Thanksgiving in Oklahoma

Happy Thanksgiving!  We had a whirlwind week up in Oklahoma to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with our families.  It is nice to travel to one place and see everyone, but we came home exhausted!  The kids did great, it is getting so much easier now that we don't have to travel with baby food, bottles, etc.  We spent 4 nights with Rick and Sue, and then 4 nights with Mom and Dad.  The kids were spoiled by their grandparents with numerous treats and fun things to do.  We had a wonderful time, and the kids went non-stop everyday, even Jacob (who hasn't napped in over a year) would fall asleep going from one place to another.  Jacob and Gwyn camped out with Rick and Sue in a tent in their room, they thought that was just great.  We were able to see Nick and Erika and their kids Rafael and Blythe (who looks exactly like Nick!).  We got to see Neely and her precious girls, Ava and Catherine, and I forgot my camera, so I don't have any of the kids playing together:(  I got to have lunch with my good friend Anna, who lives in Baltimore and I hadn't seen in years, but it was like we hadn't ever stopped hanging out.  We got to hang out with Nick, Emily and their girls, Grace and Sadie (who is 6 days younger than Annie).  The kids got to visit Sue at her school, go to the gym, music room, cafeteria and playground.  We were able to go to a reunion for my mom's side of the family and see cousins and their kids that I hadn't seen in years!  With only making a couple of trips up to Tulsa a year, it is hard to see everyone that we want to, but I was happy that the kids got to spend a good amount of time with each set of Grandparents.  You could tell they had fun and Jacob and Gwyn both really loved being there.  The weather was great while we were there, it got a little chilly for a couple of days, and you can tell we have lived in Houston for too long because we froze!  The trip was great til the ride home...12 hours due to a stop in Frisco to see Em (so worth it) and a wreck on 45 South at Conroe which cost us at least 2 hours.  This would have been bearable if Gwyn hadn't thrown up all over herself and her car seat while we still had about 2 hours to go.  Seriously, our last 2 hours we drove home smelling puke.  I think she just got car sick, she does that sometimes, but this was awful timing and I don't know if we'll be allowed to ride with Jason anytime soon!  Here are pictures from our week in Oklahoma:
The kids making a gingerbread house:

 Gwyn has perfected a somersault, she has been working on this for awhile!

 Little snaggle-tooth Annie loved the slide at Emily's house:

 Thanksgiving at my parents (Susie was there, but didn't get in the picture...the kids had so much fun with Susie.  They would say, "you're busted, you got a chicken in your ear" and then die laughing (they are kind of crazy).  Susie would say, "that makes no sense."

 Annie looking precious in her Christmas outfit:

 Gwyn having fun outside:

 Jacob and Brian before bed:

 Brian after eating his second Thanksgiving feast in two days:

 Annie cheering for football (such a sad loss OSU!):

Riding Papa:

 Gwyn whining...I put this picture in here to show how beautiful and long her hair is...I'm planning on getting it cut this week (we've never cut it):

Getting ready to play outside:

 The Katt kids and the Huff kids:

 Mr. Muscles:

 Jacob and Annie playing with Grace and Sadie:

 Thanksgiving with Brian's family:

 Jacob in action:

 Sweet little Gwyn in her Christmas outfit:

 The kids with Rick and Sue posing:

 Give two kids one bottle of shaving cream and 4 minutes and you get this:

We did put up Christmas decorations at the house, and we have 4 trees.  The big one, and then Jacob, Gwyn and Annie each have their own.  After we put them up, you could hear them talking about how Santa was coming the next day.  I think Jacob has asked me 5 times today when our advent calendar starts, where they get to open one door per day til Christmas.  I explained several times about days of the week, and months, and how it is Monday, and on Wednesday it will be December 1st and we can start then.  He later told Gwyn that not tomorrow, but the next day it is Christmas, ha!  I'll have to get pictures of the kids with their Christmas trees, it is pretty funny how they decorated it.  Gwyn's has one spot with about 20 ornaments and the rest of her tree is bare.  Jacob has them all over the place, and keeps going over to our big tree trying to find just one more unbreakable ornament that he can switch to his tree.  Our tree has no ornaments from about 3 ft off the ground on down...little Annie is mesmerized!  I put up the Christmas village, and we could not find any of my cords.  I was so upset, and just on a whim, I texted the guy who bought our old house and sure enough they were in the attic (even though Brian told me over and over that he took them all out and put them in a box), I'm just so relieved, I'm going to go pick them up Wednesday morning!!  The kids will freak out after I get it set up with lights, everyday they pull their little stools over and just look at the village and repeatedly tell each other not to touch.  Oh yes, we have entered a tattle telling zone at our house.  It is a daily competition on who can tattle the most.  Jacob even told on Gwyn for telling on him, seriously, they are masters, except for when one of them tells on the other and ends up telling on themselves too (ha!). 

Funny things the kids said this week:
Jacob:  Is that a sticker?
Me:  Yes.
Jacob:  Are you going to put it on your shirt?
Me:  No, it is a $73 inspection sticker I'm going to put it on our car.
Jacob:  You are only supposed to put stickers on paper or on yourself
Me:  That is true, except for your hair (bad experience with getting 20+ stickers out of Gwyn's hair once), but this is a special expensive sticker we have to put on our car.
Jacob:  You aren't supposed to put stickers on the car (I know!)
Jacob (who always asks me to tell him a secret, whispered this in my ear when I told him to tell me one):  We are going to Chuck E Cheese.  (He has since then told this secret to anyone who will listen...we still haven't gone to CEC, poor kid!)
Gwyn:  Why did God make boogers?  (seriously!)
Jacob (at dinner tonight):  Thank you mommy for cooking me these noodles that I like (he's so sweet!).
Jacob (after my dad told him a story about his grandson who could swim):  Is it me?
Me (to Jacob):  Don't give Annie that (a nut), she doesn't have any teeth.
Jacob:  Yes she does, she has one on the top and two on the bottom.
Jacob (after getting in trouble and I told him our rules about being nice to our brothers and sisters):  But I don't have a brother (he's so technical!)
Gwyn (as we passed some cows while driving to Oklahoma):  I didn't know they had animals in Oklahoma!
Jacob (after I said that Jason got back home to my parents house while we were in OK):  This isn't his home.
Jacob: Mommy, Annie can have strawberries because they are soft, she only can't have things that are hard.