The Burrus Family: Thanksgiving with the Burri

Clint's parents (Mimi and PawPaw), grandmother (Sarah), and sister's family (Sally, Joe, Sarah Beth, Will, and Meredith) came to Dallas to spend Thanksgiving with us and it was such a fun, blessed holiday. Everyone was so energetic and fun, and Charlie and Evie had a wonderful holiday. The Doherty kids were tireless (impressive for teens/preteens!), and ran around with our two kids the entire time. Clint and I felt like we had such a nice break from child-tending, and our kids were so happy and exhausted by the end of the week. I just wish we got to see everyone more often!

Here is our crew on Thanksgiving morning. Sam and Audra came over to join us as well, and as you'll notice, Sam is trying to photo-bomb this picture. :)

The Burri Dohertys are always such generous gift givers, and they brought the most thoughtful, fun gifts for the kids. Charlie and Evie are so spoiled from their mini-Christmas that I'm not sure they need anything else on the real one!

Between her birthday and Thanksgiving, Miss E has totally figured the gift thing out. :)

The kids quickly figured out that PawPaw was an easy target for a book or two. I think Charlie and PawPaw went through Charlie's children's bible about 20 times. Charlie quickly figured out that saying "I just love the bible. I want to read the bible...for GOD" would guarantee a cuddle and long story time. :)

Evie thought PawPaw made a wonderful pillow. :)

In preparation for our Thanksgiving dinner, we took a long walk to "Big Bop." The kids were all troopers and did great the whole way!

Charlie and Will did some mountain climbing on the way...

Even Sam and Audra tagged along, and I am so glad they did because I think our 4-mile hike spurred Miss Elle on. Audra ended up going into labor several hours later! I am also glad I made them pose for this photo, because I think it's their last post-baby one. :)

Somebody decided hitching a ride might be a bit easier.

The fall leaves along the trail were gorgeous!

Will.

Moo Moo.

The boys. Charlie was so happy for the enthusiastic company!

SB and Sally.

Clint came up with a game where they had to cross the playground without touching the ground. Clint, Will, Meredith, and Sam all managed to do it and were so proud of themselves. It did not look easy, and Sam and Clint did not look particularly graceful swinging their long legs over monkey bars. But here is Sam (the last one to finish) declaring victory. :)

Evie was napping and missed our park play date. We were sad to miss her, but so happy to return to a rested and chipper little girl!

Miss Mousy was very pleased with her turkey and her ponies. We heard lots about both. :)

The kids must have played 20 games of big bad wolf and hide and seek, upstairs, downstairs, and outside. We have not been able to replicate this level of fun and excitement since.

Cousins.

Finally, around 5:00, we were ready for Thanksgiving dinner. It was so yummy, and Charlie and Evie were quite pleased with it (mostly just with Mimi's rolls, but oh well!).

Moo Moo was a little more permissive with the bobbies than I am. As a result, she had a true fan in Evie!

Sarah loves puzzles, so Clint and I decided to torture her with a 700-piece Christmas puzzle that was SO hard. But it was fun, and Sarah and Joe (with a little help from a few others) managed to finish it in one day!

The kids liked their Thanksgiving meal, but what they were really excited about was the pie. Charlie and I had been discussing pumpkin pie for weeks ahead of time, and he would always say, "I love pumpkin pie. I've never tried pumpkin pie. What is it?" Once he finally tried it, he decided he did indeed like it, although not quite as much as the chocolate pie. :)

At the end of a long, crazy day, relaxing with football was just perfect.

We got a little extra time with PawPaw, Mimi and Sarah on Friday and the kids just had the best time. They love their grandparents and great-grandmother and have so much fun playing with them. Charlie especially loves all the tractor/ranch/animal/vehicle/football knowledge that PawPaw brings with him. Poor PawPaw fields questions (and receives unsolicited suggestions) 24/7.