Happy Thanksgiving!!

After pictures and much cooking, Ceci had an adorable "Give Thanks" wreath craft for the kids to do:


Our beautiful & delicious lunchtime feast (Hayes was napping, but he joined in later):

 

Nana took this picture!
 

Thanksgiving Family Pictures

We did our family photo shoot Thanksgiving morning.  We had several shots that looked like this (everyone perfect except my little ones):

These next two shots are examples of how my kids only smiled when I gave them the camera remote control:

 

  

So I had to get crafty and do some photo editing, but we got a winner.  I give you
 The Official Richardson Family 2012 Thanksgiving Photo:
 

Cousin Bowling

The cousins enjoyed some family bowling:
 

Isabelle and Grant were great at helping Hayes get his ball to the ramp:
 

 

 

Fun with the hand dryer:
 

Playing with the camera

I got out the tripod and camera remote control to practice for our family picture.  The kids loved pressing the button to make the camera go off:
 

 

 

Mall Christmas Fun

While up in VA, we took the boys to Fair Oaks Mall.  The lead up to seeing Santa at this mall was sponsored by Ice Age, and no expense was spared.  The boys had a blast in this room filled with fake snow:
  

 

Afterwards they stopped to chat with Santa (but we didn't do any official Santa photos there since they weren't really dressed for it), and then they hung out next to Vicky's while they checked out their Ice Age notepads from Santa.

 

They enjoyed the winter wonderland view from the elevator:
 

BC+C Thanksgiving

Here's our Boys Club Thanksgiving lunch.  We hosted it at our house and got to break in the new table (and new bench!)!  I promised more pictures, but I'm already getting so behind, so check out Allison's lovely blog for more details & her adorable pictures!

 

 Happy Thanksgiving!

First Dinner at New Table

It took five years, but I finally found The Perfect Table.  The boys already love eating at it.  Here's our first meal:

Of course, right before we got The Perfect Table, the boys ripped our curtains, so that's actually a tablecloth hanging up on the left.  Hopefully in a couple of weeks, I'll have The Perfect Curtains to finish the room!

Next time remind me to let Hayes finish his food before I take his picture! 

NC Zoo

Kyle and Grant had Veterans' Day off, so we took a family trip to the zoo along with my big zoom lens, so I took way too many pictures, and can't help sharing my favorites.
  

 

  

 

  

 

While Grant & Kyle took a trip to the bathroom, Hayes ran around the aviary (yes, I'm sparing you from all of the bird pictures that I took) posing for pictures.  He'd find somewhere to sit or stand, then look at me and say cheese:
 

 

  

This rhino was sprinting around the paddock.  If you've never seen a rhino run, I recommend you put it on your to-see list.
 

 

No giraffes today.  It was too wet for them to be out--apparently they tend to injure their legs on rainy days.
 

 

This is how we tailgate

 

Kyle used the panoramic mode on his new phone to snag this view:
 If If you're wondering about all of those wet spots in the front middle: the boys were into throwing ice out of the cooler.