My Top Ten Pictures from Thanksgiving

10. Christian and Gracey playing hide-and-seek on the farm! I love it because I just loved seeing them play together. By the way, hide-and-seek was not Christian's first choice of games to play. He wanted to "climb trees" but Gracey told him that "girls don't do that stuff." They are so funny together!
9. Ryan with his brother Robert ("Beez") and his nephew Zavier! I love this picture of the brothers with their babies!
8. McKenna's first picture with her Aunt Angel. This would have been perfect if I had taken the binkie out of her mouth. Oh well!

7. My two boys being boys!

6. I love this picture of McKenna and Brooklyn. I actually think I see some resemblance in the girls here. You can definitely tell that Brooklyn is used to being a great big sister to Olivia because she took such great care of McKenna. She played with her and kept her happy long past her bedtime. I could get a lot done around here if I had Brooklyn for a day!

5. Yes, Brooklyn and McKenna get to steal the show with two spots in my countdown. Don't you just love this picture? It's so sweet!

4. You would know why this is one of my favorite pictures if you had heard the squealing and giggling that went on when Aunt Ang was driving these two three year olds around in that go-kart. They were having the time of their lives. These cousins sure have a fun Aunt!

3. I almost made this picture of Gracey my number one favorite because she is just gorgeous and it really captures her spunky little personality. She was not afraid of that horse and probably would have walked off into the sunset with it all by herself.

2. Love it! Love the love these two have for each other even though they hardly know one another.

1. This is my favorite because it makes me cry. Christian was saying 'goodbye' to his Grampy Chatt. I love seeing Grampy Chatt with his two grandsons that will carry on the Chatterton family name. Christian loves his Grammy and Grampy so much. He wasn't shy at all when he first saw them and there wasn't any warm-up time needed. He was excited to be with them from the second he saw them. He is convinced that they're going to be here for Christmas even though I've told him that's not the case. I know he misses them. We all do!

People We Love

Of course I didn't get pictures of everyone despite the fact that I was taking pictures constantly! When I look at these faces it really makes me wish we weren't so far away!

Here's a glimpse of just a few of the Chattertons we love:

McKenna with her Chatterton cousins: L to R Brooklyn, Jack and Olivia
Aunt Angel and McKenna

Olivia with her grandmom, Aunt Sue!

Aunt Robin came a long way just to hold McKenna.

Look at how happy Zavier is with his Grampy Chatt!

The perfect picture of Gracey and Aunt Angel.

Grammy Chatt playing peek-a-boo with McKenna.

Uncle Bob is an incredible guy. He's always got a story to tell! The party starts when he arrives!

Zavier and Aunt Lindsey! We got to spend some great time with them! We were thrilled that Aunt Lindsey didn't have to work while we were there!

Illinois Favorites

Each of us left Illinois with a different favorite memory!

Ryan probably had the most fun riding the go-kart with Christian. The two of them flew around the farm, at speeds that made this mommy very nervous, for hours.


Christian loved this too of course and he sobbed when Grampy put the go-kart away! My two boys had such a great time with that go-kart!

Christian was really anticipating a pony ride the entire way to Illinois, but then he was a little nervous once he actually saw the pony. Ryan's Uncle Bob has a little farm of his own and he has several horses. This pony named Beauty is starting to become a Thanksgiving tradition for us. Christian originally didn't want to ride Beauty, but then he got to feed her and walk her around the barnyard and then he decided to have a little ride! He was delighted and quite proud of himself!

Christian's cousin Gracey has NO fear. She mounted Beauty right away.
And even did a few tricks!

My favorite thing about our trip to Illinois was getting to meet my precious nephew Zavier for the first time and getting to see McKenna interact with him. They were so cute together.

And this picture basically captured my favorite moment of our visit! That's Olivia giving McKenna a hug! You guys know all about Olivia, so I don't have to tell you how teary it makes me just to look in Olivia's beautiful brown eyes. My heart has pleaded with God so many times to heal this precious girl and it was such a delight to get to see her and love on her and watch her play and share her toys with McKenna. Olivia looks so good and is really doing well! Thank God my kids were healthy so we could get to be together!

On the FARM

Can you see why Christian loves to visit the farm? Grampy does a pretty good job of keeping Christian entertained.

There is so much to climb on and explore!

Don't even think for a second that Christian sat on every tractor, there were at least a dozen he didn't climb on!

And then there was the go kart! More on that later...

A Thank Filled Day

Thanksgiving Day at the Chatterton Farm

Our fun day started when cousin Gracey and Zavier arrived with Uncle Beez and Aunt Lindsey. This was our first time to meet Zavier since he's two months younger than McKenna. The kids had fun exchanging Christmas presents and Christian and Gracey played so well together!


That's cutie pie Zavier in the background!

Gracey showing off the dress she got for McKenna!

Aunt Lindsey and Zavier.

Gracey was excited to get her first Polly Pockets!


McKenna and Zavier checking each other out!

Mary Ellen was busy in the kitchen most of the day getting ready for our big family meal.

And then the rest of the relatives started pouring in. Grampy Chat, Uncle Bob and Uncle Beez with Zavier!

The children's table! Trust me, that's just a few of the children. Gracey, Ella and Emma (yup, we've got an Emma on both sides of the family) playing Polly Pockets. We've also got a Hannah on both sides of the family.

Hannah, Joe, Jake and Luke (all siblings)!

Missy and Evan (can you guess who Evan looks like?)

The house was full, just the way you want it on Thanksgiving. Tons of kids running around, adults catching up and telling stories and lots of yummy food!

Luke got a cool hotwheels toy in the gift exchange.

Christian and Gracey both got MP3 players. You wouldn't believe how excited those two three year olds were about their MP3 players that didn't even have music on them yet. Christian knew exactly what it was when he opened it!

We wrapped up the night with our annual fireworks display. It wasn't as great as it usually is because I didn't let Ryan bring any with us this year. I just have issues with a car packed with children and fireworks....hmmm...just doesn't sound like a good combination to me. So next year we're going to have to do better.

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It was a great day! We were thankful to finally make it to Illinois. Thankful to be back on the farm. Thankful to be able to visit with so many precious family members. Thankful for yummy food and early Christmas presents. Christian was definitely most thankful for the go-kart, but I'll save that for another post :)