Thanksgiving Break 2012

Thanksgiving break was monumental for our little family.

For real.

We've had some trying times with "The Teenager" lately,

but the break from the daily,

brought time for reflection, togetherness and a reminder of how far our family has come.

There is nothing more important to Ryan and I than the solidarity of our family,

and that includes all 6 of us.
With that said,
hang on for severe picture overload!



Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

The usual around the house:

 Thanksgiving projects from the past made by the kids.

They enjoyed seeing them again this year and commented on how much they had changed. =)

 The hurricane glass on the mantle is from our wedding,

and the pine cones are from the lake house.

Keep Calm

and Count Your Blessings

A little pumpkin here and there

 Our thankful leaves

The table ready to go

With my parents knee deep in remodeling and both my brother and sister moving,

Ryan, Carol and I took charge of all things Thanksgiving.

The preparty:

Ryan and I got ready for a night of cooking together!

We made broccoli casserole and mashed potatoes:

And the turkey the next morning:

Carol made us a batch of the famous

Soladay Sausage Bread

Trysten spent Thanksgiving day with his mom

and Austin with his dad,

so we had a small but sweet little crew with Preston and Carter:

 Ryan set the bounce house up for all the cousins.

I am so thankful for this man!

I love watching my dad supervising Ryan as he takes over his former role.



I think we needed a little more food.

Shelley and I did a Christmas craft with the kids.
Ashlynn took over helping her sisters.
Notice Alexa's bangs?
She gave herself a little haircut recently.
You know we've all done it.


Carter still loves this stuff.

Thank goodness,

How many more years will our boys be up for this?

 Thanksgiving just happen to fall on my dad's birthday this year,

and celebrating him was a perfect end to a wonderful family day.

Happy birthday to my sweet daddy!

The next day, Trysten arrived,

and the boys immediately ran to the bounce house.

It looked like this most of the time:



They obviously had NO fun at all.

While they played,

Ryan got all the Christmas hoopla out of the attic,

and the fun began.

 By the way,

Carter wore this hat all weekend long.

Literally.

See him behind the computer screen?

And Trysten consumed about 10 packets of Ramen noodles.

The kid could survive on Ramen alone.

Lots of time was spent around the pool table for the boys.

And lots of time decorating for me.

The mantle is a lot like last year.



Except for this banner:

I gave a little Christmas spirit to my newest Pinterest inspiration.

It contains sand and shells from Ryan's and my trip to California this past summer,

ticket stubs from our trip to Puerta Vallarta when Ryan proposed,

tickets stubs from our honeymoon,

a card from flowers he gave me on our 4th anniversary trip to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

and a wine cork from our 5th anniversary trip to Cozumel.

I love keeping these special mementos

and can't wait to add more.

I'm currently working on an idea I came up using all the cards we have given each other.

More on that later.

The pillow we bought at Mackenzie Childs

on our last trip to New York with Ed and Carol.

Such great memories.

 We have to move the dogs' beds when we put up the tree.

Shelby doesn't seem to mind.

A new addition this year from Carol.

Perfect!

The reindeer Ed made when Ryan was little.

Mrs. Claus is holding her favorite mascot. 

The front porch 

 The day after Christmas Decoratingpalooza,

we decided to brave the crowds and take the boys ice skating again.

This time, the whole family came.

It made my heart so happy to be all together.

Poor T, after his face plant last time, stayed close to the side for a lot of the time.

We were so proud of him for getting back out there.

"The Teenager" whipped around the tree at the Galleria like an old pro.

Ryan and I sat at the Mi Cocina right at the rink for part of the fun.

On the way to the car after all the skating,

I snapped this pic.

I love all 5 of these guys so very much.

Isn't this what the holiday season is all about.

The next day we decorated the tree together.

The kids always love seeing all their ornaments they've made over the years.

I also love the ones from trips we've taken.

The one below is from Cozumel.

 Our first Christmas together

 Our Caliventure!

New York City with the whole crew!

The cruise with my whole family!

Our trip to NY with Ryan's parents

This was from Mackenzie Childs

"The Teenager" in pre-k

Where have the years gone...

Preston's "One Eyed Willie" as he calls this one

Carter's Roudolph

 And what a better way to end,

than the Soladay family Christmas stocking!

On a side note....I will be taking some red paint to that apostrophe soon.

That way I can sleep at night.

We've been in Christmas mode nonstop lately!

A Christmas party and cookie exchange last weekend,

a Christmas wine glass painting party next week and

3 Christmas parties next weekend!

Here's to the BEST time of the year!