Thanksgiving 2011

We had our usual crowd for Thanksgiving this year.  My mom, Dan's family (parents & brother), Mike's family and Michelle's parents.  Fifteen of us gathered around the table to give thanks this year.

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the food, (especially the gravy!) and I love to pause and reflect on what we're thankful for and the many blessings in our life.  We spent a little time the day before Thanksgiving being thankful.  We helped make some ornaments for the giving tree at church.  A good opportunity for a lesson on gratitude and serving.  The kids (minus one) were happy to help make ornaments for the tree.  And after a bit of reflection in his room, the third was happy to participate as well.  Again, real life.  Aren't we all working on building character traits?  I have plenty of internal struggles myself.



Matthew brought home a little tree from church last week which was so neat.  It was a "Thankful Tree" for us to do as a family. I thought it was so great!  So we each filled out a leaf.

I always especially love to see what the kids are thankful for.

'

The "wii" leaf wasn't necessarily a proud parenting moment, but at least we're feeling thankful!

I think one of my favorite parts of thanksgiving is watching the parade in the morning while we get things ready. I got to sit with Kaitlin on my lap for a while and watch. Definitely one of my favorite moments of the day. I was able to introduce her to "The Rockettes." :)

Meanwhile, Matthew and Grandpa were watching a little Packer football.



Love that photo of them.

I also love to set a pretty table for Thanksgiving.



Here is Dan, shortly before everyone arrived, putting the finishing touches on the table.



I found the pretty glittery acorns at Walmart. They were Christmas ornaments sold in bunches of 5 for $1.97! I cut them apart and paired them with a free Thanksgiving printable that I found on Pintrest and had an inexpensive, but really pretty napkin ring.



They had free place cards as well that I dressed up a bit with glitter because a little sparkle makes everything prettier. :)



Dan said it was his favorite Thanksgiving table yet. He's so complimentary and sweet like that. I love to set a pretty table and it's sweet that he takes time to appreciate it.



The rest of the family arrived and Mike and Michelle filled the plates with delicious appetizers. They do such a nice job and it makes the day so much easier for me!




Matthew made the little "Give Thanks"sign on the upper right photo.  We enjoyed eating and talking and took some family photos as well.



We even got a cousin shot without too much pain! Katie had already exchanged her bow out for a crown at this point.  Matthew and Isaiah used to be the same size ~  look at them now!









My mom is a HUGE help and does a lot of the cooking for Thanksgiving.  We split the dinner up and it works great.



Katie was crowning everyone. :) She was having a princess party.  I think she was thrilled to have more girls in the house.

The day was great, except for some timing issues, but the food turned out well, and everyone was poised and ready to help so it made everything so easy.

During dinner we went around the table and said what we were thankful for, as well as our Thanksgiving Mad Libs which has become a tradition and the boys find it hilarious.  I have to admit, I enjoy it too.  :)



Our family!

Here's Dan looking cute at dinner.



The smile I fell in love with.



Grammie time!

Dan and Mike do a great job with the dishes ~ which is so nice, and having a china hutch this year made putting everything away SO much easier!  Oh my goodness, it was so nice!

I was in the dining room visiting while the guys were doing dishes when Dan started yelling, "Fire!  Fire on the table!!"  Dan doesn't get excited very easily so I ran into the other room and saw a fire on the appetizer table.  If I understand correctly, Mike had taken the Doritos (the boys favorite appetizer :) ) and filled the bag with the left overs.  He put it down and it fell into the candle.  He didn't notice (it probably fell after he had turned to walk away).   I was surprised at how quickly those flames spread and grew!  Thankfully, Dan was at the sink doing dishes so he could quickly fill a container with water and we doused it, but the runner and tablecloth were both toast.

Never a dull moment!

The kids were SO excited to do their gingerbread houses.  This has also become a thanksgiving tradition.  Mom brings them and the grandmas all sat around and helped.



Here's Isaiah with his finished creation.



And Uncle David who came all the way from Las Vegas to be a part of the holiday.

It was a really nice day....

And while I'm probably too tired and my brain too fuzzy to adequately articulate the next part, I'm going to try.

