Giving More Thanks

Today, we gathered with the extended McEowen family at the Church of God in Columbia City.  

It was so nice to be together, and all the kids had a fun time playing.

Gary and Mindy carved the turkey that Scott roasted. 

lots of the little cousins

In this family, our toys are instruments.

And, the tradition of the family holiday band continues...

Samantha and Jeremy on trumpet, Bill on trombone

Marsha is back there on bass clarinet, Aidan on tuba, Wendy on flute, and Esme on recorder

Megan and Emily played pan flutes while Scott played his sax.  Jenny kept us together with her beautiful horn playing!

Annah enjoyed playing clarinet along with Aunt Juanita.

Grayson really liked Jenny's horn!

Caeden and Clayton were excellent on the tambourine and drum, and Tessa added some kazoo fun!

Bryce was interested in Aunt Needie's clarinet keys.

Looks like the legacy of music will continue on in this family.  Love it.

Black Friday

This morning, Jeremy and I slept in until 9am (Indiana time), and we felt guilty.  It was nice though!  We had decided to hang out and not do much today...get some rest!

Gram and the girls made Christmas sugar cookies--and taste-tested the dough to make sure it was good.  

Erin finds it funny that I don't realize Travis and I look alike.  So we tried a couple photos to see if we could see the similarities.  Definitely related, but I don't know that we look "alike."  

After lunch, the girls decorated all those cookies.

They turned out really cute!

This afternoon, Jeremy and I ran to Walmart to do a little clothes shopping for me.  I forgot to bring the garment bag I'd packed with church clothes.  We found a couple nice outfits, a couple pairs of jeans, and a couple sets of fleecy jammies.  No official Black Friday deals though.

This evening, all the men stayed home with the twins and watched Bill Cosby.  The rest of us went to the movie theater in Columbia City to watch Disney's Frozen.  It was Tessa's first movie in a theater, so that was extra special.  We all really liked the movie!!

Together

We spent the evening at Eric's and Marti's.  With 10 kids, 4 parents, 2 grandparents, and one great grandma, there is a lot of love to go around.

I loved having a little cuddle with Miss Lucy.

Andrew carefully counted to 100 before leaving his time-out.

Per family tradition, we played a lot of Pounce today!

the bearded brothers

Anthony asked Uncle Jeremy to play cards with him.  

Hold 'em didn't hold his attention too long, I don't think.

Soon, more joined in the game and they switched to another.

Pounce!

Lucy and Grandma were left to do the dishes.

We also watched Bill Cosby's new Comedy Central routine--Far from Finished and had some laughs.  The kids didn't really get it, so they decided to watch a little bit of Shrek.  

We enjoyed Grandma's pies (black cherry, sour cherry, peach, pumpkin, strawberry jello, and a chocolate pudding by Marti) with a little bit of ice cream and whipped cream.

Mostly, we just enjoyed playing and being together...It's been a bit to rare this year, so we were extra glad for this time.  

Thanksgiving Lunch

The first Thanksgiving meal of the weekend was lunch with the Crabill family today.  

We gathered at the Christian Life Building at the 'Busco Naz' church, and it was a really nice place for all of us to be together!

 Baby Blythe is the newest member of the family, and everyone was so glad to see her!

So much to say that words can't say...

We are all surely blessed to be part of this family!