2013 Roskamp Thanksgiving was a triple threat (which means this will be a long post =)! Thanksgiving at Aunt Rochelle's with Grandma and a lot of the Kole relatives, photo shoot for Mom and Dad's 40th anniversary, and new nephew Liam's baptism. Steve was able to get special permission to take off an extra day for the baptism (otherwise Costco does not allow any vacation days to be taken between Thanksgiving and Christmas), so the plan was to leave Wednesday afternoon and be at the farm until Sunday. Woot! We were ready for a roadtrip!
...aaaaaaand then Grace got sick on Tuesday. And continued to be sick
through Wednesday afternoon. So obviously since we didn't want to bring
that sick to anyone, we decided to stay home from Thanksgiving, and
when Grace was feeling better, if no one else was sick, we could still
go for Liam's baptism.
Thursday morning no one else was sick yet (yay!!!), so we planned to lay low in the morning and make sure no one else got sick, eat lunch and then pack up and drive to the farm. (Steve was quick thinking enough too to grab a rotisserie chicken Wednesday before he came home from work otherwise we wouldn't have had anything for a Thanksgiving meal ourselves since we didn't have much food left in the fridge.) The trip was uneventful and quiet (no one else was on the roads!), and we go to the farm in time for bed.
Friday was a day filled with meeting and snuggling baby Liam (what an adorable sweet little guy!), and lots of farm fun. And we were so happy my cousins Grace, Marshall, Sarah and Norah drove out to the farm to visit too since we missed them the day before! Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures with them though. Amy has a good one of all the kid cousins and more on her
blog post about the trip.
Wait! I did find one on my phone. Sara was selling beads for
Bead for Life (click on the link, they do good stuff!), and brought them along for an impromptu bead party in the livingroom. So much fun and such a great cause.
After they left, Liam fell asleep on Steve (my family proclaims him the "baby whisperer"), and I went out with Dad and the kids...
girl cousins in the corn pile!
boys helped Boppa get the extra corn out of the combine to go put on the pile my dad has to feed the pheasants all winter
kids also got to help put out the Christmas lights, which is a Friday after Thanksgiving tradition
beautiful SW Minnesota sunset
when the boys found out that their new cousin was a boy, they were most excited to wear matching shirts with him - Grace and Evie love to match clothes, so they insisted on getting in on the fun. we quick got a shot of them before everyone got in jammies for the night.
Mom and Dad's 40th wedding anniversary was this year, and Mom wanted to take family photos while we were home for thanksgiving and baptism. She asked a photographer friend to come out to the farm on Saturday, and we all dolled up the best we could. (All the boys will roll their eyes remembering the countless calls, messages and photos being sent back and forth to coordinate clothes, but we thought we did pretty good!)
I love my family.
Thank you Mom and Dad for being such a loving and faithful example to all of us kids. We love you!
Saturday night we Grandma Kole came to stay overnight since Liam's baptism was the next day, and we had our own family Lasagna Thanksgiving, since we couldn't be with them on Thursday. Followed by dominoes.
Henry just couldn't get enough of Liam!
I couldn't blame him because I couldn't get enough either. =)
Sunday was such a special day - Liam's baptism! And Lucas and Jessica involved all of us siblings. Marcus baptized Liam, Steve and I sang, and Amy accompanied us. It was a beautiful service celebrating Liam as a child of God.
(yeah, this was seriously the best cousin photo I got.)
After church we had lunch for friends and family in the fellowship hall. Lucas made the sloppy joes and Jessica made the cake - so yummy!
then we had time for one last matchie cousin twirl...
...and one last Liam snuggle before we headed for home.
What a wonderful weekend full of family blessings!
