A Sears Thanksgiving

We had such a great Thanksgiving down in Texas. I hadn't been home for Thanksgiving since my senior year of high school, and we hadn't gotten these three together since this picture was taken over the summer.

One of the first things we did was go tour Dad's new office. I am telling you, the Exxon Campus is impressive. It is huge, very open feeling, and has its own building for exercise, a giant food court, stores for shopping, bakeries, a mini grocery store, a barber, and so much more. You could live there easily, well... as long as you like zero privacy with lots of big open glass windows. No privacy, but certainly a lot of nice natural light!

We also set up the Christmas decorations early since the whole family was down, and Ezra loved these reindeer and Mrs. Clause. Plus, Lincoln taught him how to climb the stairs. It soon became a favorite pastime to race up the stairs smiling naughtily and belly laughing while I chased after him. As of yet, he still doesn't quite know how to come back down.

And of course, in typical Sears fashion, we ate and ate and ate and ate. Mmmm...

Custard in under 45 degree weather.

We celebrated mom and dad's anniversary and Joe's arrival at Gringo's. How I missed Texmex.

"WHAT? That's my ice cream!"

And we had an early celebration for Lauren's birthday at Texas Roadhouse.

When Thanksgiving Day arrived we had prepped early and had a pretty relaxing day. As is Sears tradition, we watched the Macy's parade while cooking and then hunkered down on Mom and Dad's bed to watch the Dog Show. I just love that dog show; it is, hands-down, my favorite Thanksgiving tradition. I haven't watched it since last time I was home for Thanksgiving, and I missed it so.

A little pre-dinner snack.

I think Ezra's favorite part of the trip was feeding the dogs. Tally was really bothered by Ezra, but he loved her. And she certainly didn't object to all the food he gave her. He was all grins and giggles whenever he could pelt the dogs with food. Even when Tally would growl at him, he thought it was hilarious.

Jameson and Emma gave Ezra his very first haircut. We gave him a lollipop to distract him, but it didn't work as well as we hoped, so we let him watch a little bit of Robin Hood and a little bit of Pocahontas. This scene was his favorite.

Thanks guys! It turned out so great!

And of course, there's this gem.

Getting pumped for #December #IlovemyFamily #EarthWindFire #SearsThanksgiving

Had to get in some snuggle time before Auntie Lauren left

A lot of time was spent playing with magnets. Ezra would take them down, and Lincoln would put them back up. They make a good team. And countless hours were spent working on John's giant 6,000 piece puzzle.

After he got over his initial jealousy, Ezra loved hanging with Phoenix and showing him some of his favorite things, like books and screaming.

Flying in an airplane by yourself with a 14 month-old is basically a nightmare. However, I was blessed because I was upgraded to first class. This meant more space and free food. The extra space was heavenly, but having Ezra angrily throw food and utensils around was awful. Plus, for some reason I feel even worse having him cry in first class than in coach (although I feel pretty bad either way) because the people in first paid more to have a more relaxing and comfortable flight. 

I was pretty frazzled, but we were blessed to sit next to an angel. This nice woman had recently returned from serving in the armed forces in the middle east. She entertained Ezra and was super patient with all of his outbursts. When we got to Denver for our layover, she even went out of her way to get me and Ezra into United's Club West so we could decompress for a bit before our next flight. She was a saint, and we are so grateful to her.

Ezra exploring Club West. I would have been overjoyed with simply having a comfortable, clean bathroom, but they also had free snacks, fancy Ghirardelli hot chocolate, egg nog, and a nice clean space for Ezra to stretch out in during our layover. Ezra particularly enjoyed the free Tillamook cheese. Some people certainly know how to travel.