up Monday morning headed for the farm. We had a delightful week of family, friends, and fun, and the boys didn't even notice that they never got in the car to leave the farm the whole week. I forgot my camera (eek!), so I've collected pictures from my phone, Mr. Morgan's phone, and our friend Bonnie's super-sweet camera with a great lens. Thanks, Bonnie, for the great family shots!

Every day the boys played in the leaves: They played by themselves, with friends, with Mr. Morgan, with Uncle Travis--all the time. Jumping into the big pile was great fun as was being thrown into the big pile.

Collier would disappear into the pile, but he loved every minute of it.

During Aunt Linda and Uncle Billy's visit, the boys enjoyed lots of leaf-time especially when they got to bury Uncle Billy. He's such a good sport! Linda snapped this sweet picture of Collier.

Claire started all the fun by raking the big pile of leaves in the front yard.

Claire spent several afternoons riding with Susan, Mimi and Pops's neighbor with all the horses. This time Claire got to ride by herself; she was totally excited!

As has become Dad's tradition, he made a big pot of Brunswick stew the day after Thanksgiving.

We were so happy to have the newly engaged couple Travis and Cheri with us at Thanksgiving. We talked a lot about wedding plans!

Mom's table was beautiful and stretched to its limit with all 12 of us around it for the Thanksgiving meal.

We finished our Thanksgiving meal with delicious desserts, and Collier dug right into his piece.

One day after naps, Mimi and Hamilton stole a few moments of quiet together reading Mimi's latest magazine.

Since Billy and Linda wouldn't be coming back at Christmas, the kids enjoyed opening their gifts over the Thanksgiving week. Thomas the train was a big hit.

On Friday we did some skeet shooting on the farm. Though I was not good at shooting skeet, I did feel very Garden & Gun which was cool.

Our dear family friends the Trammells came for some afternoon shooting and a laid-back party. Though there were five kids under four running around everywhere, the noise and mayhem was manageable with adults outnumbering little ones 3:1. Using Bonnie's great camera and lens, I captured a sweet picture of the whole Trammell clan. It's so fun to get everyone together, especially with our growing families. But with all of us spread out from Nashville to Charleston, it doesn't happen often enough.

On one of their many walks, the boys enjoyed some time playing on Pops's trailers.

Our last morning on the farm, we spent some time picking out the church's tree and our family's tree. Both made it back to Charleston safely, and the Leyland Cypress at the church, I think, is the prettiest tree we've ever had there.

Mom's birthday always gets lumped in with Thanksgiving, so we celebrated Saturday morning at breakfast before we headed back to Charleston. We invited Grandma over, too, and I cooked a special breakfast giving Mom the morning off.

Palm Sunday

I realize this post isn't timely; however, the pictures and video are too cute not to share. For Palm Sunday we enjoyed the children's singing at the beginning of the worship service. Hamilton and his friends headed over beforehand to practice in hopes that they'd be comfortable enough with the stage to actually sing once the pews were packed. The boys walked over hand-in-hand.

Hamilton did sing a bit during practice, though I was still skeptical of his participation during the worship service.

These three boys are such best buds; they elected to hold hands while leaving the sanctuary after practice.

I put Hamilton's little jacket on him for the singing during the service. He participated a little until he and West decided they'd better sit down for the last song.

Here's a video of their singing during practice; Hamilton didn't sing much more during the service.

Hamilton's outfit was Travis's when he was a little boy, so I wanted a shot of them together. Travis and Cheri were in town for the bridge run, so they joined us at Redeemer and I got my photo. Mom made the cute trousers and jacket so many years ago. Mr. Morgan said Hamilton looked like a Von Trapp child.

Hamilton found a yummy cupcake that the college students were giving away for donations. He quickly wolfed it down, and I had to write a check.

Hamilton loves "Mih Druid" who leads the kids in such sweet songs.

Zoo Birthday

For Travis's 30th birthday nearly two weeks ago, we descended upon Columbia to celebrate with the family. Since Travis loves the zoo (and the little boys do too), we settled for a day at the zoo with a picnic lunch. With Hamilton in and out of the jogging stroller, Collier spent most of the day in the backpack.

We were just in time to see the gorillas be fed. What an awesome view of these great creatures!

Hamilton had a front-row seat for the big gorilla; that's him with his hands out on the glass. Being so close to these creatures was so exciting!

Hamilton spent much of the day pal'ing around with Pops and getting a better view from Pops's shoulders.

I'm not sure if Hamilton actually ever reached out his hand to pet the giraffe, but he did enjoy watching up close--in the safety of Pops's arms.

For our picnic lunch, mom made German-chocolate cupcakes which has long been a tradition on Travis's birthday. Cheri, Travis's girlfriend, spent the day with us, and she was an enormous help with both boys.

Hamilton and Mimi enjoyed the carousel, though Hamilton wanted Mimi to stand closely for most of the ride.

Quickly after lunch, Collier conked out on Cheri who spent much of the day toting him around. I just noticed the drool stains on the backpack carrier where Collier mouthed it all morning.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Cheri and getting to know her at our beautiful day at the zoo.

Just before we left, Hamilton and Pops rode the little train.

That's Pops squeezed into the little train car with Hamilton and others.