Keeping up with Katy: Thanksgiving 2016

Ah, Thanksgiving week.

I love Thanksgiving week.

A week full of family and ridiculous amounts of food that kick-starts you into the most wonderful time of the year. Yes, please.

This week also reminds me just how doggone lucky I am to have my family. I'm sure everyone thinks their family takes the cake, and I am no different. I am obsessed with my family.

And y'all they're a crazy bunch. And give me some seriously good blogging material.

The crazy kicked off on Monday morning when Jeff and I set out for the 5 hour drive to my parents' house. A couple hours in, we got word that my sister and the kids (who were about 20 minutes ahead of us), were on the side of the road with a flat.

So then this happened.

Of which I told Amy that we were quite fortunate that he was with us. Because if it had been just me, all I would have been able to offer is company while she waited for AAA.

Yay for handy future hubs. So he worked on that....

...while the peanut gallery took selfies.

And played in dirt.

We still had a good 2.5 hours to go on the drive, so Amy had to actually go get her tire replaced before finishing the journey.

Which means we got the kids.

It was just quite ironic, because as we left Dallas we turned on Christmas music and Jeff made the comment that we better enjoy listening to road trip music of our choice while we can (you know, before it changes to Kidz Bop on repeat). Then 2 hours later we have a car full of kids. :)

But alas, everyone finally made it safely to Beaumont.

And life got a little too real for Jeffrey :)

Every morning, I would wake up early to get some work done before the "house" woke up, and one morning I woke up and heard giggles in my dad's study.

Then I walked into these two having a moment :)

My dad originally set out to do his Bible study, but Easton wanted to read about numbers (not the Biblical chapter kind) instead. I think my dad was okay with that!

So Jeff has only been to Beaumont a handful of times, but a staple of those in Beaumont is breakfast at Cracker Barrel. And Jeff has never been to Cracker Barrel. And I'm pretty sure that's unAmerican. So we remedied that.

Oh, and snuggled with Easton some more. You'll see him a lot during this post. We're kind of obsessed. And he's kind of a hoot.

Uncle Allen showed up Tuesday afternoon and helped Jeff work on his ONE THOUSAND piece puzzle he got at the Hob Lob. I'm pretty sure he immediately regretted it when he opened the box.

Oh, and Brookie helped too.

After dinner one night, half of us decided to watch Finding Dory (seriously - such a good movie). And then I casually mentioned that ice cream would be good. And then Brooklyn proceeded to repeat that statement every 5 minutes. So we sent my dad out for ice cream....

...and he came back with 4 cartons. I love that man. We think the same way.

And since Easton can't eat ice cream yet, we let him take a bath in the kitchen sink so he could still feel like part of the fam.

Wednesday morning I woke up to a rain/thunder, and when I walked downstairs I couldn't find anyone. Then I proceeded to walk to the front porch where I saw my mom and E just rocking and watching the rain.

So I grabbed a cup of coffee and joined them. Rocking on a porch during a monsoon whilst drinking coffee? All the good feels.

And don't worry - it was like 70 degrees in Beaumont. We didn't have the baby in freezing rain.

We were meeting my dad for lunch that afternoon, so Brooklyn made him some cookies for dessert. Baking cookies at 9a. That's how the Reeves roll.

After lunch, Jeff and I did some work on the registry. And let me tell you what - when the people give you a registry scanner, you feel like you have ALL THE POWER.

And ALL THE JOY.

This is how B and I spent a good majority of the week - snuggled on the couch. I love this girl.

Then she changed her face at the last minute and I just about lost it. I laugh every time I look at this picture.

Then Wednesday night we proved what nutcases we are.

So here's the thing, my dad is a self-taught master wood human. The stuff he makes is downright amazing. So when we built the cabin at the campground, he decided to build a kitchen table (complete with a lazy susan)...solely from wood he found on the side of the road.

My dad's workshop is like foster care for reclaimed wood.

I mean look at that thing. That's also a chest he made from reclaimed wood behind it.

Well, my dad really wanted to test out the new table, but there was no room to bring it into the house...

....so we ate dinner in the garage.

Can't make this stuff up, people. Can't make this stuff up.

Then I put my dad to work on another project for yours truly :)

So this little guy (who is ALL boy), has a very favorite place.

And that place is the dishwasher.

He just climbs up there like it ain't no thang. And has the time of his life.

Cutest little dishwashin' stinker.

Now, I usually am in charge of the big Thanksgiving breakfast every year, but this year I told mom I wanted to actually cook the big Thanksgiving lunch. It's on my 30 Before 30 list, and since next year I'll be on a honeymoon, it was now or never.

I love this crazy lady.

Thanksgiving morning is one of my favoritest mornings. We wake up, cuddle up, drink coffee, watch the Macy's Day Parade, eat monkey bread - it's just a good morning.

And this year, all the girls looked pretty cute in our matching Ugg slippers. I saw them in Australia and decided they'd be perfect souvenirs for my favorite girls. And then I naturally had to get myself a pair....

PS - my mother's legs are so teeny. Woman has some rockin' legs.

Then this guy was more than happy to help clean up after breakfast :)

After the parade, it was time to get ourselves cleaned up and put the finishing touches on lunch!

Uncle + Nephew; Aunt + Niece

I just adore these two. My little turkey trotter and my little butterball :)

My dad hates cutting the turkey.

And Jeff and I hate waiting for the last batch of rolls to get out of the oven.

Not the greatest picture (and we're covering half the food), but I loved getting to cook my first Thanksgiving dinner alongside my mama. At times it was frustrating (several recipes are a combination of multiple recipes/inside her noggin), but it's just always special sharing a kitchen with my mom.

After a period of straight up food-coma, we played dress-up with Brooklyn! My mom found my dress I wore when I was a flower girl (age 5), so we let Brookie try it on.

All the feels. She is going to be the cutest stinking flower girl.

This is the last picture I took at home. I went up to bed and left Jeff with his puzzle. Four days later and this is his progress (and real-time emotion) towards that thing.

Then Friday morning we left in the wee hours of the morning to pick up Char Man from the boarder, watch the AMAZINGNESS that was the Gilmore Girls revival (seriously - so good), and begin transforming my tiny little apartment into the North Pole.