Thanksgiving at the GerltHouse

Thanksgiving this year was extra special. It marked the first holiday in 5 years that the entire Gerlt family has been together. We had Papa and Granna from Lubbock. Chris, Angela, Alayna, Caleb and Baby Ava drove in from Tennessee. But Kevin, Brigitte and Grace got the award for traveling the farthest to be with us. They are in from East Asia! It was so fun to all be together at last.
We had plenty of food, lots of grandkids, football, Wii, swinging outside, dress-up, coffee, and conversation. It was perfect.

Our family motto (brought to us by Kevin) is: "Eat through the pain." We should make shirts.
The great thing about November in the south is that it is warm enough to enjoy your meal outside!
The weekend before Thanksgiving our sweet Mindy came for a visit. Mindy and I love to craft together so we came up with a project to work on while she was here. We came up with these little pumpkins and napkin rings. We love you, Mindy!
Grace made Chad's day by climbing up in the chair and sitting with him for a long time. It was so fun to get to spend time with her and get to know her better. Sweet, sweet girl!
Baby Ava provided the snuggles for the weekend. She is such a sweet, content baby. She just sat with us and sang us songs and smiled. Precious.
Our two year olds did so good together. Jake is crazy about Grace and he loved having her here to play with for several days.

See? Isn't she adorable?
Jake and Papa talked and played cards and ate pistachios. It was a good time.

We gave thanks for many things during Thanksgiving, but I think we were most thankful for time together. We are blessed.