A Lot To Be Thankful For...

This year, we drove our little brood down to the OC to spend a few days with Mop, Pop and Uncle Kyle for Thanksgiving. Eight hours in the car is much better now that the babies sleep through the night! We did the bulk of the driving at night, so once the kids were asleep, we just had to make sure we didn't fall asleep! Overall, much better than the trip we made in June when the babies were only ten weeks old! I'm getting stressed even thinking about that drive now!!

You're in for a lot of pictures, so here goes...

The kids table, with the babies in their low-rider highchairs. (As a side note, those high chairs seemed like overkill when Mop and Pop got them for Megan and Joey's first Thanksgiving, but they've been through three pairs of kids now!)

Tessa's demonstrating a pose that both she and Annie have mastered. I think it's really cute. And, Tessa's shirt says "one of a kind." Sure, we'll let her think that.

They loved the vintage Raley blocks and toys,

and Annie later moved on to exploring Pop's face... ...she wasn't sure what to think.

Tessa with Kyle

After watching some home video of Sara and me as babies (at about 8 months) taking a bath in the kitchen sink, we decided to try to recreate the scene with some look alikes:

Of course, Brideget wiggled her way into the sink eventually, too:

Here's Tessa unwinding in her new favorite spot - the hammock in Mop and Pop's backyard. She stayed in there, eerily calm and content, for a very long time. This thing puts all of our baby swings to shame. Too bad we didn't have one in our backyard for the first six months of the babies' lives!!

3 Raley kids

5 Raleys

4 Stecher kids

6 grandkids

and 6 Stechers