Some Family Times During Thanksgiving

We had a nice Thanksgiving in my family this year, but we greatly missed Molly and Matt. They were unable to join us for Thanksgiving and remained in Texas during that time. It wasn't totally the same, but we were able to make the holiday happy anyway.

My sister, Katie, and her family drove down from Minnesota. They led the way for our cousin, Sally, who had been staying with them. This is the second year we were able to have Sally here for Thanksgiving. She is always such a huge help with the kids (they all LOVE her) and in the kitchen.

Daddy and Sally talking

Sally holding a sleeping Gloria... Gloria liked Sally, but didn't want anybody other than her mom, dad, or Sally to hold her. She is an adorable little baby- will be a year old in December! She was very busy crawling around on the floor, pulling herself up to the chairs and coffee tables, and sometimes even sticking her tongue out. ☺


Even though Molly wasn't here, the rest of the "Rugh" girls decided to sing in church on Sunday... we sang "Not That Far From Bethlehem." It was really fun to include some of the kiddos too!

Daddy and Sally thought that the play food ice cream looked like doll wigs. So they joked about finding the dolls those wigs belong on. Of course, our family has creativity beyond your imagination... and they came up with these napkin and maraca dolls... wearing ice cream as wigs. Clever, huh? (This is Peyton showing them off...)

Abby and Olivia start up a little orchestra...

Those cute little bare feet belong to cute little Audrey Hope.

Jackson and Peyton- the twins and the only boys in the family...

I told you she sticks her tongue out a lot! Isn't she just the cutest!?!

Laurel and Evie- best friends and great cousins. I was informed that they are pen-pals now. I'm pretty sure this friendship is going to last a loooooooong time. ☺

My sister, Jessica, and I decided to make these cute little place settings. They are supposed to look like Indian Corn. They were a little more challenging than we thought they'd be... but it wasn't too bad. We did get the little girls involved in making them. Evie helped me write names on the cards, both Evie and Eloise helped stuff Reese's Pieces into the small plastic bags, and Eloise rolled a bunch of the filled bags into the corn husks... not exactly how we needed them to be done, but it was the thought that counted. ☺

This was BEFORE we ate our big Thanksgiving dinner... Jeff and Jackson appear to be the only ones awake. (Oh, and for the record- Jeffrey did not get Gloria to sleep here. Her daddy did... and then he passed her off to Uncle Jeff so that he could hold Abby and help her fall asleep...)

A round of Skip-bo!

Truth: That is just oreos in her teeth.

But we told her it looked like her teeth were all rotting out. Poor thing!

My friend from high school, Rachael, came to see me at church on Sunday! It was our 10 yr reunion- we haven't seen each other since high school! Facebook is good for reuniting people, isn't it? So happy to have gotten to see her!