During this time I'm mindful that so many people in our country are struggling daily right now and my heart aches for those who are unemployed...for those who are grieving...for those who are chronically ill or have a loved one who is chronically ill.  I know that the challenges that we faced in 2008 left us with a new depth of gratitude for the basic, but yet most meaningful things in life.  Our faith, our healthy family, our happy marriage, a job, our home...things we were always grateful for before, but now even more so.  When you walk the road of grief, fear, uncertainty...it makes the ability to settle into the normal day to day life a sweet luxury.  And while I certainly lose perspective at times, gratitude is truly something I feel daily.  Deeply.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.  For his lovingkindness is everlasting."
Psalm 136:1

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Thankful for you!

We had a really lovely Thanksgiving. With the exception of some timing errors...dinner went smoothly and I really wasn't stressed at all about getting ready for the holiday. Everyone helps out so much and we have a great routine. I have everything saved on my computer (menu, recipes, shopping lists) and so it's very easy to plan. Not to mention, it helps that it's just family and everyone is happy to roll with the punches and if things don't go perfectly, it's not a big deal. I even got 7 hours of sleep the night before, which I'm certain is a record.

I told my Mom that I think Thanksgiving week is one of the busiest weeks of the year for me. Mom and I got up this morning for Black Friday at 5am and shopped for 15 hours! I'm wiped out, but there are a LOT of things crossed off my to do list, and so that is great.  I'm very close to being done with my Christmas shopping, which feels really good.

Tomorrow brings taking down Thanksgiving/fall decorations and getting ready for Christmas, so there is a lot to be done.....Sunday morning I have a special treat planned for the kids, and we have Advent wreath making at church...lots of fun things.  I'll post photos of all the fun Thanksgiving festivities as soon as I can, but for now, I am going to try to get caught up on some sleep and make sure the tooth fairy comes for Matthew.  He lost a tooth the day before Thanksgiving (he's missing both teeth on either side of his front teeth ~ he looks like Bugs Bunny!), and there were so many teeth lost that day that the Tooth Fairy wasn't able to stop by our house.... ;)



I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
This year I feel especially blessed by many treasured friendships in my life.  I know so many really great people that I am fortunate enough to call "friend" that enrich my life in so many ways.  I truly am so thankful for each of you!

Thanksgiving Day

We had a really nice Thanksgiving.  

We've had Thanksgiving at our house for enough years that it feels pretty easy to prepare for now.  

It's nice to have a routine established.  

This year I was feeling quite full of myself for having things together and so I boldly went to a movie with Dan the night before Thanksgiving.  

I was making a Triple Chocolate Pecan pie and put it into the oven before I left.  

I asked Mom to take it out when the timer went off.  

She did.  

But in my haste I neglected to turn down the oven from when I had made the pie crust...

so it burned.

The pie in the front would be the new pie that I made Thanksgiving morning. 

The pie in back would be my "humble pie." 

Everything else turned out great and we were so appreciative of the lovely fruit tray that my mother in law put together.  

How gorgeous is this?

My brother and sister in law always come through 

with a fantastic spread of appetizers that serve as lunch. 

These are just a few.

Dan's brother David (who came in from Las Vegas) made his great marinated olives which I was really looking forward to and they didn't disappoint. 

Here are Dan and David....

And of course, Mom was a huge help with the meal. 

Mom makes the pumpkin pie, the sweet potatoes, the stuffing (which is SO good), 

roasts the turkey and makes the apple crack. 

I do the table decor, brine the turkey 

(I tried the Pioneer woman's brine this year it was great!), 

and I makethe mashed potatoes, the gravy, the rolls and a pecan pie. 

It works out well.

We started the morning with the parade. Which is tradition. 

I love the parade. 

Here is Kaitlin in an outfit that she put together before we got her dressed. 

She was watching the parade and doing a little bit of a dance.

I particularly love the skirt on backward, the 2 different shoes 

and the flower in the middle of her forehead.

Here is her transformation after we got her ready. 

Dan took this photo. She cooperated for him!

I tried to take one later, and she wasn't so cooperative, 

but I love her sweet little face in this one.

She hasn't been napping well and has been a disaster lately. 

At least, I think it's her lack of sleep. 

