Happy Thanksgiving!

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving at home. It was quiet and relaxing and great to think about all the things I'm grateful for; which is a lot! I definitely am grateful for all the usual things like my husband, my children, my home, my neighborhood complete with wonderful and helpful neighbors and friends. But I'm also so grateful for so many small things that really add to the quality of my life (but take WAY too long to mention)  But, I do love Thanksgiving and the time it affords to look back on the year and reflect on all that I have and am so grateful for.
I also LOVE all of the many traditions surrounding the holidays.  I had fun with a few firsts like, making stuffing from scratch, brining a turkery (James did most of this one), and making a coconut cream pie. Lauren was SUCH a great helper and basically made the entire crust herself. I just had to help her put it into the pan. 

As always, I am always amazed at the prep, work, effort, and time (and let's be honest and say mess) that goes into making ONE meal and how quickly it is eaten and over with, and just how long it takes to clean up afterwards.  But it's all worth it!

After watching some t.v. and napping (by James) it was good to visit my sister-in-law and her family and gorge ourselves on pie! (I think there were more pies than people).  There was no Black Friday shopping for me, but thanks to Carolynn, James and I headed out at 9:30 to go see Hugo.  Fun movie with a great story but just a little slow and long (especially at the end of such a busy day)

Then Friday, after a gourmet meal of sausage, eggs, and Crepes--compliments of James; it was putting up the Christmas tree and decorations. The girls were great helpers and made a huge mess. I always wonder why it is that you always seem to make a bigger mess when you're cleaning and/or rearranging things!  But it was SO fun to have the Christmas music blaring, the girls singing along, and all of us hanging ornaments together. And the house looked so nice when we were all finished. (and the house was re-vacuumed)

Saturday morning we pulled the girls out of bed and into the car and drove out to Lapoint to be with my family.  ALL 6 of us siblings were able to be together for family pictures. It was so fun being together and watching the cousins playing together.   Grandma played card games with the grandkids that were old enough, and Lauren and Katelyn were in HEAVEN (it probably helped that they won the first 2 games) It was a lot of fun times being together!

Then Sunday we were able to be to the blessing of my newest neice, Avarie.  She looked so beautiful and tiny in her gorgeous dress her Mom made. Then of course, there was more food and visiting.  Of course, the trip was over all too quickly and it was back home for us. 

What a wonderful and amazing 4 day weekend!  I have such an incredible life and I LOVE it all!

And just in case you were disappointed there were no pictures.. ..here are some to enjoy:

Lauren's pie crust

Sitting around talking

Grandma helps Katelyn

Grandma helping the grandkids play Disney's Sorry

Tyler has a ball by himself

Grandpa helps Mikel with the screwdriver

Katelyn and Suzie playing

Katelyn plays ball with Grandpa

Grandma and Lauren finish up their game