Thanksgiving Blessings.....

Thanksgiving was great and there are so many things to be thankful for!! We went to Clay's parents for Thanksgiving first. We had a great time and enjoyed some wonderful time together although it went by too fast.

Here is a pic of the kids at their table. Kathy had found little cookies with candy on them in the shape of a pilgrim hat. The kids loved them and they were adorable.

Papa Dave and Taffy have a 2-story house with a balcony on the 2nd floor. The "big" kids were playing with Clara from above. She thought it was too funny.
Here are some shots of the "3 Pierce's". Jampaw is named Pierce Joseph, then we have Pierce David, and then we have our own Cullen Pierce. All of our children have names after their grandparents. Christian's middle name is Bo (not my grandfather's "official" name but what we all called him and knew him by) after my dad's dad. He passed away a month and a day after Christian was born from colon cancer. He was a great father that provided well for his family and raised a great son, if I say so myself. (I LOVE my daddy!!). Then Cullen Pierce was named after Jampaw (Clay's grandfather). He also was a great provider and loving father. Clara is named after my mom's mom. She was a wonderful Christian woman and loved everyone. She was a strong, caring person that wanted to help others. One day I will try and post pictures of them too. This is Katelyn with her new baby brother, Pierce. Katelyn is the daughter of Clay's brother, Clint. She is a wonderful cousin and it is topped off that she lives down the street so they kids can play together whenever they want. =)

This is Mamie. She is Clay's grandmother who is now battling Alzheimer's. She is a very happy, loving, and positive woman. We ask that you pray for Mamie and Jampaw and that God will guide Kathy (their daughter)and David with how to handle the situation that they have been placed in. They too live at the lake and just love it there. A decision needs to be made about what to do next. God has a plan and I know He will provide comfort for them through these tough times of difficult decisions and the mental loss of a loved one. I worked on an Alzheimer's unit years ago and it is a devestating disease for the family. The process is long and mentally painful and exhausting. Please pray for their strength and determination to make the best decisions for them.
Clara loves daddy's shoulders!! She loves to be up high, eat his hair, and slobber all over him, not to mention he is pretty goofy and cracks her up all the time.

We were able to get a shot of all the grandkids together for Taffy and Papa Dave. The process was not easy with a 2-month old, a 1-year old and 3 restless kids ready to get down and go play.
We then went to my mom and dad's for the latter part of the day. The whole day consisted of way too much good food and too much football watching....=( We did play a hand of cards and guess who won??? You guessed....me. =) I had to throw that in. Here are some pics of us playing cards around the table.

Here is GG (my grandma, my dad's mom) whipping up the whipped cream for the pumpkin pie later!!

Here are the shots around the card table. Candy took this of Clay and I.

The newlyweds....Candy and Matt (my baby brother).

This is Matt, Jerry (my dad's brother), and GG. GG is THE card player!! I learned from the best.Okay...not the best pic of my folks but I could not leave them out. By this time they were sick of me snapping pictures!! I couldn't help it....Candy was doing it too!!

Prior to the Thanksgiving gatherings I tried to find a good food craft for the kids and Katelyn to help me with. I picked a cute one but looking back....not too kid friendly. We picked cake pops which were YUMMY but they were decorated as turkeys. Great idea!! The faces were pretty easy and the kids did wonderful with them. Take a Skittle stick on a Nerds beak and a leaf-shaped sprinkle for the waddle and wallah...(sp) a turkey face. That was easy. It was even easy to get it stuck to the cake ball with chocolate. Then......the turkey feathers (candy corn). This was too hard for the kids to do and very time consuming. I ended up with a tone of cake balls with faces and no feathers. I was in the kitchen by myself for quite some time sticking those little candy corns on those turkey butts.....urrgh. I do think they turned out cute though. Although many cake balls got eaten before they became the beautiful feathered turkeys they were meant to be......ha ha!

This is Uncle Matt. You know "that" uncle that everyone has..the "pull my finger", "lick finger put in ear", "big kid" uncle that everyone has...please say we are the only family with those....Matt is "that" uncle. Jerry is my "that" uncle. Matt is a wonderful uncle and adores the kids so much. He constantly has them laughing! They adore him too!! I love my Mattie!!These are the Fall cupcakes I made also. The acorn on top is made from caramel and the leaf is chocolate plastic. They are chocolate chip peanut butter cupcakes with chocolate ganache buttercream. The boys made (well, Christian) most of the acorns for on top. They were easy and looked so much like realy acorns it was kind of scary.

Here are some shots I took of the kids in Mom and Dad's back yard. They are the same places that Michele took shots of them last year where our family pics were taken when Clara first made it home. They are not Michele quality but I thought they turned out cute!!

Clara loves the cat and he had hopped on the back of the bench...too much for her to stay focused on Clay and I.

I love her little pout in this picture...it is too cute. It is like she is saying, "Do we have to do this??"And this one is my favorite!!