When my family gets together to celebrate the holidays we celebrate for at least three or four days, sometimes a whole week. It is filled with family, food, fun and games! Sometimes a disagreement here or there too. (We are family after all.) We had a wonderful Thanksgiving week!! My heart was full having everyone here this week! We also thought about those who were not, and we miss them.

On Tuesday I cleaned our house and did laundry. (My days are all mixed up this week. What day is it? 🙂 I also mixed up the dough for cinnamon rolls and yeast rolls. I wanted to make cinnamon rolls for everyone to eat for breakfast while they were here, and the yeast rolls for our Thanksgiving meal. It is really convenient that the cinnamon roll dough and yeast roll dough are exactly the same recipe. The only difference is the yeast rolls have an extra tablespoon of salt in them. David still had school on Tuesday, and Emma and I played in the back yard some. She was so cute! She loves to try and play ball. I think she is going to be our little ball player later on.

 

After David came home from school Tuesday he was showing me his art work. They learned about the pilgrims, indians and the first Thanksgiving at school. They made beads, learned some sewing, and made pilgrim and indian costumes. (Notice that David’s pilgrim has red hair. 🙂

Tuesday evening I made meatloaf, black eye peas and broccoli for dinner. (I still didn’t make my broccoli cheddar soup 😦 I miss you broccoli cheddar soup! I promise to make you eventually!) I had choir practice Tuesday evening. Andrew let David wait up for me, since he didn’t have school Wednesday. David loves for me to read him bed time stories. Andrew can put him to bed of course, but it is kind of a Mommy and David thing.

Wednesday was a nice family day! We were all at home. David and I made a carrot cake together. David helped me measure ingredients and crack the eggs. He loves to taste the ingredients, especially the sugar! He is also an expert egg cracker! He really does do a great job for a four year old. Licking the beaters is always an incentive to help mommy in the kitchen.  After we finished with the cake, Andrew made cranberry sauce and fresh whipped cream. Andrew loves cranberry sauce. He likes to make it from fresh cranberries with some sugar, orange zest and lemon juice, and almond extract in it.  It is very good! Cranberry sauce is one of those things I can take it or leave it. It’s just not something I really love. David helped Andrew make the whipped cream. He said, “Mmm, I like whipped cream!”

We then went to lunch at Subway. I didn’t want to cook anything else, and going out was just easier. Subway is David’s favorite restaurant by the way. At least that’s what he says. He is so funny! We have taken him to all kinds of places, yet he will say Subway is his favorite! 🙂 While the kids were napping I rolled out my cinnamon roll dough. I got the first half of it rolled out, the butter put on and the sugar, and opened the lid to the cinnamon to find that I was almost out! I forgot to buy cinnamon! I couldn’t leave the house to go buy any because the kids were asleep. Andrew was visiting someone in the hospital thirty minutes away. So I called our neighbor down the street, who at that moment was like a fairy godmother, and she brought some cinnamon to me! I am so thankful to have such a friend and neighbor! I finished rolling out the cinnamon rolls and baking them. Our house truly smelled divine! (I know this looks like a ridiculous amount of rolls, but they are all gone!)

Later that evening my dad, mom, sister and brother-in-law arrived! We began cooking lasagna for dinner. I was also planning on having my brother, sister-in-law and nieces and nephew over for dinner. I made a double recipe of lasagna! My brother and his family didn’t make it in time for dinner, and I had a huge amount of lasagna left over. It is a good thing lasagna is freezer friendly! (I know what we are having for dinner on Wednesday.) The lasagna was so cheesy and delicious.

The lasagna took a lot longer to make than I expected because it was such a large amount. I was so thankful to have the help of my mom and sister! It was so good to see them, and spend time together. We talk on the phone every week. With my mom almost every day and with Leah usually once or twice a week, but talking on the phone is not nearly as good as being physically with someone.

After dinner we played a game of Monopoly! We love playing this game. We don’t play it like the rest of the world. We have our own set of rules. Our rules make the game shorter. You don’t have to have a monopoly of your property color before buying houses and then hotels. This makes the game a lot more dangerous. You can run out of money fast. Playing this way is unusual I know, but we like it.

