We had Thanksgiving Dinner at our house this year!
Nate got up bright and early that morning to get his turkey in the oven (spent a lot of the evening before getting it all ready) we had such a tight schedule with the turkey and the rolls needing to be in the oven, that having Nate wake up a little later than planned sort of threw things off a bit. But we figured things would still work out. The kids and I made all the cute, turkey place settings. That was a lot of fun. I had a flood of memories from the last time we made those, back in Alaska at our own family Thanksgiving dinner. So that was great.
After a little rescheduling, Nate, Charity, Bradly and Luke all headed out to play Football with everyone at Tolman Elementary (I'm still trying to figure out why I thought we would be able to play football in our yard... that would have been really lame, I'm not sure why I was thinking that!). They all had a lot of fun! Nate said Charity and Bradley were stars out on the field, and Lukey had fun playing with Charlie on the playground.
While they were gone, Kelly and I frantically got things ready. Setting up the table and chairs, doing some more cleaning, and taking care of an extra fussy Jack (not sure what got into him, but he did not let up for a while and made me feed him for a couple hours nonstop), but we managed to get most of it done. I was behind schedule even more with the rolls because of feeding Jack, so that was frustrating, but I figured it'd be fine. Kelly was so much help!
Once Nate, the kids, and Heidi and John got home, things really started to pick up momentum! And the place got a little more stressful :). Nate was taking out the turkey, I was STILL waiting for my dumb rolls to rise, Brent was bringing yummy pies in, the kids were getting anxious for everything (I think I told Bradley about a dozen times that the gingerbread houses were not until AFTER the dinner!). Our kitchen was packed, I was sweating. And my rolls didn't rise. Once my Mom got here, it was only a matter of putting the table cloths on and setting the table before we could start eating. Things went pretty smoothly, I was really grateful for Sarah's help, she did a ton of the last minute stuff. I was still mad though, because my rolls were horrible. I know it's silly to care, but that was one of the few things I was doing and I LOVE my rolls! They usually work out so well! So anyway, enough about my rolls.
The frustration built up a little as we were getting seated, for some reason all of mine and Kelly's planning went out the window and all of a sudden there was not enough room for people, and certain kids didn't want to sit on the floor... it was annoying. Sorry to be so real, but it really was. Didn't help that it was crowded and not going the way I had planned. I guess I only mention this because I want to make sure I don't do it like this again. We need to make sure we have 2 tables to put side by side (the long side. To make sure that there is room for plates and food), and if there isn't room for that, we go buffet style. That's that. No kids on the floor, that just didn't go over very well. As I'm typing this out I'm finding that Nate's original plan (the one we argued about) was the one to go with. I don't say this often, but Nate was right, and I was wrong! Should listen to him more often. I do say that a lot.... huh.
Aside from all of my negativity, I think everyone else was okay. The kids keep talking about how much they loved it, and that is a relief. Bradley was really sweet, in the middle of the dinner, he came over to Nate and asked him who made the Jalepeno Poppers and much to his surprise, it was Nate, (the things that go over these kids' heads :) ), and he had some very complimentary words for Nate that followed. It was adorable. I was so proud of him for having the maturity to tell someone (whoever it was!) that the food they had created, was delicious. And they were! They were a big hit! I had wanted to tell what we were thankful for, but that didn't really go. Which is fine. Our family has done that almost every dinner this month, and recorded our blessings on the white board, so no biggie.
So anyway, once dinner was over, I felt a lot of the stress I was feeling disappear. Which was good since Nate had to leave right then, and I think I would have had to ask everyone else to leave too, if I was going to keep feeling the way I was. We all went downstairs for Pure Luck! That was extremely relaxing. I even dozed off a little. It's always nice when everyone just hangs out and watches a movie together. Like the good ol' days. That was relaxing. I was bummed that Steve had to leave, but either way, things were great.
