Thanksgiving!

 We were so happy to have the chance to go to Kim's parents' house in Albuquerque for Thanksgiving. After a rough start to the trip with a dead car battery and Kim having to jump the car on her own (since Kim and the boys picked Matt up from a teachers' conference in Austin on the way to NM), the rest of the trip was very smooth. The boys were excellent travelers throughout the 14-hour trip each way! The key was having either Momma or Daddy in the backseat between the carseats to provide entertainment. :)

The best part of the trip, of course, was our time actually IN Albuquerque. There was never a dull moment in the house with four babies and a preschooler! How exactly did we spend our time together, you may ask??

Well ...

We played outside! 

Ian was VERY excited to have the chance to rake leaves, jump in them, and completely bury Momma. :)

 Ryan had never experienced fall before. He was a little unsure of the crunchy leaves at first.

After tasting them, though, he decided they weren't all that bad! :)

we ate lots of good food!

Kim's mom and dad fixed an amazing Thanksgiving feast!

Ryan wasn't too sure about the sweet potatoes we served him.

Kim's parents treated us to some of our favorite Albuquerque restaurants -- Dion's pizza and Tucano's Brazilian Grille!

Ryan and Abby snoozed their way through lunch ...

We spent A LOT of time playing on the floor! :)

Aunt Sarah knew just how to make Ryan smile. What a fun aunt!

Some of the most memorable times were watching the cousins interact with each other!

Papa and Ian liked having marble races in the marble roller.

Aunt Sarah and Ian made a really long line of marbles!

Uncle Jason plays with his boys (Jaden-left, Cody-right)

 Ian loved building with his new Tinkertoys (thanks, Uncle Jason & Aunt Amy!)

We held and rocked babies!

 

 It was so fun to see our niece Abby readily smile and laugh!

 

 like-father, like-daughter morning hair style! Hilarious! :)

 We didn't get a Matt-with-both-twins pic this trip ... probably because Matt gets the Best Photographer award! He captured so many fun moments on the camera! Kim loved holding both boys and learning about their emerging, different personalities. What cuties!

We took lots of pictures!

Whenever we're together, we always like to get a whole-group shot. This time, we also attempted to get individual family shots for our Christmas cards and a picture of Grammy and Papa with all of the grandkids. With this many kids, it turns into a hilarious ordeal to get pictures!

Surprisingly, we had just one diaper explosion, but Abby did a great job of keeping her outfit all clean! When he saw others getting their cameras, Ian wanted a picture of HIS camera, too!

 We actually ended up getting some decent family pictures amidst all of the not-so-great ones!

And here's why ... we had people hooting, hollering, dancing, and jumping to get the babies to look and smile. :)

Don't the kids look adorable in their matching Christmas outfits from Papa and Grammy?? I think Cody gets the "most photogenic" award! That little sweetie (far right) was smiling and looking adorable in about 90% of the pictures!

We learned from each other!

Sarah brought along some of her preschool resources to share with Kim. Here, Sarah gives Kim a crash course in "Handwriting Without Tears!" It's so nice to have a preschool expert in the family!

 PT Uncle Drewski taught Kim and Matt some things they could do with Ryan to motivate him to work on pre-crawling skills.

Grammy taught Ian all about how to make a Light-Brite picture.

Now that we're all parents, it's fun to brainstorm ideas and share tips with each other. Amy and Jason continue to amaze us with how easy they make it seem to juggle twins!

 And, no trip would be complete without Andrew teaching us something about electronics! Here, Drew helps us get our new (Black Friday) tablet all set up.

 We smiled and laughed a lot!

Ryan on a new quilt from family-friend and super quilter, Jan!

 Ryan was giggling like crazy with Aunt Amy! Seems like she might have some experience with little boys ... :)

Isn't Abby adorable!?!

We admired our nieces and nephews!

Our favorite niece is so strong!

 Don't you wonder what sweet Jaden is pondering here? We love our Godson!

 You can't NOT smile when you see Cody! What a cutie patootie! :)

We celebrated Christmas together!

Ryan liked eating his gifts before opening them! Ian wanted to play with his gifts immediately!

We had just-adult time, too!

... though apparently we were all too tired at that point to take many pictures. :) Here is a random pic of us trying out Mom's paraffin wax on our hands. Our hands were so soft afterwards! We also played some games including Stone Age!

Mostly, we just plain loved being together!

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for spoiling us and taking such good care of us and our boys while we were together! You are fantastic hosts and anticipate our every need. We always love coming home and being with you and can't wait to spend time with you again soon! :) Love you!