Thanksgiving part 2...

After the turkey trot on Thanksgiving morning, there was some football being played and some food being prepped. We had an early Thanksgiving lunch with one of the smaller groups I've seen gathered in the Pothier family for a while and that was including my sister and her husband. Large, loud groups are always fun and entertaining, but small groups are equally fun with great conversation.


Our little CanMan was just not feeling well. He slept all through dinner and when he woke he just wanted to snuggle. This teething process has gone on far too long but I think we're on the tail end at least for a little while.

The best part of Thanksgiving in Arizona is lounging outside after the meal has been put away and the kitchen cleaned. More cousins showed up after eating dinner for pie. The kids played football and wiffle ball, jumped on the trampoline and ran around. I set up the photo booth on the basketball court and shot away.












And true to form, Steve and his brother owned that booth! The giggles I get when I shoot these is almost too much to handle.




They are too funny together.

Thanksgiving Turkey Trot...

I think the turkey/pumpkin pie coma has finally subsided. We just had a week of family and fun and as I tucked the kids into bed tonight and gazed into their exhausted eyes I couldn't help but wish for another week of vacation to recover from our vacation. And yet, I would do it all over again. Minus the sick baby. Why must there always be someone sick on a holiday, it's just not fair for them!

Both Steve's sister and my sister came to Arizona for Thanksgiving. Which meant we were juggling time and activities between families. My sister was a great sport as she joined in on some of the Pothier festivities - there was just too much fun to pass up.

We started our Thanksgiving with the Turkey Trot that donates to my niece's charity. I am not a runner - nor do I pretend to be a runner - so the one mile family run (or in our case, walk) was the extent of our physical activity that morning. But with siblings and cousins gathered we made a morning of it and had the best time.





I think every race needs santa half way through to keep the kids motivated!


I'm not sure if it was Santa, the doughnuts or the snow machine that my kids were most excited about, but they were all smiles. (Snow machines in Arizona are a treat!)






My niece and her family are half way across the world for a semester, so we gathered for a family shot to let them just how much we were thinking about them. I wish they could've seen the community of support behind this race. Can't wait for next year.

Happy Thanksgiving...

The kids had feasts at school today, chased turkeys and played with cousins. We're ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with family. Isn't this just the best time of year?

Gilbert Turkey Trot...

Here's my latest design project:

For those in the area, the Gilbert Turkey Trot takes place Thanksgiving morning and it's not too late to sign up. I know there are a lot of trots out there, but this one is near and dear to my heart as 100% of the proceeds go to charity. But not just any charity, they go to my niece's charity, the I love Lucy Project.

Lucy has a syndrome called Bardet-Biedl (BBS) which causes blindness, obesity and many other health issues.

Lucy is one of thousands of children who's families are fighting to find cures for this debilitating syndrome. The goal of the "I Love Lucy Project" is to work with doctors and scientists to stop the effects of BBS before it's too late.

So come and join us for the 1 mile family fun run or if you're feeling more ambitious run the 5K to burn off all the calories you haven't eaten yet! For more information or to sign up go to www.gilbertturkeytrot.com. Hope to see you there!

Place cards the kids can make...

My Halloween decorations are officially put away (aside from the black wreath which I keep forgetting to replace) which means it's on the next holiday! Family Thanksgiving assignments are out and as expected we're in charge of place cards (probably because I'm the only one that cares - and I have kids that want to do it!). So, here's some ideas that are kid-friendly and super easy.

Fold ribbon in half to make the turkey feathers and glue them to the back of a piece of kraft or construction paper.


Use gold metallic paint to paint feathers (I purchased a bag of feathers at Michaels for 1.99). Paint half the feather gold with a couple coats and use a fine sharpie to write names on it.

Cut kraft paper to 8.5x11 and fold into a boat using these instructions. Tape construction paper to a toothpick and put it in the middle of the boat.

Use the kids fingers to create this work of art with some craft paint and googly eyes.

It's hard to remember my kids were ever this little - and even then they were helping with the place cards!

Thanksgiving 2013...

Thanksgiving never fails to disappoint.

We started out the day with a Turkey Trot. Steve's brother hosts one in Gilbert and the proceeds help two great charities, one of which is the I Love Lucy Project (benefiting our niece Lucy). So we went to show our support. In Steve's mind - it's not Thanksgiving without football, so we went straight from the turkey trot to his brother's house so Steve (plus Hallie and Hunter) could get in on some football action. Steve has spent the last couple months teaching the kids how to play football and they've loved it - this was their first time really playing and they were both in heaven. We gathered at Steve's parents house for Thanksgiving lunch. Sadly no pictures of our family because Cannon slept the afternoon away and we kept waiting for him to take the picture. Oh well. We were in charge of place cards again this year (previous years here and here) - this might be Hallie's favorite part of Thanksgiving, she eats assignments like this up! (I didn't take a picture of them, but luckily Shawni did!) We spent the afternoon lounging, talking, playing games and spending time outside in the beautiful weather. All-in-all it was a lovely day surrounded by family.