Thanksgiving

Wow!  The week has flown by.  On Monday, I had my monthly date with Laura.  We had a great time talking and catching up.  While I was out, Jeremy and the girls were at my parents eating supper due to a power outage at our house.  The power company had estimated a return to power by the next day at 3pm.  Thankfully, it was on before then!  Nevertheless, the girls enjoyed a surprise sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa’s house!  On Tuesday, Madison had a sack lunch at preschool.  She was super excited about packing a lunch to eat with her friends.  While we packed her lunch, Ellie also packed a lunch – not one to be left out!.  She and I went to my dad’s to enjoy her sack lunch… and the leftovers from my meal with Laura that I forgot in their fridge.  Wednesday, we prepped for Thanksgiving.  The girls helped make a turkey snack for all their cousins.  (It was a pinterest find that I figured we could actually manage to do!)  I also baked up some White Chocolate Vanilla Marshmallow Cake Bars.  This was a part of my Cookie (or Bar) of the Month donation to the Thanksgiving Day Sale my church holds every year.  The proceeds of the sale went to two local families and a church in Tanzania that we have partnered with in the past.  Then, at 2pm, I took the kids swimming with Steph and her two kids and Jacqui and her three kids at a heated indoor pool.  I decided to just let Ellie skip her nap instead of skipping the fun.  They swam for almost 1-3/4 hours before eating a snack and heading back.  Ellie started to be really independent in her life vest – and a noodle.  She always has to be holding on to something to feel secure.  I am just happy if it is not me she is clinging to.  Madison jumped off the edge of the pool by herself a number of times (in her puddle jumper).  She, Lilli, and Analeia played mermaids for a good amount of time as well.  Ellie fell asleep on the way home.  I let her sleep for about an hour.  When I woke her up, she was a bear the rest of the night.  I think it was worth skipping the nap – but probably won’t do it again without good cause.

I was exhausted – physically, exhausted – by the end of Wednesday.  I could not fathom cutting all my brussel sprouts up for the next day.  Instead, I made a list of all the things I needed to take/get ready in the morning and went to bed by 9pm!!!!  It was awesome.

I woke up at 6 the next morning and went to work.  I made brussel sprouts with pecans this year for Thanksgiving.  It is the third year running I have brought a side of sprouts.  And every year, we eat 2 pounds up in a flash.  I am here to bring back the brussel sprouts and save them from their bad reputation.At any rate, the Sale was fun as usual.  I walked away with a new game – Kan Jam – that we will try out when the kids are older, many first-fruits canned good from my friend, Christi, crescent rolls, and puppy chow.  Pretty much, I buy a lot of food and a few other things.  The big ticket item this year?  An elderberry pie that I was bidding on for Jeremy.  I lost the bid when two others bid it all the way up to $310!  The man who bought it had outbid me last year on a ground cherry pie when I bowed out at a measly $100.  I am going to have to put together an investment group to get my husband a pie next year!  (At least that was Jeremy’s suggestion!)  We left there to go to my parents’ house for the main Thanksgiving meal – turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, zweibach, green beans, brussel sprouts, and pies.  It was all delicious. 

After much playing (and a much needed nap for Ellie), we headed to the other side to catch the tail end of their Thanksgiving.  I brought mac and cheese and jello to add to any leftovers.  It was nice to sit and chat with everyone in a low-key, almost kid-less (just ours!) environment.  We headed home by about 8pm to get two tired girls … and adults .. to bed. 

The next day,. we reconvened at my parents’ house after going to meet my nephew’s snake, Kernel.  It is a really passive corn snake.  I held it for awhile and Ellie did, too. Madison touched it, but didn’t hold it.  We had grilled cheese with the cousins for lunch, played some, ate turkey tetrazzini for supper, and played some more.  Then, came home to our own home.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Disclaimer: None of the photos in this post are mine.  You can access them by clicking on the link within each paragraph.