The Breuers: Thanksgiving Week

This year we had the honor of hosting Thanksgiving for the Breuer family. Joseph's brother Tom suggested getting everyone together since Diane turned 70 on November 20 and Joe turns 75 on Decmeber 24 - two big birthdays. Everyone agreed it was a good idea, and since I can't travel this late in pregnancy, everyone came to Atlanta.

Tom arrived the Saturday before Thanksgiving and stayed with us. The Texas Breuers (Ed, Jenny, Molly, Shannon, Colin, and Cassidy) arrived Saturday as well (and they drove!) but spent a day with Jenny's brother and parents in Chattanooga before going to the Neals' house on Sunday.

Joseph and I both worked on Monday and sent Lola to school, leaving Tom to hang out with Lucy at home. We both called it quits early, though, and had a nice dinner at home. Tuesday I worked a little bit but mostly ran errands, while Joseph worked from home and Lola went to her last day of school before break.

Joe and Diane arrived from North Carolina around 3. They stayed with us Tuesday night before checking into the Hilton downtown on Wednesday. We met up with the Neals and Texas Breuers at the Georgia Tech women's basketball game. Molly, Shannon, and Colin all play basketball, so they were excited to go to the game, and the rest of us thought it would be a fun outing. Everyone enjoyed themselves, and Tech beat Alabama State. We were all starving when the game ended around 7, so we went to Rocky Mountain Pizza, our old Tech hangout. It was weird going there with so many kids, but everyone liked it.

Wednesday we started working on Lola's headboard project. We had bought the supplies earlier in the week and thought it would be a good time to work on it. We made some progress and then took a break for lunch and nap. The Neals and Texas Breuers came down to hang out in the afternoon. We walked to the park to let the kids run around for a bit, and then we went to dinner at Daddy D'z. It ended up being an unexpectedly long dinner, but it was delicious.

Thursday was the big day. Tom and Joseph had prepped a bunch of vegetables the day before, but we still had a lot to do - several dishes to cook as well as set up the house to seat 19 people for dinner. My legs have been getting really swollen lately, so I made the stuffing and then took it easy. Joseph and Tom were great and took over everything so I could rest. Everyone else came over around noon, and they all brought dishes for dinner. We finally sat down to eat around 2, and everything was delicious. Lola went down for her nap around 3, as did I and a few others. The bigger kids and uncles went to the park to play basketball. We had dessert when everyone returned, and then we hung out for a while longer before everyone left around 9.

Friday the Neals hosted us for Joe and Diane's birthday celebration. We headed up in the late morning, ate a delicious lunch, and hung around until about 8. Most people went on a hike after lunch, but I stayed at the house, along with Joe, Diane, Tom, and Julie. I got a little nap in on the couch, which was nice. Joseph said Lola enjoyed the hike - she rode in the backpack some but also wanted to walk for a bit.

When we were at the beach in June, Joe started telling us stories about his life one night. Tom said he really enjoyed that, so we came up with the idea to ask Joe and Diane questions about their lives and record it. I had seen a list of questions to ask your parents online recently, so I found it and put Molly (the oldest grandchild there) in charge of asking the questions. We had a great time listening to them talk for about an hour - and we could have listened for much longer, but we had to get Lola home to bed. We hope to resume next time we're all together. It was really interesting hearing about their childhoods and how they met.

Saturday morning we resumed the headboard project and hung out around the house. Joe and Diane stopped by to say goodbye before driving back to North Carolina. I left to go meet Paige and the rest of the DePetros at Six Feet Under for lunch and to watch the GT/UGA game. It was great to see her and her family. She is finally looking pregnant! Although still not as huge as me. The game was boring and GT lost, but it was a nice lunch. When I got home, Tom and Joseph were just about finished with the headboard. They hung it up on the wall, and it looks beautiful! It turned out just like I imagined, if not better. The Neals came down for one last visit, and Joseph and Julie dropped Tom off at the airport. The rest of us went to dinner at Tomatillos.

Sunday was our last day with visitors - Joseph took Philip and Tati to the airport around 1. We took a walk in the park in the morning and went to the playground. We ran into Stephanie and Erik there, and I was excited to see little Margot! She's just about a month old now.

It was a busy, busy week, but it was so much fun. We usually only get the whole Breuer family together on our summer beach trip, so it was a rare treat to have everyone in Atlanta. Thanks to everyone for traveling here! Lola absolutely LOVED spending time with her cousins, and she's still talking about them.