If you’ve been keeping up with my themes you had to know this one was coming…
It’s Thankful Thursday, and I am so thankful for this crew!! 
If you are one of my new blog followers you may not be familiar with how this conglomeration of kids came to be. We have a non-traditional family, and it’s wonderful! You can find our family’s story here.
I was up very early on the 4th. Not by choice – Molly, our sweet dog, was tired of being cooped up, and was letting me know about it. So I got up and played fetch with the dog at 5:30am. On Saturday. On vacation. Hmph. That’s okay…I got to enjoy the beautiful light.
Here is our site at Nana’s house… 
The “smaller” tent is the 3-room tent that Fancy, Dale, and Kristi sleep in. The big one is our 196 sq. ft. “cabin” – Ken and I, Caleb, Andrew, Austin, and Nathan all share that one. In the foreground is our camp kitchen on the left with 2 canopies – before the wind destroyed the white one. Nana has a wonderful, big picnic table back there for us. We love that! On the right is the fire pit. Further to the right (outside the frame) is the portable toilet that Nana rented for us to use. What a great setup for us! The campground was fabulous, the fees were quite reasonable, the hosts were friendly and generous, and the views spectacular! What more can you ask for in campground?
We went for a drive and saw this great log barn. I love the look of it! I also love the fact that I said, “Ooomm! Ooomm!!” with my mouth full of pretzels and my husband automatically backed up and stopped so I could take pictures! 
Finally, it’s pool time!
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Our first day camping at Nana’s house…
Sandra, this made me think of you and your photos of your mother-in-law’s (?) garden creatures. My MIL doesn’t have a garden, but she does have some cute creatures!
Nana bought a pool for the kids to enjoy during the heat. It wasn’t quite ready for use yet, but Caleb was sure ready for the pool!! The kids had so so so so much fun in that pool!
We didn’t do many fireworks, so I didn’t get many fireworks shots. This was the best of the bunch. We did ours on the 3rd because bedtime on the 4th needed to be before dark so we could be at church on time on Sunday. The kids didn’t care what day we did them. They were just thrilled with the show!
I did a bunch of picture thinking, but no picture taking today. So instead of a brand-spanking new photo, you get a better look at a shot I took last week. This is the one I put on the bags I made for Mother’s Day.
I got it! My sweetie got me the 50mm 1.8!! Yay! My mother accused me of having a growth on my face today - it was shaped like a Canon! I actually didn't take that many pictures today - only 127.
Here are a few from our fun Christmas day...
My mom gave me a whole bunch of beautiful goblets - a dozen blue ones that all match, and 10 (mostly) green ones that are unique. I love every one of them! Here is my favorite (Mom, I know you had to laugh at that!)... 
This shot is really terrible, but I had to catch the moment the best I could...three patient children watching all the gifts being handed out, and a very hopeful dog outside the window!
These were the flowers my father-in-law sent to my mother-in-law for Christmas. I love this arrangement. And I have a pink cast above the pink rose...is that an effect of this 50mm lens?
I hope this has been a very merry Christmas for all of you!
The whole family went for a long walk this morning. We took photos here and there, so here are a few...
And here's one more...
I have so much admiration for anyone who can get 7 kids to look in the same direction with pleasant expressions.
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