Thanksgiving

 

We had a great Thanksgiving surrounded by all of our favorite people.  Mom worked really hard to get the kids some adorable outfits for our fall family photos - don't we look great?  It's always nice when we take a few minutes out of the day to grab a big family photo.  And, how could I not post this photo of Hazel...priceless!  The sun was too bright for her, but her reaction is priceless.

Gotta love Ryan's face in this one.  Nearly 42 years old and still making the same silly faces I envision Ellyn yelling at him for.  He'll never learn.  But honestly, you can't change someone :)

Truthfully, the weather was hard to beat on Thanksgiving.  It wasn't warm but it was sunny and blue bird skies.  We started the day cutting a trailer of wood for Mom and Dad while the kids watched the Macy's Day Parade and helped Mom with a cheese tray.  When we got home from wood cutting, Erin was already there and Joey and Andy pulled in just as we arrived home.  Let the festivities begin!

Ryan fried the turkey again - this time with the perfect injection...and no eye trauma.  LOL!  I made Peggy's stuffing...Erin brought my favorite pie (Apple Cranberry Pear).  Dan brought pecan pies and salad and Joey took care of the potatoes.  Everything was delicious and we had a great day.

A pretty rare photo of just the 4 of us.   This one was Joey's idea and I'm glad we grabbed it quick as the kids were dashing off to try out the new zipline.  Oh!  And the cabin!  Isn't it cute?  Next time we're home I'll have to grab some more photos, I'm just now realizing I never posted about this project Dad and Ryan have been working on for nearly a year now.  Mom and Dad have worked really hard to make it cute and comfortable inside and the kids got to use it fully for the first time at Thanksgiving.  It was a real hit.  I'll grab some photos and do a full post maybe next time I'm hom.

Our Thanksgiving weekends aren't complete without gingerbread houses.  We have done them for years...I think since both the big girls were one.  Each year they get more self sufficient but there's still a good amount of prep to get them ready to decorate.  Joey did the majority of the prep this year, gluing all of the houses together and working to make sure all the pieces had little stands (made out of tootsie rolls) so they'd all stand up.  This year's version was actually gingerbread nativity scenes.  They are cute...lots of pieces.  

I'm not sure if the kids will still want to keep doing them, but they love tradition as much as I do...so I think we'll be doing these for quite some time.