It could be that she's approaching three. 

For now, I'm going to choose to believe it's sleep. 

Surely a good nap will take care of everything! :)  

On Thanksgiving it was day 3 of no nap 

(she just stands in her crib or stands on her head in her crib--seriously).  

We sat down for dinner and the fact that the mashed potatoes 

were not whipping cream put her right over the edge.  

It was more than she could handle.

She ended up watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while we enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner.

After 3 kids, I've learned when to pick a battle.

And just a few scenes from the day. 

Dan's parents....

Dan and Mike....

Dan's brother David....

Mama and the Bug....

We really missed Michelle's parents who had to cancel due to the weather. We missed you Dale and Glenda! But we certainly understood and will look forward to seeing you at Christmas!

I printed out a couple of Thanksgiving fill in the blank stories that were sort of like "Mad Libs" that we did while we sat around the table. Matthew and Isaiah really had fun with that. 

The cousins had a great time playing.  They spent most of their time in the play room.

I didn't force a "cousin picture."

I'm saving that request for Christmas.

After dinner the kids decorated gingerbread houses. Isaiah and Matthew especially had fun with this and I don't think we heard a peep out of Kaitlin who sat for probably a half hour just piling icing and candy on two little cookies. She was so pleased!

Thank you, everyone for all that you contributed to make the day so nice!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

We had a really nice Thanksgiving.  Plenty to share, but I am so very tired.  But it's a good kind of tired.  A tired from getting to do a lot of things that I love and enjoy.

I spent nearly 15 crazy hours out shopping with my Mom today and I'm slightly fatigued.

So much to be thankful for this year.  Truly.  Faith, family friends, food, shelter, good health.  It sounds so unimaginative, and yet, isn't it everything?  

In my day to day life it's easy to take these things for granted and fuss over the small stuff.  

It's a blessing to have the luxury to fuss over small stuff.

And before I drag my tired body up the stairs and get some much needed rest, I have to share what I am SO thankful for at this particular moment.

When I left the house this morning there was still a lot of thanksgiving that needed to be dealt with.  Just the usual party clean up, but sort of on steroids because of my need to pull out nearly every blessed piece of crystal and china and silver that we own and make a big fuss out of everything.

It's so much work for everyone--not just me--Mike and Dan hand wash everything.  (For the record, to really loud rock music.  And how old did I just now sound typing that?  Anyway, we all concede to the music because they are working so hard while we sit and talk and pour over the Thanksgiving ads).  

Anyway, back to my mess of a house.

I turned my back on it and left this morning, but in the back of my mind was trying to figure out when I would fit in getting it all taken care of around things we have planned for the weekend and decorating for christmas...I had concluded it would probably take me most of the week to get it back in order around the day to day activities of our life.

But Mom and I returned home tonight to see white lights from my christmas tree greeting us through the living room window! 

While we were gone shopping, Dan:

Cleaned up the rest of the mess from dinner/dessert.

Put away all of the crystal and china and silver.

Took down the tables that we add on to the dining room so we can accommodate everyone.

Washed the tablecloths.

Ran an errand to buy a christmas gift that I asked him to purchase.

Took the kids to the park.

Took my van (and all the kids) in to be serviced.  The kids weren't serviced.  Just the van.

Fed the kids dinner.

Read stories, and tucked them in.

Got out ALL of our Christmas decorations.  This is quite a feat in itself.

And set up the Christmas tree.

Oh, and he vacuumed the house.

Seriously.

I am so Thankful.

I needed that.

It is such a relief for me. 

I can't relax when my house is a mess. It stresses me out. 

It was a HUGE gift for me to walk home to a peaceful, clean home.

Tomorrow morning we'll be taking the children to see Santa.
And then we'll come home and decorate for Christmas.
Sunday is church and making Advent wreaths.

I'm really looking forward to all of those things.  

So much fun to be had.

So much to be Thankful for.

So much more to share, but sleep is calling. :)
Somewhere in there I'll post about Thanksgiving and our marathon Black Friday.
In the meantime...

