Isabel's 5 year B-Day Party!!!

McKenzie was super jazzed to get an invitation to her longtime friend Izzie's "Big Kid" Birthday Party.  The best part, it was at a super fun place that Kenzie has never been...Mahoney State Park's Activity Center has a really awesome indoor play area.  SWEET!!

 McKenzie was pretty unsure about it at first...but she warmed up after a few minutes.  :-)  She especially enjoyed the tunnels.  She would want to stop in each one and pretend like it was her house for a few minutes.  At least until a big kid would come by and stare at her impatiently giving her the "hey little girl, get outta my way look!"

McKenzie waiting patiently for all the other friends to join her at the party table...now if only we could get her to be this "good" all of the time.  I suppose that would probably have to entail cake, ice cream and POP...so it's not likely anytime soon  :-)

Isabel getting ready to blow out the candles on her Dora cake!

 Wow, that's impressive.  I don't know how Jeremy and Becca managed to wrangle this group of little ones and keep them all well-behaved, inline and mindful for as long they as they did.  They pulled off a super fun B-Day party!  And I think Jeremy has added a few more gray hairs to his head after Sunday afternoon  :-)

 Presents!

 I love how Isabel is arranging all of her friends for a group picture  :-)

 awwww!

 okay.  GO!

 McKenzie loved doing somersaults & cartwheels on the big mat.

off in a liitle world of her own playing with the little kid toys...which I suppose is appropriate since she IS still a little kid :)

 Tye up high in the tower!

 Becca and Megan.
You'll be happy to know all the kids made it back to Omaha and were returned safely to their parents.  Most of Izzie's friends were dropped off by their parents, but I'm not sure my 3&1/2 yr old's ready just yet...maybe the next time.  So I tagged along and helped chaperon.

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FUN TIME!!!!!  THANKS FOR INVITING KENZIE TO THE PARTY  :)

Thanksgiving 2010 (part 2)

We gathered with the "Lee" side of the family for feast #2 on Sunday.  A good time was had by all!

 I didn't get to snuggle with Macy as much as I would like to have...as cousin Erika loved on her the majority of the time.  hehe  What a sweetheart!  She's definitely one of Macy's favorite people  :-)

 Dad and Chad workin' in the kitchen (okay - well maybe not my dad so much LOL)

 Attempt #1 at getting a grandkid group shot.  FAIL!  Looks like it is, once again, MY KID, who does not sit still.  sweet, way to go Kenzie...

 We're getting closer to a "keeper"...here cousin Dylan tries to restrain the ornery 3 year old!  :-)

 almost...

 uop, we lost Macy!

 There we go!  Thanks Erika   :-)  That's the keeper.

 the annual "silly pose".  looks like Anna's flashin' gang signs.  uh oh Keri, better keep an eye on that one!

 My amazing family.  We all have sooo much to be thankful for this year  :-)  and haha...looks who's the tallest!  Yep, I'm the youngest & the tallest in the fam.

 The littles are playing cards just like the mommies in the pic below (minus the roudiness of course).  It was so cute, I kept over hearing their sweet little voices say "I'll trade yooooou....".  Just adorable!

 And our 3 hour long card game of "Shanghai Rummy"...We got a little loud.  You know you're having a good time when the little kids (all ten of whom were quietly watching Toy Story, kept yelling over to us to "KEEP IT DOWN PLEASE!!".  haha  too funny

 The whole adult crew.  Thanks for gathering everyone up Heather  :-)  Glad we have this great family photo.  Can't remember the last time ALL of us were in a pic together!

 The kid table

 The "Big" kid table.

 Enjoying a fabulous feast in the Witt's newly finished basement  :-)  What a GREAT space for a large group of folks such as us!

 Macy's first Thanksgiving feast...mmmm mashed potatoes and gravy!

 awwww...thanks for taking & sharing these cute pics Heather  :-)

Macy crashed in the pack 'n' play while us momma's (and grandma) played cards...she had an audience  :-)

All the while the boys were upstairs watching football (That was one heck of an OU vs. Oklahoma State game!)

Our eight hour Thanksgiving celebration ended with munching on leftovers around 11:30pm.   Waaaay past my typical bedtime.  Ha!

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Here are some pics that Shelly took at the Harnisch gathering.  wanted to share these too  :-)

 I forget what this game was called, but it was super fun!  Here me and Ashlynn face-off.  As you can see I am still deep in focus as Ashlynn is DONE & totally kicked my butt!

 yeah, so...I got smoked by an 11 year old...she's smart so I don't feel all that bad  :-)  But hey - I did beat Gayle a handful of times (and she's a Chief Medical Physicist) so there!  Now I feel better.  hehe

 Lynette, Jerry & Jessica relaxing after a delicious meal.

sweet baby Grady!

 little Harrison.  This little guy is army crawling ALL over the place!  wow  :-)

 now Mason and McKenzie play an intense game of "I forget what it's called"...it was cute though...they were pretending these were computers  :)

 "here Mason...you do i like this...let me show you"...i love how Mason has a tight hold of his "cars" tractor in his right hand...better not let one of my baby cousins get a hold of this!

"How big is Harrison?"...SOO BIIG"   :-)

Thanks Tod and Jess for hosting all of us crazy "Harnisches on Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving 2010 (part 1)

editors note:  I apologize in advance for the cheesiness of this next sentence. I couldn't help it...and it's my blog, so I'll cheese it up if I want to!  ha.

Fanksgiving is by Far one of my Favorite Festivities!  It's Fabulous and Focuses on Five F's...Family, Feast, Football, Friends & Fun!  And at the end of the day you Find yourself Full!  Full of everything you are MOST thankful For.

The Five day weekend started off with Erika coming home from college to spend some quality time with her family.  Her first order of business...tag along during Macy's OT appt.  Erika has decided that she wants to major in "Inclusive Early Childhood Education".  Although she has always known she wanted to do something that involved kiddos (cuz she is amazing with children!), she does admit that Macy has inspired her to pursue this specific "angle".  How SWEET is that?!  :-)  Love you Erika - what a difference you will make in the future of today's youth...the youth who need it the MOST!  :-)

 

 She also allowed the rest of us Aunts and cousins to crash her "Grandpa/Grand-daughter" lunch at the Firebarn.  Good times!

 group shot...notice I am not in ANY of these pics...typical.

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Thursday we had our Thanksgiving feast with the Harnisches.

 Gobble Gobble everyone.  Again make note of who is not in any of these pics.  tehe

 Momma's little Turkeys!

 I like this picture for two reasons.  1) it proves just how SPOILED McKenzie is by all her Aunts.  here Aunt Shelly is SPOONFEEDING the grown toddler...and 2) notice the MEN in the kitchen in the background.  yep, they're totally doing the dishes.  NICE!

Gordy & Todd doin' a little after dinner clean up.

 Macy just eats up the attention from her super sweet big cousins.

 Love this!

 Autumn is so good with her  :-)

 McKenzie and Shelly having an intense conversation.

We got a game of pitch in too, which is always fun. We used to always get in a good game of cards at our Harnisch gatherings, but that is proving to be a bit more difficult as of late as the kids just about out number the adults these days! :)
I didn't take too many pics because I was too busy relaxing and enjoying the day.  I'm bummed that I did not get a shot of the other little ones!  :-(  Neeley, Grady or Harrison.  And Sam, poor Sam had a fever and napped through most of the party.

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We had a low key day today (Friday) just doin' some chores around the house, watched some football and put up some indoor Christmas stuff.  Tomorrow is the big Lee Thanksgiving feast!  :-)