The 6 Bears: Thanksgiving 2017 w Nathan and Ana

Nathan and Ana, Theo, Elin, and Thorin, came to stay with us for six days over the Thanksgiving holiday. They hadn't been here since the previous Christmas, but we had been to Kerkhoven twice due to my uncle and grandpa's funerals last spring and summer. They arrived on Tuesday afternoon in time for dinner and Thanksgiving was Thursday. It was 70 degrees that day and we were all in shorts and t-shirts!

Rewind to Wednesday when mom came over just to hang out with her long distance son...though it looks like she came to hang out with Thorin here. Ha! I took this picture because Thorin had been so afraid of the cat since they arrived the day before. He'd been naughty and sat on the couch and then Trouncer joined him to share in his body heat, but Thorin just looked so freaked out, like he was on eggshells. Trouncer had been parading around in a show of typical cat pride, pouncing on and scaring Thorin at every opportunity. He was understandably scared, the big baby. Of course he had just been shaved the day before due to fleas so he was actually naked and therefore vulnerable to claws.

Evie rescued Thorin shortly thereafter.

While Ana was out getting her haircut we took the dogs and boys for a walk.

Pretty pretty! Now we have practically the same haircut. :) Oh, and notice the 20 week baby belly!

The following day, Thanksgiving, mom came over early to get the turkey in my oven, because we were hosting dinner here for the first time. She brought absolutely every dish and ingredient we'd need though which made it easier (on me, not her, but at least I have a dishwasher).

The weather was out of control that day, like I said, over 70 degrees. We spent most of the day outside. Ana is not trying to look annoyed with me, ha ha, no, she just happened to look that way when I took her picture.

I love love love this photo of Nathan and Luna. Makes me smile every time.

It was the perfect day to hang up lights. I love this picture, so fun.

I don't know what the heck Nathan is doing but it's hilarious. I didn't even notice him showing his belly at the time. I think I was just trying to capture Terry and them at the same time. Win.

I stole that baby shortly after.

Trouncer explored the front yard for the first time that day.

We kept a close eye on him.

Trouncer inflated in fear when Thorin went by, not even noticing the cat there. I snapped the camera at the perfect time for another win.

Everybody outside enjoying the weather.

These little boys played with darts the entire weekend...and also fought about darts all weekend. :)

Nathan likes to disappear while he's visiting, driving around town to discover what's changed in the last year since he was here. On that day's outing he came back with a bunch of wood for projects. He's organizing it here. Noah is yelling at Luna to come back.

I collected all the children, except Elin I guess, for a cousin photo. This behind the scenes prep photo cracks me up. Evie was a grump for some reason, though she was the only one looking at the camera (she was sick for one thing - everyone but me got sick). Theo is going after a booger, the dogs are in disarray, mom is trying to organize them. Ha ha ha.

That's better, though they're mostly looking to my right.

I think mom moved behind me to get them to look at me. Pretty good!

Meow.

Terry and Nathan avoided boredom by working on a dresser his dad wanted him to fix but Ezra needed some help finding a dart he had shot under the dirty deck. He never did find it but got quite dirty. You couldn't pay me to go under there.

Nathan is a good wood worker so it was handy for Terry to have him there for an extra set of hands.

Next activity, rolling down the driveway.

We went inside eventually, maybe because dad arrived. He and Thorin had to get reacquainted. I guess he always does this with dogs (Snap and Thorin and Thorin here).

Chilling out.

Finally time to eat! Terry's face cracks me up. And then Nathan behind him with his eyes closed. Theo is cheesin.

Getting all loaded up.

Kids table! Who remembers sitting at one of those?! This girl! Ha ha.

We were just about to dig in when we realized we hadn't done the customary annual turkey leg picture (beginning when we moved back in 2012, 2013, 2014, not 2015 because my folks were in MN, and 2016)

We prayed and then I made them all wait even longer before eating so I could take their picture. Had to send one to Steph since she wasn't there. :(

Shari sent us a picture from their house. Aw, how nice.

While we were cleaning up Elin wandered around outside with a bucket on her head... HA HA!

I noticed the light outside going pretty pink so naturally I got ready to go snap some photos. While getting my shoes on I overheard Terry telling Nathan at the kitchen sink in front of the sunset to not tell me about the sky or else they'd "lose her." HA! And they did. I went up the hill to enjoy it for several minutes.

Selfie smelfie!

When I got back I finished packing up all the leftovers. Man, we had lots. Nom nom nom.

Once the cleaning up was done we went outside to see the lights Terry had hung up. Not bad! We've never done so many before. Had to add some to go with the antique bike though!

I guess I forgot to mention the bike. Yes, so we went to a nearby estate auction a few weeks ago and when the bike that I was interested in went for more than I wanted to spend, Jerry got it for me! How sweet. I wanted it to be a lawn ornament and to put blinking lights on it at Christmas to make it look like the wheels were spinning. A few days before, Terry hung it up on the deck (way cooler than I had in mind) and got it looking awesome!