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

This 'n That & Thanksgiving Round-Up

(Thanks to my father in law who sent this group photo of us from Thanksgiving. I do believe it's the first whole family photo--in-laws, out-laws, and everything in between that we've ever taken. I'm shocked at how well it turned out. I regret that Dad isn't there.)

So much to blog, so little time.

Wow. I feel like life is just jam packed with things to post about right now, but just no time to do it. Today I was home for a total of one hour between 8:40am and 8:30pm. Whew! But it turned out to be a nice day in the end...It started with a VERY late drop off to pre-school and then Bible study--which was really good, but I was feeling so grouchy! Then I had a Dr. appt for Kaitlin and our long time nurse paid me one of the very sweetest compliments I think I've ever had and it just turned my day around. I could tell she was nervous saying it, and I was so appreciative that she did because it just made my day so much better. And a nice reminder that we never now how our interactions affect other people and to be mindful of that.

Then we ended our day with a wonderful dinner at our friends' house that decided even though they are due any second with their 4th baby (in 4 years) they'd just go ahead and cook us dinner too while they're at it! Good gracious! They are part of our small group and lovely new friends. (Thank you so much Zach & Rachel!:))

And I'm happy to report that Kaitlins ears were fluid free for the first time since October! So that saved us from heading to the ENT--Yay!! Kaitlin gave that a big "YAY!" too. :)

Now, on to other news. I had a request to see the sofa. Sorry for my delay...it DID arrive! And it's so comfortable and nap-worthy. I feel like the most spoiled person in the world to have such a pretty living room. I still pass by and can't believe it's mine.

Does the fabric on the pillow look familiar? Hmmm....Maybe because the pink version is on Kaitlin's bumper in her nursery! :)

It's so peaceful and relaxing and so not like the rest of my life. I like to go in and pretend that I'm peaceful and relaxed and then re-enter the crazy chaotic reality of my real life right now. (But wouldn't have it any other way!)

There will eventually be one more pillow in the middle of the sofa. I'll report on that when it comes. I'm sure everyone will be waiting on the edge of their seats.

I'm going to try to get caught up over the next couple of days. I do have a very special birthday to share, our ornaments for the year (along with a fun surprise that arrived in the mail), the decking of halls, a new visitor to our house AND the Bug's 22 month post. I can't believe she's that old. But then I can...she's changing by the second. So, lots more to come.

But I'm wiped out so, Good night for now!

Thanksgiving Day!

We had a really nice Thanksgiving dinner.We had my mom and Dan's parent's/brother, my brother and his family and my sister in law's parents all here with us. It was a great day. Everything went so smoothly Mom said, "I keep thinking we forgot something." Because it all came together so easy--We've come a long way from that first Thanksgiving at my house!

In fact, it felt so remarkable that I took a picture as we were waiting for everyone to arrive. Here was the kitchen...everything ready to go into the oven, or have a burner turned on....

And the rest of the day in photos. My brother in law, working his appetizer magic in the kitchen....

Dan and his Dad...

Dan's Mom...

These little ones ate their weight in chips. Oh to be four and have a whole bowl of chips right at your level!

My sister in law's Dad, Dale, and my father in law...

Me and my brother in law, in what I think is our first photo together!

These two made a short appearance to get some sustinance and so I managed to get a photo....

And these guys are forever kidding around....

Being seated for dinner....

Isaiah was really cute at dinner. He asked for "Attention everybody!" and proceeded to explain that we were going to play a game. We all were to state our favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner. We went around the room and shared our favorite thing. Next we shared our favorite thing about the day. If anyone said anything especially nice like, "Spending time together as a family" Matthew would say, "Awww, give 'em a hand!" And we'd all clap. They were so cute.

That was my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.

This little one (yes, wearing a different dress than the first photo--she strangely spit up all over the front of the other one) absconded with a gingerbread cookie when the boys sat down to decorate Gingerbread houses. Does she look a little guilty?

Andrew sat and ate more candy than he decorated with....

Isaiah really wanted to have the grown ups vote to discern the winner of the Gingerbread decorating activity. Shockingly, it was a tie. :) (Thankfully, we had an even number of adults).

And Kaitlin learned that it's sweet to hang with Aunt Michelle as she was spooned freshly made whipping cream from the bowl. It doesn't get any better than that!