To Grandmother's house we go...

For Thanksgiving we had every intention of celebrating in Chicago with our little family of four. Evan knew that I wasn't exactly fond of the idea of my entire family being together (minus us) but reminded me of the whopping 1000 miles separating us from them. I think it's fair to say he underestimated the lengths (literally) my mom and I were willing to go to make this holiday happen. Fast forward to Thanksgiving time and my mom flying to Chicago (thanks Mom!), just to help me drive me and my two children for two solid days down to Texas. Bless you, Mother. Along with the coloring books and DVD player things weren't as bad as I'd anticipated, except for one very dark hour that ended with my mother climbing into the little backseat to separate my two screaming, fighting boys. Lucky for me, I was driving. Here's Colt smiling on the first day of driving. Not so sure that the smiles were abounding on Day 2 (all of my pics are from camera phones, excuse the blurriness).

Some playtime after all the driving. Spent some time in downtown Austin enjoying the parks, the gorgeous weather, a cute little train, and of course some Tex-Mex food.
The boys playing their little hearts out at Nana's house. Cade, who had been rebelling against naps for quite some time, wore himself out at Nana's and started napping again. What's better is he decided he liked it so much he's kept it up for me at home!
A few weeks before Thanksgiving my sister Ashley proposed that we run a Turkey Trot in downtown Austin on Thanksgiving morning. She was convinced that running those five miles before the big feast would make us feel energized and overall better about ourselves when we dug into the turkey and pies. I was convinced that it would make us feel you know...sore...while we dug into our turkey and pies. Never one to turn down some sister bonding though, I told Ash to count me in, even though I'm pretty sure the last time I'd run five miles was...have I ever run five miles? Like I thought, my sisters took off like the conditioned runners they are and I ran in the back with the walkers. I did remember to bring along my secret weapon aka my personal trainer, Evan. The man did everything. Held my iPOD, switched my songs, turned the volume up, grabbed my water, told the walkers I was "Coming through!" when I actually managed to pass one. He's the only reason I didn't jump into one of the many strollers I ran next to. I think in this next picture my sisters look happy because they feel so energized. I'm happy because I didn't die (picture courtesy of my secret weapon).
Cade got an ear infection in the middle of all of the festivities. Lucky for us we had Dr. Rencher in the house (or as Evan calls him, Log Doc) who checked him out and prescribed the much needed antibiotics. Logan was awesome with grouchy, tired Cade and Colt told me he's decided his new pediatrician will be Uncle Logan. I'm all for it if it weren't for the whole travel time thing.
The big meal. A little blurry but you get the drift.
Colt all alone at the kids' table. Cade was taking one of the aforementioned naps as was Gavin. I think it's safe to say that Colt ate half the turkey single-handedly, not to mention an entire can of cranberry sauce. I've decided that Evan's going to have to get a second job so we can afford to feed this boy when he's a teenager.
Evan got to join me on the two day drive back where all of us were experiencing bouts of grumpiness. Probably because we were racing back for Evan to take a final the Monday after Thanksgiving and with every mile we drove it felt like it got about 20 degrees colder. We're home "enjoying" the negative degree weather and waiting till May when it's safe to step outside again.