Marathon Post for a Marathon Weekend-- First installment

(I have no idea what is up with my layout but nothing is centering so sorry for the weird set up of this one)
Okay! So I am slowly recovering from the most fabulous Thanksgiving weekend ever! We headed down to the Outer Banks in North Carolina with five other families (all of whom we love!) including the Tillman's who were such sports and drove all the way from Cleveland. We stayed in a huge beach house right smack dab in between the sound and the ocean. Each family had their own bedroom which made it very nice! In all there were 19 bodies and a baby walker (hee hee Harrison's) We had such a wonderful time eating, laughing and playing on the beach. The first morning we arrived Elizabeth and I took Sam Atticus and Lucy down to the pier on the sound side. They had fun playing with the ropes and looking into the water for "sishies!" Lucy who is obsessed with ghosts kept telling me there were ghosts in the water. I hope she doesn't have some actual paranormal gift other wise our beach house is over run with spirits! Lucy HATES getting her picture taken. Which made for some interesting times later on when we tried to do a photo shoot on the beach. Then again in front of a light house :) I snapped this one quick when she 'accidentally" looked at me :)

We headed home and were FREEZING so I thought it would be a good time to hop in what would become the kids FAVORITE spot. The hot tub! Liam found a little spot in the corner that he loved to sit in. I would swim him around to get him warm but he always wanted back on his little stoop. We tried turning the bubbles on but miss Halle informed us that they scared her. From then on every time we hoped in Sam would say "no bubbles, they scare Halle!" It was pretty cute.

When we weren't on the beach or in the hot tub we were hanging out in the big living room or on one of the three decks! This is the boys one night after a long day of fun hanging out watching Blades of Glory with us... I know fabulous parenting.

One of the nights Elizabeth broke out a surprise she had brought-- ornaments to decorate!! She brought everything, the ornaments, paints, brush's cool paper! It was so much fun to sit and paint, or glue and glitter! I think everyone was very happy with their outcomes. Thank you Elizabeth!

Thanksgiving morning the Mullins' provided a huge breakfast to hold us over until the afternoon dinner! It was fabulous (We took turns providing a meal which worked out fabulously!)

We lounged around inhaling the deliciousness!

Another rare photo op of Lucy looking at the camera. I swear I am not obsessed with my cross my fingers future daughter in law (Sam and she have been betrothed since birth) I just am dying to get a picture of her gorgeous smile!

The lovely ladies of the house whom I am fortunate enough to call my friends!

I was wondering why we were having such a nice quiet morning then I realized three of the cuties were watching a movie intently on Sam's portable DVD player in our make shift toy room. There is a gorgeous room right off the kitchen up a little flight of stairs that is all windows. We needed the extra seating so we pulled the couch and big chair down stairs. This left the room empty and a perfect place for the DVD and trains!

After breakfast while the turkeys (yes plural we had two turkeys) were cooking we decided to head back down to the beach. We bundled the kids up and put the youngest in the stroller. Liam was none to happy about this insisting he was a big kid and should get to walk.

Chris got these fun action shots of us sprinting away from a wave that came a little farther in than we had anticipated! Poor Atticus chased a bird right into a wave and was soaked. Luckily at that age they think things like that are fun!

Lemers and me on the Beach (note the car behind us... that will come into play later in installment two "the car adventures!").

At another trip to the beach for a Lucy and Harrison Family photo shoot (more pics to follow) Sam found this really cool sand castle that had turrets and stairs and a moat! He had fun destroying it! (you can see the little flag behind us)

It was soooo cold and I didn't want Liam to catch a cold so I put my hat and scarf on him. I had to take a picture and joked with Chris "what Liam would look like as a girl" He didn't find it humorous. Apparently neither did Liam.

We headed home and the preparations for the big meal began!! Our family and the Harrison's were in charge of Thanksgiving. In the end we had Two turkeys (one organic and one frozen for the taste test) one ham, five pies, 12 apple blossoms, six sides and 15 bottle of sparkling cider! Yeah wow talk about a feast! Elizabeth worked long and hard and made these adorable corn poppers for everyone there! I loved this because it is my families tradition to have poppers at chrismas! The kids loved the treats and toys inside.
We then went around saying what we were thankful for and I of course turned on the water works. How embarassing! I only snapped one picture of the feast because I got to wrapped up in the amazing food!

Photoshoot time!!!

I also had the opportunity to do four photoshoots while down there to work on my skills!! While I am trying to keep all photos that have nothing to do with my family off this blog I had to include some of my favs. I started out by making my biggest tutu yet! We wanted it to be festive for christmas so it is red and green of course! My first vicitims were the Harrison family. I just LOVE this picture of Nora. It is so her! She is such a wonderfully kind person and I think it radiates out of her! We got some great ones of her fam but I will keep those for the other site!

Then it was Lucy's turn! I did not realize how hard it would be to get a good shot of a two year old who DID NOT want her picture taken. I think we got a few that will work though. Although there is not a smile in the bunch. I am not as funny as I think I am!

The next day it was Halle's turn! She was a 180 from Lucy (I still totally love you Lu-Lu!). Vanessa and I were dying laughing because she would literally non stop say cheese. I would have to wait a second after she said it to get a smile that wasn't HUGE! There are soooo many cute pictures I am having to stop myself from editing all of them. The first is my favorite, love those little toes.

This last one I caught as we were heading back to the car. I love her loose hair in the sun!

Alright so in our next installment some funny mishaps leading to some of my favorite memories of the week, but I thought I should let you breathe!