Thanksgiving 2011

We spent Thanksgiving with Ben's family this year. 

My father-in-law- carving the turkey (or about to):

Lolly and her best friend/baby Lucy:

The table:

My mother-in-law has a neat tradition.  Every year for many years, she has used the same white tablecloth for Thanksgiving.  Each person writes on the tablecloth what they are thankful for that year.  It's fun to look back over the years and see what everyone wrote.  We trace the hands of the babies and write about new additions to the family- and it's a little glimpse at our family history over the years.  I love it.

After dinner, we {almost} always play football.  My big boys (Ty and Trey) LOVE this tradition now, and were so glad to get to play.  

Tyler (in green) and cousin Kyle, and Uncle John (with the ball):

Cousin Kyle, Uncle Brandon and Tyler:

Tyler:

Camps on the left, losers on the right (John, I think, was all-time QB, which means he was both a winner and a loser):

Oh my- this 9-year-old is growing up:

Walking back up to the house:

Ben and his Grandma Roberts (his mom's mom):

Throughout the day, we have the Thanksgiving Classic, a ping-pong tournament in the garage, with brackets and everything.  Ben has won it every year but one the past dozen or so.  I have never won more than a game or two.

Ben and Lolly, watching ping-pong:

The winner, once again:

It was a great thanksgiving, and we had SO much to be thankful for this year.  I'm certain that since Trey was born, 8 years earlier, 2011 was our healthiest year EVER!  The only person we had in the hospital with Sammi- who took a trip to the ER one night when we were out-of-town.  She had terrible croup, and could not breathe.  I would call a year with only one visit to the ER VERY SUCCESSFUL, and a big blessing!!!