Thanksgiving

We had a houseful for the week of Thanksgiving.  Daddy's parents got here ........ Hold on, let me start with Monday morning.

I had a lot to do Monday:  shopping, finish cleaning, more baking, laundry.  'Bout 8 am I got a text from Daddy "Did I leave my wallet at home?"  "Yes"  "Could you bring it to me?"  "Really.  A one way trip is 45 minutes.  OK.  Here I come."   Good thing I had already cancelled school for the day. 

OK.  On to later in the afternoon, Daddy's parents got here around 4.  His sister and 3 of the 4 children (The oldest is at PCC; only 17 days til he is home!) got there after dinner Monday night (dinner was at yummy Squealers).   Tuesday was ........ hmmmm.  I don't remember what we did Tuesday during the day.  I know dinner was at O'Charley's and that evening was Rock Band (only cuz i asked Daddy what we did)  (Check at the very end of the post for video.  Video is not so easy to move in this here new blogger format.)  Daddy's brother and family got here around midnight.

Wednesday was our Thanksgiving.  But just as importantly, we went to Chik-Fil-A for lunch.  My one niece loves it and so does Daddy's sister.  So my niece treated her two favorite aunts.  Then some of us went to see Kalei girl.  Same said niece as above brought balloons for her and Grandma to release.(see next post)  After seeing K girl, we went home and got our big, yummy meal ready.  I never did have dessert that night.  I was too full.

Thursday was our Christmas.  After breakfast, we opened presents.  It was the year of gift card--for most of us.  I got some Rachel Ray utensils and baking dishes (side note:  they are heavy!)   Daddy got a new pair of crocs.  Hoss got a new donut shaped bone, which he promptly demolished.  We gave everyone else, well I can't tell you because my side of the family hasn't opened their presents yet.  (check back for a post on the story of those presents and pictures)  We also started a new tradition (ooooo, aaaah, yeah!)  Later that afternoon, one family left.


Well, these weren't exactly a gift cards.

Grandma opening THE present.

This is what the 3 younger boys did.  Not sure who or what he is supposed to be.



Their Kalei thank you card; again, a future post.

Friday was black Friday.  We left the house at (drum roll) 10:30.  And still got most of what was on our list.  And for lunch we had (drum roll again) CFA!  That evening was Wii Fit. (Again, video is at the bottom) I won't describe exactly what happened; I'll just say there was a lot of laughing.  A lot.

All the visitors headed home Saturday.  We cleaned.  And our little house breathed a sigh of relief.  Our trash men did not.

Thanksgiving week in NY

This Thanksgiving, we went to NY to see Daddy's family. It was nice to be able to see everyone and spend some time together. We got family pictures done and even went bowling--all 17 of us (Grandma and her foster baby were the only ones who didn't bowl).

Black Friday

Did everyone get some good deals on Black Friday? I know we did. And we had fun too. And got to eat breakfast at Cracker Barrel--even better.

One quick funny story since I don't have any pictures. Daddy and C planned on going out early Friday morning, just the two of them. Daddy told C the night before that they would get up around 5 am and leave quickly. After the kids went to bed, Daddy and I looked over the ads and what we wanted and decided that we could all leave a little later (6:30ish) and probably still get what we wanted.

Next morning around 5:15 I was rudely awoken to C loudly yelling "Mommy! Mommy!" I rushed to his room and found him crying crocodile tears. "Daddy said he was getting me up at 4 or 5 and he forgot me!" Oh dear. "No he didn't. We actually planned on all of us going later." "I want it to be just him and me like we talked about." Again-oh dear. Since Daddy was now awake, he decided to go back to the original plan. So the boys left before 6 and K and I left around 7:30 and met them at Wal Mart.

We got toys, blankets, laptop table, socks, jeans (which I have to return; the snap broke), pre-lit Christmas trees, presents, a 4 slice toaster, sweat shirt, hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm I can't think of what else. But you get the picture. It was a great day.

Oh I forgot that I do have a picture of one of my pre-lit trees. So I will leave you with that. Disclaimer: Please tilt your head to the right before viewing. (I'm being very lazy today and don't want to rotate it).

An Italian Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving and Christmas it will be just our little family of 4. We will be having no company and we won't be going anywhere for the Holidays. In a little way it will be nice to not have to travel (I am the world's worst traveler; 'worser' than the kids), but I will miss seeing family.

One evening Daddy and I were discussing what we were going to have for Thanksgiving.

Me: I don't know if I want to make 2 big turkey dinners within a few weeks of each other. Our kids won't eat much of what I make anyway.

Daddy: Oh look. Buca de Beppo is open on Thanksgiving.

Me: Oh I like that idea. I don't have to cook or clean up! SOLD!!!

I called within the next few days to make reservations and our Thanksgiving dinner plans were made.

So Thanksgiving morning, after we watched a little bit of the parade we drove downtown to the restaurant. Buca is a family style Italian restaurant that was actually serving a turkey dinner. We all opted for Italian food and actually were able to get individual portions.

We started with yummy garlic cheese bread. Daddy had stuffed shells (stuffed with sausage and spinach), I had 4 cheese stuffed manicotti, K had "pa-sketti" and C had pizza. We ended with THE BEST chocolate chip canolis. They were worth going back for.

Our waitress was very nice but did ask why were eating there instead of home. There was almost no one there at the time. When we got dessert, they did seat another table. Downtown was very empty too.

It was a fun family time and the food was very good but I miss leftovers. I guess I will just have to wait until Christmas.

At this restaurant, you can request to eat with the pope. We didn't get to eat with him but did get the kids picture taken with him.

Thanksgiving

I've been dying to blog for the past few days but haven't had time! I'll try to cover all our Thanksgiving weekend activities.

The Tuesday night before Thanksgiving our church hosts their midweek service and calls it a "Pie and Praise" service. We start with songs and testimony time in the audotorium and then go to the Fellowship hall for pies and desserts. It's a fun time! While we were eating, we got to talking to some friends and found out that they would be 'just them' for turkey day. So on a whim, we decided to get together for the day. We call this family our kids "Indiana grandparents." They are a great family. So that's where we went on Thursday.

Thursday morning we had a "Thanksgiving" breakfast of cinnamon rolls. YUMMO!

We headed to our friends house about 1:30 and were there for a few hours. We had a yummy meal (the homemade rolls were the best-even better than Sister Shubert's). It was a good time. On our way home, K fell asleep and even slept a few more minutes on the couch after we got home. We spent the evening planning Daddy's route for the good deals the next morning.

Daddy got up before 5 am to head out Friday morning. He started at Wal-Mart and has since said he will never go to W-M again the day after T-giving. But he got what we wanted there. In fact, he got most of what we wanted that day. At 8:30 we met him at McD's for breakfast and then we all went out to JCPenney's. C had a pix appointment for his 6 year pictures and Daddy and K did some more shopping. We finished up in time to have lunch back at home. That afternoon, I started putting up Christmas decorations.

Saturday was the day that the kiddies have been talking about for awhile. They were so excited to put the tree up. They both helped and loved putting the ornaments on. We did have to re-arrange some-K kept putting them all on the same branch. I think it turned out very nice. We even played outside for a few minutes while Daddy put up our decorations outside-4 white spiral trees in the front yard.

All in all, it was a very busy, very productive, and very fun Thanksgiving weekend. Hope everyone had a great day!