I was really happy with how the rest of the day went. When the movie was over we all came upstairs and dished up Sarah's pies and Heidi's Chocolate Cake. They were all SO YUMMY!! I threw my whole no sweets thing out the window and pigged out on several. They were delicious and well worth it. Though now I have an even stronger sweet tooth which is even harder to resist! My kids LOVED this part!
After pie, Bradley informed me that it was 6:00 and time to make Gingerbread houses (I had been forced to give him a time back when he was nagging me to do it earlier). We got the frosting made and candy out to make our gingerbread houses. I was able to use my pinterest idea of glue-gunning the graham crackers to the paper plates rather than trying to put them together with the frosting. That proved to be a VERY USEFUL idea. I was glad I tried it. The houses were not falling apart and making kids cry. Definite bonus. And I got my camera out.... another bonus! After they had dried, I realized just how strong my frosting was, though, and thought that this frosting might have been enough had it been given time to dry first... might have to consider that as well.... though the glue gun gave us a quicker activity.
Heidi and John were SO nice to help the little kids with their houses. And I owe Brent big time for letting Jack sleep on him for the last few hours of the day. I know he's sweet and worth the trouble (Jack, not Brent :) ), but I also know that Brent wasn't feeling 100% that day, so I know it was a sacrifice (well, up until he was able to use it as his excuse to not play games with us :) jk.).
Cute Alvin had his buddy Heidi there to introduce him to the sprinkles :)
Sarah and I wandered around offering help and taking pictures
This made me laugh :) He was shoveling the sprinkles into his mouth! Funny boy! I have such cute nephews!
Erika really got into this! It was fun to watch her work!
Poor Uncle Steve. He's so tolerant.
Jack with his Uncle Brent. First time Brent's held him. They look pretty good together :). I am really thankful for my big brother. He's a good example and a good friend. Hopefully we can keep having these good times together. I miss that.
Cute Charlie wanted to hold Jack. Most of the pictures I took didn't turn out. I'll have to get a better one another time :), but I wanted to remember how anxious he was to hold Jack.
Had to get pictures of the final products:
Noah was so anxious to eat his, he didn't put much on it :) Funny kid. I had to force him to get a picture of it before scarfing it down.
Erika's got the "cutest" award from John
John gave Kelly the "Most Creative" award. She was VERY proud of all of her hard work. She took pictures of every detail....
This is what the inside of Kelly's looked like-- a little baby sleeping with a candy wrapper blanket :) So creative!
John gave Bradley the "one I'd like to live in" award, because it was a "mansion"
Here's Charity's, I liked how creative she got as well. So Charity.
And Kelly got pictures of all of herdetails too:
That broken up Butterfinger in the backyard is the dog poop... how quaint.
Erika's again
This was Luke's. I was really impressed with how well he did and how focused he stayed on it. He does like doing these every year. It's fun to see him get excited about it.
Here's Noah's, after he ate most of it.
Kelly got a little camera happy:
This was what our center pieces looked like. Although, we did have a few of a side view of the Turkey, compliments of Luke being different :), I thought it looked cute both ways, so we did.
Here's our "wall of Thankfulness" on the white board this year :)
After Gingerbread houses, Grandma and Simon left and we got out the Boxers or Briefs game. It was a LOT of fun! I love sitting around playing games. I need to plan a game night. With goodies. Well, maybe just snacks. Yeah.
It was a really fun day. I'm so grateful for family and that we were able to spend the day together.
Here's what Charity had to say about the day:
I loved how we all got to get together and talk and eat mashed potatoes, dad's DELICIOUS turkey, pies, and lots of other foods that I can't remember!! I also loved making the gingerbread houses. I thought it was a really great ideas of yours how instead of using frosting to stick the walls for the houses together, we used glue ( sorry I can't find a better way to describe that situations ). After we made gingerbread houses we got to play boxers or briefs with the family. I could barely stay awake during the game because I was so worn out from all of the things that we had done to prepare for Thanksgiving the day before and I was stuffed from the food and I was exhausted from all of the fun that we had!! This was probably one of the best Thanksgiving's that I have ever had!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
