Cole's First Thanksgiving

(The pictures on this post are in a random order and I apologize. I wanted to get them on the blog to share with you and could not figure out how to reorder them).

Thanksgiving has always been the biggest of holidays for my side of the family. Growing up Thanksgiving was the only time where all of my dad's family was able to be together. I was so excited to introduce Cole to everyone this year and be able to include him in our traditions! We were blessed to spend a wonderful day at my cousin Katie and her husband Marc's beautiful home in Chicago. The food was AMAZING, but more than that, the company was wonderful! As you can see above Cole even had his own place with Rhonald and I at the table which was so sweet. Our sweet boy loved the Thanksgiving feast....not a big surprise!

You know how there are people in your life that you love so much but rarely get to spend time with? Well, my aunts and Katie are 3 of those people for me. I have such awesome memories of spending time with these women throughout my life and I loved sharing Cole with them and watching him develop relationships with them. I wish I had gotten a picture of him with my cousin Katie - he adored her...as well as my Aunt Peggy and Aunt Debbie. I think they were a little shocked at how much Cole loved to look at books but I think they loved it at the same time....that way they were able to get some one on one time with him. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to watch him with them.

Wow - this never happens! This is a picture of us with my brother, Mark, and his family, along with my mom and dad. Everyone is actually smiling and paying attention...priceless! My dad is the oldest of 3 boys. I know my grandparents would have been so happy to see everyone having such a wonderful time together.

As I mentioned before, Thanksgiving has always been the biggest holiday for us and this year was no different. Katie and Marc have a beautiful new home and had everything decorated perfectly! It is so fun to get dressed up and enjoy good food while you are surrounded by those that you love! The only "downer" to the day was that my grandparents were not able to be with us this year. Traveling is just too hard on them now. It was impossible to look around the room and not think of them and the fact that they started this family and this fun tradition. I remember my grandpa saying the Thanksgiving blessing dressed in his white dress shirt, grey cardigan sweater and red tie like it was yesterday. I know they are so proud to think of everyone celebrating together even though they were unable to be there.

Cole had a blast with his cousins: Luke, Tyler and Kylie. The last time we were with them he was so small he could not play very much. This time he was very excited to see them and play with them. Luke and Tyler were such a big help to Rhonald and I. They would keep Cole laughing at all times and help watch him while we got ready each day!

Cole playing with his Uncle Mark and Aunt Laura. It is a lot of fun to be able to share parenthood with them. Mark is 10 years older than me but as time goes on the age difference seems less and less. I hope that Cole is able to see them a lot and get to know them over the years.

Poor Sasha! Sasha is Katie and Marc's lab (who we love) and Cole spotted her as soon as we walked in the door! He was a bit shy of all of the new people at first but boy did he want to get down and play with Sasha! Thank goodness she is so sweet and loved Cole as much as he loved her. Sasha was so great that we wanted to take her home with us!

We had such a blast over the weekend. Friday night we ate dinner at a nice Italian place in Chicago. I will be the first to admit that I was stressed out most of the time waiting for Cole to lose it in this nice place but he never did. Actually he was perfect the entire weekend. As much as Cole and I depend on our routine while we are at home he did amazingly well without it. Rhonald and I were so proud of him and the way he seemed to just go with the flow and enjoy his holiday too. The weekend ended much too quickly. The drive seemed forever long and ended with 6 hours of beautiful snow falling on us! I could not stop looking out the window the entire way home. As nice as it is to be home I am already excited for next year!