Thanksmas 2023!

One of my favorite days of the year!!! 

Look at this spread! We eat very well! 

The even better part is it's not all on me. I made the Turkey, Carrots, Potatoes and the Punch and then everyone else brings something to add to the meal. Honestly even though it seems like this day would stress me out it doesn't. There is a crunch time when everything in the kitchen is going on at once, but really that's only for a short time and then I just get to sit back and visit with everyone. I didn't even had to do dishes later since Christina and Miss Ruth took care of those. So nice! 

The kids were ready for food!!! 

I love having my house filled with people! 

Love Love Love! 

Time to eat! 

We had to arrange the tables a bit differently this year since we had more people over. We had 23 people total! 

The men's table.

L-R

Bill, Michael, Sisay, Michael, Ernie, Papa, Peppy, Yeaab & Pa. 

The ladies' table. 

L-R

Ruth, Ga-Ga, Katie, Sarah, Tori and Me....Christina is taking the picture. 

I can always count on Christina taking a picture of her plate....we were sure thankful! 

Ernie & Katie are so precious to our family, our church and everyone they encounter really. Sweet sweet generous people...love them! 

Peppy & Tori were here from California to see their family. Sisay is Peppy's Dad and we know them because Yeaab is the Youth Pastor at our church. It was so fun to have people over that we hadn't even met before. I hope they come back next year at Thanksmas so we can meet their baby that's due in February. 

Just sitting around visiting! 

These sweet girlies just love anytime they get to hang out together. 

Papa & Sisay had such a nice time visiting together! 

Bill & Pa were still hanging out in the garage. 

Owen and Caleb have gotten much closer this last year since they both like the same sort of games. They love to play Twilight Imperium together. It's been great to see their friendship develop! 

We had to take advantage of the Christmas tree and get pictures. 

Papa & Grandma Ruth...they ended up using this picture as their Christmas card! 

Me and my man! 

Pa & Ga-Ga

We had to do grandkid pics as well! 

After all the folks that weren't family headed out it was nice that everyone that was family didn't rush out....they stayed around we all just chatted in the living room. 

It made my heart so happy! 

God has richly blessed us with family and friends that are family! 

My sweet girl! 

We almost forgot, but thankfully we remembered at the last minute to take pictures of the Kuch's around the tree! 

Another awesome time fellowshipping with loved ones. 

Halloween 2023!

After the Fall Festival, we brought home our pumpkins and carved them up! 

Zeke wanted a white pumpkin this year. He did a great job! 

Owen of course paid Jack to take out the guts of his pumpkin and then he used one of those templates to make a fun design. This one says "Welcome" and has 3 cute pumpkins on the bottom. 

On Halloween poor Ella Grace had a migraine so Michael ended up staying home with her and I took the boys down to Ga-Ga & Pa's. Traffic was a nightmare and it took us almost 2 hours to get to their house. 

It was worth it to make these memories with these sweet kids though! 

Addison was a Farmer, Anna was a Cat, Caleb was a Nerd, Owen was the Grim Reaper, Jack was a Knight's Templar and Zeke was a Seahawks Player. 

We even bought the pumpkins to Ga-Ga & Pa's to show off! 

Anna brought hers as well....she cut out a cat...how appropriate! 

Love this picture of Owen...the blue sky in the background seems creepy! 

We walked around the neighborhood and I got to chat with Bill & Christina while the kids went door to door. Not sure how much longer we'll keep this up, but I'd like them to stay kids for as long as they can. 

Checking out their hauls! 

Love this lady! 

I think it was right around this time that I started wearing my glasses full time. I had Lasik in Dec 2017 and my eyes had been doing great. Then in winter of 2022 I noticed that driving at night was getting harder for me. The glare from the headlights was really becoming as issue and reading streets signs was also becoming harder. I got these glasses to only wear for driving at night. For about a year that was fine, but then I noticed that my eyes were getting really tired during school so I started wearing them while doing school with the kids as well. After that it just became easier to wear them all the time. I'm still fine without them. In fact when I went to get RX sunglasses the eye doctor told me my RX was so low that our insurance wouldn't even cover RX sunglasses. I ended up just paying for them with Michael's HSA account. When I wear my sunglasses and then run into a store to buy something I usually don't even change them out for my normal glasses I just push the sunglasses to the top of my head like a headband. I like wearing my glasses because they just make everything look more sharp! Plus they are super cute!

The Kuch Klan! 

Ga-Ga & Pa with almost all their G-Kids! 

Poor Ella ended up throwing up quite a few times due to her migraine so it was a good thing she stayed home. 

The next day she was feeling right as rain so I had her put on her new costume. She's just the cutest hippy girl! Hopefully next year she'll get to show it off when she goes out!