Chasing Thirty Toes ... : Thankful

It is 2014, and I vow to do a better job keeping up with this blog. Since this may very well be the only way I can look back and remember these crazy days, it is worth trying to find the time to post pictures and stories. And kids, I'm doing this for you! I hope you enjoy it one day.

So ... here we go. A better job of keeping up, starting now. As we start the new year, there are so many things to be thankful for. Our 2013 was crazy to say the least. We started the year with two very spirited and opinionated 3 year olds, a very cute but very curious 1 1/2 year old, and an equally cute but not terribly easy 4 month old. Add in our two full time jobs as attorneys, a decision to sort through and pack my house of 12 years and move our family of six into a new house, an aging dog, three birthday parties for our four growing angels, a tragic house fire of my oldest brother and his family's home, news of two of my siblings relocating to Colorado to follow a calling to plant a church there, a few fun family trips ... and yes, it was a roller coaster of a year.

But when I think about being thankful, my first thought is my family... my big fun loud loving family. This year we got to ALL be thankful together spending Thanksgiving 2013 at the beach with the 27 of us in one house! (Elliot, sorry we left you home this year. You are too "busy" and into everything and were not sleeping well, so it was for your own safety ... and my sanity. You had a great time with Miss Lindsey and then daddy when he came home early to stay with you.) It was one heck of a trip. Last year on our Thanksgiving beach trip, we had wonderful weather and were out on the beach making sand angels like this ...

This year, we looked a little more like this...

And that was on the warmest day. Brrrr, it was cold. I laughed and said it is the only time I have ever been to the beach when we had a wind advisory, rip current advisory, flash flood warning and freeze warning while there. Not your ideal beach weather. But we had fun anyway. It was James's first trip to the beach, and I think he was a fan! These were his first moments out on the beach.

I don't think he was expecting it to be quite that cold and windy. We did not last long that day!

But we found other fun things to do inside. We traveled to Pensacola to visit the Naval Aviation Museum for the first time. My kids loved it, especially James. "Blue planes, blue planes!!" was what he said over and over.

We enjoyed lots of playing games thanks to Uncle Ben's creative thinking and planning ahead. Annabel is my game player! She absolutely loved her time playing games with all her older cousins.

And we did have a couple of nice days at the end of the week when we could at least put on sweatshirts jackets and head outside to play in the sand.

I love my three beach babies!

I think James was the funniest while there because he was an absolute ham and charmer with everyone there. He greeted everyone when they came in the room with a big 'ol "hello" or hug. He loved sleeping in grandmommy and granddaddy's room and especially in his "special room" (the master closet!) during naptimes. But the funniest was how he just latched onto his big cousins, ages 5-9. He adored them all! They thought it was so funny to say "hey James, who is your favorite cousin?" and hear his response. He varied his answers, which kept them guessing and laughing. He truly loved them all! But I will say that he formed a special bond with his 9 year old cousin Jacob while there. I love this picture of the two of them!

But as you can see, he was happy to hug on all of them ... and sometimes not let go!

Did I mention that he and Lydia adored each other and had some bonding moments where everyone in the room was laughing with them? One of my favorite moments of the trip!

Oh, and we went to see the movie Frozen with all the kids. BIG HIT! James and Madeline loved it. Annabel, who actually ended up getting sick while there, slept ... snored actually ... through the entire movie! Poor Annabel. She really did not feel well during the second half of the week, but was such a trooper. She hardly complained at all, but when I looked over in the middle of a room full of people and saw this ...

... I KNEW she was sick. That is the first time in her life that she has fallen asleep on a couch like that.

Daddy had to leave early to fly home to be with Elliot for Thanksgiving, but we had a great time with the 5 of us before he left.

And then I took a few pictures of me and my three little turkeys on Thanksgiving day. Can you feel the sibling love?!

But this is what it is all about ... fun times with family and all giving thanks together.

Our Thanksgiving turkey we all made with what we were thankful for ...

We tried to take a grandkid picture to support the upcoming moves to Denver! But the sun wasn't making them very happy, and James had just had enough.

That trip was definitely a highlight of 2013. It is hard to even put into words what my family means to me. I think the pictures speak for themselves. We hope for many more trips like that in the future. Here are others of my favorite beach trip photos.