Thanksgiving

We celebrated our niece's birthday the night the cousins arrived.

DC touristy stuff---Charlotte and her cousin.

We took the girls to a creamery. True, the photo of the three girls lined up on a bench and eating ice cream made a far cuter image than these bovine beauties, but oh well. I don't show the faces of other kids on my blog. Oh, and Chris snarkily asked me if I could identify with the cows getting milked. I said yes. Sincerely.
 

Charlotte had SO much fun playing with her cousins.

This year's Thanksgiving table. My oldest niece helped me set it.

Sharing an ice cream cone with Omi (NOT at the creamery).

Christmas tree hunting, the day after Thanksgiving. Charlotte found one her size that she particularly liked.

Helping Daddy cut down the first tree.

Decorating.

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had oodles of Hofmanns at our house for Thanksgiving. This would be the longest post ever if I give you a play by play of everything we did, so I'll settle for the overview.

Chris's folks arrived the 13th and then the rest of the Hofmann clan arrived 4 days later. Before they arrived, Charlotte's Omi and I went to her Thanksgiving luncheon at school, in which the kids make everything. Charlotte had fun, but she also didn't want to leave and go home early with us, so she cried. Last year, she cried when I had to leave her to return to work. I just can't win.

Meanwhile, Chris and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary. Lucky for us, his folks were there and oh so sweetly babysat our girls for us. Thus, we went on a REAL DATE! It was absolutely awesome getting a drink beforehand then having a nice dinner at a nice restaurant with NO CHILDREN to deal with! I love our girls more than life itself, of course, but getting a break from them is, well, neccessary every now and then.

When the other Hofmanns arrived, we celebrated our niece's birthday with gifts and pink cupcakes. Meanwhile, Charlotte discovered the JOY of cousins and had a blast playing with them. They were so sweet to her and included her in everything. It was so, so fun to watch. Charlotte thought these two girls walked on water and pretty much idolized them. All three girls slept like a heap of puppies in Charlotte's room (Aero bed), and of course we parents huddled around the video monitor to watch our girls NOT sleeping like they were supposed to. Total girly, cousin-y cuteness.

P.S. Through her cousins, Charlotte discovered Barbie dolls. And liked them. [INSERT SWEAR WORD HERE]

Chris took a bunch of the fam to DC for sightseeing and the girls' civics lessons. (I couldn't go due to Lorelei, which was a bummer.) Charlotte had a grand time and even rode the metro like a career girl (or, well, tourist).

The sister-in-law and I managed to sneak away TWO nights in a row to our favorite cozy local bar for a couple kid-free cocktails. Believe me when I say that doing so was absolutely glorious. When you've been pregnant for 9 months then holed up inside with an infant for another two, an hour away with good drinks and company is amazing.

We celebrated Thanksgiving two days early, as Chris's brother has an Important Job for which Black Friday is a big huge deal, so he had to return to Seattle early. Wednesday, we took the remaining Seattle city slickers to local antique stores and a real creamery.

After the city slickers went home, Chris's folks and us went to the tree farm to pick out TWO trees. The tractor ride was, per usual, quite the hit with the toddler. Lorelei just slept the whole time.

Now, onward to Christmas!