Thankidsgiving

Thanksgiving was rough for me this year and then I got the flu over the weekend.
Thank goodness for the great kids in our family!

They always bring a smile to my face.

Here are a few of my favorite moments:

This guy not only loved the dogs, he gave me a love! Heath was sadly looking around for his grandma and when he found me in her usual place in the kitchen, I got a big hug from him. He generally will give me a hug only when I ask for one. I wish he hadn't been sad, but I'm grateful for his spontaneous hug!

Thanks to this girl for having a Thanksgiving birthday, so we got to have a pinata!
Doesn't Alyssa look great in her high heeled pinata?
Happy 11th sweet Alyssa!
I like to tease her mom that Alyssa looks like she should have been my baby, don't you agree?

Thanks to this girl for helping her mom make these cute pilgrim hat place settings.
Jenna also made me laugh when I gave her a gift bag with her early birthday present. I told her she could open it and she replied, "Well, I already know what it is Aunt Melanie. You always give me and Alyssa the same thing."
I do? I guess I do ;)

This girl always makes me smile, but she was especially cute at Thanksgiving. I let her try some sweet potatoes and she loved them. The funniest part was when her daddy scolded me for giving her something with lots of sugar. I almost laughed out loud because he LOVES his sugar. And just so you know, I wasn't being a bad grandma. I was able to tell him that it was an all natural sweet potato casserole with no sugar!

This little sweetie won the best dressed award in her lovely, long white dress.
Brooke did wear her cute Thanksgiving outfit for most of the day, but changed into her dress just in time to receive a name and a blessing from her daddy. It was wonderful to have so many priesthood holders in our family participate in the ordinance.
I believe it was Aaron's first time to help bless a baby.

Emma was in heaven with two baby cousins to love!
When she wasn't holding a baby, she kept busy with her knitting. She is an amazing self-taught knitter. She does absolutely beautiful work and even has her first "for pay" project.

This girl is always in charge! Cammi doesn't like anyone telling her what to do.
But she melted like butter for her little cousin. She had a fabulous time letting him pull her around by the hand and doing whatever he wanted!

And Riley certainly enjoyed his cousins. He loved sharing a cardboard box with Cammi.
He also had his mind made up about the pinata. He wanted to wear a blindfold like all the other kids, but he didn't want it covering his eyes.

This little guy also loved the pinata. Strictly speaking, he isn't one of the kids, but he is a puppy so I think that counts. Dutch helped himself to the treats and had to have both a Laffy Taffy and a Slinky removed from his mouth. And he wasn't happy about losing either one!

Finally, thanks to the sweet girl who took all these pictures and let me post them even when she wasn't thrilled with my choice of photos or editing. I love you Marianne!