Thursday, November 27, 2014

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving!

This was an unusual Thanksgiving for us. It was the first year since Eric and I have been together, that he/we didn't go to Marion for Thanksgiving.  Eric's Grandpa passed away this past summer, and we decided long ago, that after that happened, we'd not go to Marion.  Actually, I had originally said I wanted to go to New York City, to drown our sorrows, and see the parade in person, and do up the town.   Unfortunately, a trip to NYC was just Not in the cards.   So we stayed home.    And it was Good. 


I love this color combo.   The sweater Sam is wearing is a handmedown, 4T from Christopher.  I dug it out when someone gifted Jacob with his sweater, I was so stoked, to have 2 matching boys, and I love this sweater.  The problem was finding one in Chris's size, which was impossible, or finding something that matched.  Jacob and I took a trip to Edinburgh earlier in the month on a mission.  I recruited staff to help from Osh Kosh and  Gap Kids, Gymboree, and Carter's.  It was finally Carter's, where the gal was the most helpful, where we found this flannel in the same colors for Chris.  They look pretty snazzy I think. 


Of course, with Cuteness like this, it's hard to get a bad picture.  


Yeah, they are certainly sweet.  


As I said before, I wanted to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, like sit there and watch the Whole Thing.  I've never done that.  We'd have it on in the background, but I never sat and just watched.  I had visions of going to New York, and getting a hotel room, all Miracle on 34th Street, and watching the whole thing from above, as the balloons go by, while the kids are still young enough to care about giant character balloons.  However, they didn't.  They sat and watched about a half an hour, and moved on.  Chris stayed an hour, and left too.  I printed off a BINGO game from Jimmy Fallon about things to look for in the game, and we all ended up getting BINGO about the same time, when Santa showed up at the end.  And the kids were bored by then.  


 Eric made a squash soup while the parade was on, for our lunch.  I was wary the kids might not eat just soup for lunch.  So I made this.  I saw something similar and fancy on Pinterest, but we didn't have a ton of fancy deli meat and cheeses.  But this is all the cooking I did on Thanksgiving.  I made a turkey of turkey, cheese, and crackers.
Then we went down for naps.  I was ready, but he elder boys weren't so much.  After quick naps, and a shower for me, we packed up and drove down to my Dad's for Thanksgiving Dinner.


While MB was putting the finishing touches on the meal, the boys got to sample some sparkling grape juice.  They LOVED it!  And Oma is much nicer than I am, and Eric snapped the above picture of them drinking out of fancy german crystal glasses.  Not me Johnny.  But she is kinder than I. 


I like Eric's picture of them drinking as they watch a splash of football better than mine. 
Still, you can see that they are thinking they're all Big Stuff with their 'wine'.  Big Stuff indeed. 


What a Blessing!  My sister and the girls  came.  They are in town for a little over a week from TX, so my Mom gifted them with tix home.  So we got to have Thanksgiving dinner with the girls too.  Lisa always loves to have a piece of nice fatty crunchy skin.  She's the only one of us that can get away with it.  I love a little bit of skin on my turkey, but she'd eat skin all day if there was enough. 


While putting on the finishing touches, Opa put the movie Frozen on for the kids downstairs.  They were cute and still, for a minute.  At least, they were for the minute I went down to check on them.  Apparently, later, they trashed the basement, and Opa cleaned it up without telling us, we should've made them do it, I don't know that they'll be allowed down there adultless again anytime soon. 


Getting ready for the Spread. 
My Stepmom and Dad put on a Fabulous spread every year.  
This year it was us girls, our kids, and Daddy and MB's best friends Dan and Kay.  
It was too many for us all to fit around 1 table.  


So this year, for the first time, we had a Big Kids table in the living room.  The kids were so excited to have their own space.  And Aunt Lisa was on the chase, and we all had to yell a bit, but I was lucky, and on the back side where I couldn't get out of my seat once all people were seated.  So I got far more adult conversation out of them being at a kid's table than we usually get.  Thus, I had a much better time.  Not too sure about Aunt Lisa, Eric, or the mess.  But they ate, pretty decently, at least for them. Chris joined me in the squash lovers club, and Sam even had seconds on turkey! 


After dinner, the kids got to play with each other for a while.  
They were pretty cute.  


As we were fixing to leave, my sister told us she wanted a picture with Oma and Opa and all the grandkids.  It's like herding cats to get them all together in one spot.  But this picture turned out pretty decently.  Lots of moving targets. 


This one was my favorite though. Ha - sometimes you need to use the Flash Cathy!  

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