{The Pettit & Reynolds 2.25 Week Thanksigiving Vacation Extravaganza}

This post is going to sound as jam packed as it's title. It was a fun, CRAZY, chaotic, CRAZY,  laughable, loveable, CRAZY, wonderful, cousin filled, CRAZY, tiring, best 2.25 week with the Reynolds family EVER! And did I mention . . . CRAZY?

 Okay, let's be honest here. The only crazy thing in this whole scenario was ME. Yes me. Crazy me got up the courage to drive 14 hours BY MYSELF, 20 weeks pregnant, with my two littles. And believe me, for me, that's crazy. I've done a lot of crazy traveling, but driving more than 6 hours by myself was not one of them so I figured why not? Why not add some more crazy onto my many crazy traveling experiences with my littles. Oh, and by the way, it was worth it. My pregnant body tried to tell me other wise, but it WAS. WORTH. IT. Except for the part where we missed our daddy like crazy. Thanksgiving just wasn't the same with out him :( Maybe next year he won't have to work and can join us!

Besides me picking some rather shady gas stations to stop at, the drive went perfectly. There was some whining and a few minor melt downs, but over all these two littles rocked it! We only stopped 3 times in 14 hours so I'd say that's pretty darn good!

Let's do some more of that disorganized jam packed, fun filled, CRAZINESS with a top 15 list shall we? Ready, set, go!

1. Trip to Costco 10:00 a.m. These two cuties got a long soooo good this time. YAY! Eli seemed to be the problem this time. He's such a tease.

Aren't they cute?!

2. Trip back to Costco 8:00 p.m. to pick up our Christmas cards before the five dollar off coupon expired, with five jammied cousins, and their YUMMY Chick Fil-A chocolate peppermint milkshakes. Wow, that was a mouthful. If you have not experienced one of these milkshakes stop what you are doing. Run to your nearest Chick Fil-A and buy one. NOW!

We got a lot of looks, laughs, and comments about the goods on our shopping cart ;)

3. Sarah and Addy found this little guy in the back forest. I love how Addy is barely touching the tail in both pictures. The kids had a fun afternoon playing with him.

4. There are no pictures of this, but Aunt Shel is pretty much the coolest aunt ever and filled a huge bin with corn kernels and let the kids go at it. After day 3 of being hunched over picking up corn kernels a million times a day we decided to put it up for a rest. They loved playing it!

5. Jake and I spur of the moment took these cuties to the Raleigh Downtown Christmas parade. There were definitely some interesting things to be seen, especially at the end. Let's just say our eyes were scarred for life at the sight of a few rather large women wearing very tiny clothes. Good times!

Addy and Eli loved all of the bands that played, but all Eli really wanted was some candy! He managed to score a couple of pieces.

6. We were able to join in on the Reynolds family  tradition of their Thankful Tree. We had a lot to be thankful for and quickly filled it up! 

 7. Movie Night! Look at Eli and all of those cute girls. What a ladies man! Addy was also able to have several sleep overs with her girlie cousins and loved every minute of it! Eli and I basically had a sleep over every night. Sneaky boy kept sneaking into my bed in the middle of the night :)

8. I can't remember what this place was called, but it was a museum and it was free. Can't get much better than that right? It really was fun though, my kids enjoyed it. Minus the part where we all had to walk to and from the museum in the freezing cold wind and rain with no umbrellas. Not cool.

9. This pretty lady and I made a mean Thanksgiving feast. It is so much more fun to get in the kitchen and cook when you have someone to share it with! Did I mention that she spoils me? All the time. She's such a good big sissy.
 

10. Thanks to my wonderfully amazing brother in-law Jake we were able to sneak away on more than one occasion with no kids! There was lot's of girl time spent shopping and eating out. We also worked on our Christmas cards together, put together care packages for some missionaries in our parents mission, made some cute vinyl labels for her spice jars, and did some more shopping. Lot's of shopping! I think we probably hit up 20 different stores on black Friday. Did I mention that she put up with me embarrassingly puking 3 times in random places during our black Friday outing. Yuck. She really is the best, I don't know what I would do with out her! 

11. The Thanksgiving Day Feast! Like I said, Shelley and I made one tasty thanksgiving dinner! She invited a family from their ward over and we all had a great time eating and chatting. Thanks to Shelley the table looked beautiful. The kids were very entertained with their place mats that they could color on. 

12. After dinner we went to see the movie Frozen. It was such a cute movie. We all loved it! 

13.  Since we stuck around for a few days following Thanksgiving we were able to help decorate for Christmas. I put up our Christmas tree before we left on vacation, but I was in such a hurry that the kids didn't get to help me too much with it. I was thankful they were able to get in on the fun with their cousins and help decorate their tree.

14. Matching jammies. Yeah, we're cool like that. 

15. Christmas cuties all ready for church! 

After 2.25 weeks it was time for the Pettit fam to make the 14 hour drive back home :(  We had the best time with the Reynolds family and are so glad that we decided to be CRAZY. I don't know what we will do with ourselves when we get home! I basically took a vacation from my own kids. Even though they were with me I rarely ever had to entertain them. It was a much needed break. I know it's a lot of work having someone stay at your house for that long and I am so thankful for Shelley taking us all on! We are so grateful for all of them and for all they do for us.

The 14 hour drive home went just about as smoothly as the one going there, but the best part was, we got to come home to our Daddy! Oh how we missed him :)