thanksgiving visitors

the kids have been spoiled for the past few days with quality time with uncle derek, papa, and nana. madelyn enjoyed showing them her playroom and mason showed off his smile.

madelyn was particularly excited for uncle derek to come. when we would ask her who was coming she would say, "derek!" and we would ask who else was coming, "santa!" after a few days of this we got her to remember that papa and nana were coming too. she started telling neighbors that "papa and nana are coming to my house for thanksgiving" by the time they got here.

we had a nice day at home for thanksgiving and then headed out for christmas shopping on black friday. we went out for bagels and then to toys-r-us for papa and nana to do their shopping for the kids. the place was pretty crowded but manageable. for some reason both of my kids started to loose it at the same time and i decided that we would cut out and leave matt with his parents and brother to finish their shopping. i was glad that i left when i did because both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. madelyn fell asleep right away which is really unusual for her. i think that they were both tired from being away from their own beds - me too.

after everyone came back from shopping, matt and i went out by ourselves to test drive minivans. we are still a few months from a purchase, but we wanted to use the opportunity for free child care to check a few out. we are still on the fence about which make and model but at least we have an idea for how each one drives and the features available. you will have to keep reading to see what we end up with...

today we hung out at home. madelyn got to open up a few christmas presents from papa and nana so that they could see her. she got a "little einsteins" bath set and plush toys, a thomas train, and a coloring book in addition to a few other gifts that they had given over the past few days. madelyn was really excited about the "rocket" toys (from "little einsteins"). she had been playing with them in the store when nana took them to buy so she knew they were coming. she she saw the wrapped gifts she said, "can i have my rocket now?"

after presents we all got showered and dressed (and shaved) for a few posed pictures. we were going to take a group shot and i wanted a few close up shots of them with the kids for the kids' photo albums where i keep family pictures so they can work on names with faces. here are some of the better ones from my bunch. mason wasn't really cooperating because he was so hungry and tired (from missing his nap) by the time we were ready for pictures so madelyn is in most of them. at least she was in pretty good spirits.

papa, madelyn, and nana. aren't madelyn and nana cute in their matching purple?

derek got the best pictures with the kids. i think the one of him with madelyn (and friend) is the best of the day - don't they look great?

and since we were all dressed, we got a picture of our family too. the small group pictures were less formal so madelyn was allowed to bring in her toys.

after we said our good-byes and matt took them to the airport madelyn and i both fell asleep! i sat down on the couch and put my feet up while madelyn laid down on the floor (she was originally snuggled up with me but got up to play before falling asleep next to the couch). mason took a long nap in his crib too, but he went to sleep before everyone left.

bellies were full, kids were spoiled, football and basketball games were watched, and rest was had. i think everyone had a nice visit. love.