While we played monopoly, Mom and David made pumpkin pies. David was so happy to be spending time with Nana! (I made the pie crust earlier in the day. It is super easy to do. All you need is three quarters of a cup of chilled crisco shortening, two cups of flour, and a teaspoon of salt. Use a pastry cutter to blend it. Then use ice water to combine it into a dough. Wrap it into two separate balls and let sit in the refrigerator for at least twenty minutes.) Mom has a knack for making pie crust edges look beautiful! Mine never look that good.

Thursday was the big day!! Andrew and I got up early (actually it was about the same time we always get up), and he went to the church and started prepping and cooking the turkeys and the ribs. He did an amazing job!!! The turkeys were very flavorful, and his ribs are amazing. He always does a great job seasoning his ribs. We are very fortunate to have had extra ovens at the church to use. We reserved the youth building, and Andrew did his cooking there while we did the sides at the house. First I trimmed green beans and put them in the crock pot. Done! I rolled out the yeast rolls and let them sit until thirty minutes before we were ready to eat, and then baked them. Done! I peeled and cut carrots, cooked them and seasoned them with butter and dill. Done! My sister in law, Beth, peeled potatoes and cut them up. We let them boil until soft, and then Andrew came home about thirty minutes before we were ready to eat and mixed up the garlic mashed potatoes for me. (He’s our potato masher! 🙂 Done! Mom made the dressing. Done! Leah made the stuffed eggs. Done! I made the extra cheesy, ooey gooey, delicious macaroni and cheese. Done! Alesia brought the sweet potatoes. Done! The desserts were already taken care of. Beth did the hardest and most amazing job of keeping the dishes washed, dried and put away for us while we were messing them up! Thank you everyone!

My yeast rolls turned out amazing! I was so proud of them! It was my first time ever to make home made rolls. I will definitely be making them again. They are so heavenly. (Can you tell I love bread?)

We ate our Thanksgiving meal at the church youth building. It is literally like one or two minutes from our house. It was good because there was plenty of room and entertainment. There is a pool table, hockey table, TV to watch football etc. (There are a few goofy pics and videos of me playing air hockey floating around. My competitive spirit came out and we had a great time! 🙂

While some of us were slaving away preparing the meal, the others played! The kids and young at heart all hung out at the youth building, played games and had fun.

Here are some pics of our families. David was so cute with his uncle Jason! Jason brought his drone with him to fly, and David thought that was so cool! He was amazed!

 

Emma and Henry were so cute playing together. They both got plenty of hugs and kisses from Grand-mama and G-pa!

David and Emma got quad triple hugs and kisses with both sets of grandparents in the building! David was so excited to eat his pumpkin pie! I had to tell him he could only have a piece if he ate some of his other food, which then he did.

 

One of my favorite pictures this Thanksgiving! I truly love the fact the we were together!!!

It is amazing all the work that went into this amazing Thanksgiving meal only to be devoured and done with in thirty minutes! It really went by too quickly! We had plenty of leftovers too! Several hours later after everyone was all tired and gamed out, we decided to eat again! (We heated up plates of leftovers.) Then the games began again! This is the most game playing group. I don’t think they ever get tired!

On Friday there were a few of them who wanted to do some shopping. (I’m not a black Friday shopper! Especially not with two littles.) We met everyone at Cheddars for lunch. They have really good salads and chicken strips by the way! My brother and his family left after we ate lunch.

After lunch we did a tiny, little bit of shopping. 🙂 Then we went to the park. My sister Leah, who has a fancy camera and loves photography took some pictures of us. (I can’t wait to see them! I hope at least a few of them turn out good.) Then we came home and I made turkey chili. I one hundred percent recommend this recipe for using up a lot of your left over turkey!!! Everyone loved it! You can find it on food network. It is called thirty minute turkey chili. (I substituted chicken stock for the beer, hot sauce for the chipotel chili en adobo, and I used tomato sauce instead of the whole peeled tomatoes.)

After dinner we watched the new Disney Jungle Book movie. David was glued to the tv screen. He loved it! We were all exhausted and tired from the week and the day.  We went to bed. This morning Dad, mom, the kids and I enjoyed breakfast at a local diner. (Andrew had a funeral to officiate. Time stops for no one!)  Then everyone said their good byes. 😦 I already miss everyone!! We have spent the rest of the day doing nothing!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for!!