home

We are home now.  We left Tuesday night to go to West Virginia to visit Mark's family.  This is our 12th Thanksgiving together.  And it is truly a special gathering.  This year I heard there were going to be between 68-72 people.  I'm not sure of the exact count at the end of the day, but this I will say - we had a house full!  Or rather, my sister-in-law and brother-in-law had a house full.  They have a great house for gatherings and we have had many parties in their house in the 3+ years they have lived there.

This year several of Mark's cousins who we haven't seen in years were 'home' in West Virginia for the holiday.  It was so fun to see cousins who were babies the last time I saw them (at my wedding) and now they are pre-teens who are as tall as me.  We had a full day of visiting on Wednesday and all the cousins who John and Luke had not seen since the beach vacation in June were there.  It is so fun to see the way the cousins fold our brood right into the mix without pause.  We see the rest of the cousins only a few times a year, but there are no issues when we reconnect.  It is so great and warms my heart that my boys love these times so much.  It stirs up memories of my childhood when we would head out on our yearly trip to our cousins house for Thanksgiving. 

The annual Isabella Family cousins picture (only Grace was missing)

Thanksgiving day dawned and found my sweet husband suffering from some sort of stomach bug.  The poor thing had been up most of the night and slept at his parents house during the entire Thanksgiving festivities.  He was sorely missed by all.  But John, Luke and I were able to represent.  We had fun eating way too much food and visiting some more with cousins we may not see for many years.  Although, they live in Florida.  Near a certain mouse's house, so we may take a trip down their way in a few years.

Luke and Santino

Our visit ended much too soon as we had to get up this morning at 5:00 am to drive home.  Mark had to work today so we left West Virginia in the dark and pouring rain with all the crazies who were out shopping and headed back home.  It was a long trip for our tired children (Grace had been up the night before until 1:30, so both she and I were REALLY tired when we got up at 5:00 to come home). 

Our kids had a great time but it was a quick trip and they were up later than usual when we were gone.  So I may or may not have given them dinner at 4:30 tonight, then given them a bath at 5:30, a bed time snack at 6:30 and to bed by 7:00.  I'm thankful they can't tell time yet and that they didn't argue too much when going to bed tonight.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!