Aunt Jen and Cousin Kelly came over yesterday to make some christmas cookies.  Kelly decorated the spritz cookies while Ben inspected (and taste tested!):  

Once the spritz cookies were done, Kelly and I rolled out the dough to make the tooteluch.

Aunt Jen took turns holding up all the Chislets so that everyone got a chance to see how Christmas cookies are made.

And of course, no family gathering would be complete without a tea party.  The kids organized this one all by themselves.

Last night after dinner, Ben & Grace helped me swiffer the kitchen floor:

Jake was not to be out-done – he decided to vacuum:

Thanksgiving 2009 was a great day!  We were thankful to spend the holiday surrounded by family.  Grandmom & Grandpop flew in late last night and Aunt Jen, Uncle Neil, Kelly & Natalie came over to spend the day with us.  All the kids spent the afternoon playing together with Grandmom & Grandpop and then – all 5 kids took a nap at the same time!!! The weather was beautiful today so Grandmom & Grandpop took all their grandkids for a pre-dinner walk while Seth fried the turkey.

Kelly (and Uncle Neil) made Indian hats for the kids.  Check out some pictures of the little indians at dinner:

We headed up to Aunt Jen & Uncle Neil’s house on Sunday morning for a visit. After weeks of not being able to get together for one reason or another, we were all excited to finally hang out and catch up.  All the kids played together so nicely.

They had a “tea party” at Kelly’s table.  Kelly was quite the gracious hostess of the party.  She served the kids their snack (cherrios and milk) and even made sure that everyone had a napkin!  After snack, everyone colored together.

Once it warmed up a bit, we headed outside and the kids played together in the leaves.  It was such a nice day – sunny and right around 70 degrees!

Below are a couple pictures from the afternoon: