Twins, Jackson, and Turkey...Oh My!

If the amount of text on this post manages to outweigh the pictures, I will be shocked.  

We spent Thanksgiving in Jackson this year because John and Cristin were able to fly in with the girls for an extended holiday vacation.  There were 8 adults, 1 preschooler, 3 toddlers, and one large dog all coexisting in my parents house.  By the end of the trip we were exhausted, frazzled, some of us throwing up (the annual Kersey virus strikes again!), but overall grateful and thankful for this chance to spend so much time with the most amazing family ever.  Ours :)  

Lucy's expression right here sums up how most of us felt during the trip.  Each night, once the kids were asleep, we would all just sit and stare at each other in some fuzzy haze, wondering how the hell our parents ever did this 30 years ago.  Don't get me wrong, the trip was AWESOME.  I LOVED seeing John, Cristin, and the girls (and I'm so bitter at the fact that most people I know get to see their nieces more than once a year).  But I sometimes catch myself daydreaming about a time in the near future when these little terrorists, I mean toddlers, will be much more....manageable :)  Otherwise, all family get togethers will involve multiple trips to the liquor store (just like this one did :)

Parker aka Batgirl upon arrival on Wednesday.  The girls greeted us wearing their super hero costumes which is truly fitting if you consider who their father is.  It just makes sense.

Lucy quickly fell in step with her cousins.

Jack fell back in step with Gaga's iPad. :)

Watching Frozen together on the floor, sharing a snack.  There were so many precious moments with the 3 toddler girl cousins together but I think my favorite was when Teagan hears Let It Go on the TV, runs for her Sophia the First doll, and dances in a circle singing at the top of her lungs.  She is definitely a performer.

And will kindly share her goldfish with her aunt from time to time.

A blow up bed full of trouble.

On a side note, we stop in Nashville on the way to Jackson only to meet the snuggliest boy in the world - Brooks Moore!  Rebecca gave birth to Brooks on Nov 16th and we were lucky enough to invade the home of a couple who just had a baby (all the while bringing two small kids with us) so that we could have some snuggle time with him.

He spent the entire visit swaddled and sleeping in my arms.

I'm telling you, it's stuff like this - a cuddly precious newborn who is light as air and sleeps without fuss in the middle of the day - that will sucker you into having another baby, and another, and another. Momnesia is a powerful thing people.  Rebecca and Steven are doing great and are totally at ease with this new baby thing.  Rebecca was even back into her old jeans when I saw her.  It's ok to hate her from time to time people.  I realize that :)  I can't wait to see this little man again - hopefully sometime soon!

And now back to trouble.  We spent the rest of the vacation hamming it up for pictures.

Wondering what on earth happened to Jack's hair (for the record, I am trying to grow it out again so that it's not so spiky on top but forgot about this crazy phase that we must go through.)  Who am I kidding?  I keep telling myself that I'm trying to grow it out but the real truth is I'm too lazy to take him to get a hair cut.  Plus it honestly never occurs to me that some might consider this unruly.  Until they say so in the checkout line at Target... true story.

Jackman dancing in the kitchen before dinner on Thanksgiving.  This is hands down my favorite holiday.  It has all my favorites: brined turkey, Grandpa's dressing, mashed potatoes made with heavy cream, my mother-in-laws Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Bean Casserole & Corn Casserole (courtesy of Rachel), cranberry sauce, crescent rolls, and lots of wine :)  I had a blast cooking all of this with my mom and the kids did not tear the house down while we were in the kitchen - success!

Andy carving the turkey.  John doing a photo bomb.  I hate to toot my own horn here but my turkey was flipping awesome.  For posterity's sake, the Pioneer Woman's Turkey Brine is the way to go from here on out.

The traditional holiday crackers were there as well.

Mom, Cristin and I sat at the kids table.  Of course we did.  without us the world would collapse people.

Jack loved the cracker toys that made noise.  Naturally.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The next morning Lucy needed to detox from all the rich food with a nice cup of coffee with Baba.

This is one of the few pictures I have of all four kids (plus Andy) sitting still in one place.

Behold the magic of the Minions on Despicable Me 2.

My nieces...

Are such hams.  Man I miss them.

 Proof that not every moment was magica for everyone.  (sorry mom, just keeping it real here.)

More crazy Jack hair.

 Proof that Teagan is truly my brother's child.  No one pulls off surly like a Kersey.

 Poor McGee managed to survive the weekend after being terrorized by 4 small children constantly attempting to ride her like a horse.  She really is a good, good puppy.

 The only picture I got of them in their matching shirts from Gaga.

In a Kersey tradition, we went out that weekend to pick out mom and dad's Christmas tree.  it was slightly chaotic and I'll be honest - I have no clue which tree they picked.  But we had a fun time in the process :)

John and his girls.

What's Christmas tree shopping...

without a spontaneous bout of Ring Around the Rosy?

Wrangling little ones.

Thankfully Jackman and Baba never lost focus and picked out a good one.  Apparently.  (I'm only assuming this is the one b/c it ended up on my camera.  I can't remember if this is the actual one they picked but I'm going with it.)

And because we enjoy a challenge, Lizzi and I volunteered to take the 4 little ones to the park while the rest of the adults rested at home.  Don't worry, we've already submitted our names to the Vatican for canonization.

Super Widdi holding down the fort here.

It cracks me up how little but how big they are.  I can only remember this time last year when they crawled everywhere and didn't quite know how to play together.  Now Parker and Lucy run around the playground holding hands.  This is just too cute.

Notice how Teagan is sitting next to Jack on the bench.  She was his shadow the entire weekend and it was adorable.  Everywhere Jackman went, Teagan would follow.

They really were precious together.

And goofy too.

Sometimes I just sit and marvel at the fact that my mother raised all three of us and escaped with her sanity and that Cristin manages basically 2 Lucy's at a time.  It's pretty impressive.  And exhausting.  But still impressive :)
 

I think though a lot of it has to do with time management and efficiency.  This may not be the most sanitary way to clean children, but it certainly is the quickest.  Check out the mullets on my nieces.  I will always treasure this time in their lives when they have baby mullets.  :)

Blanket full of trouble.

On the last night we were there, Widdi and Rachel surprised Jackman with a Wizard Magic Kit that they brought with them (science experiments with a wizard twist.)  It was the most adorable thing ever b/c of Jack's belief (honest to goodness, hardcore, unwavering belief) that this all really was magic and that everything was happening b/c he said the magic words.  I love everything about this - but most of all I love his little wizard hat that he had to decorate before performing the experiments.

Check out Lizzi's expressions here.

They make it way more fun than it should be :)

This picture that Cristin took on our first night there is a perfect summation of how the weekend went and how chaotic life with little ones really is.  Teagan is flying across the table, Lucy is attacking Rachel, Parker is playing "airplane" with me, and Jack is running amuck in the midst of it all.  As I said before, it was exhausting, slightly stressful, and nonstop the entire time we were there.  The exact opposite of relaxing.  But it was also exhilarating, hilarious, endearing, precious, and something I honestly miss now.  I wish these girls (and their parents of course) lived closer to us.  They are so sweet and funny and beautiful - I hope that living 3 time zones away from their cousins won't keep them from being close and knowing that their Tennessee family will always welcome visit from them :)  I am already pumped about the idea of the girls flying out for a week each summer when they get older to hang out with us.  It's gonna happen people.  And I can't wait :)