We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents house this year. My siblings and their families were all present and we enjoyed being together. My mom cooked an amazingly delicious meal!!  The kids and I made some desserts to take with us the Wednesday before thanksgiving. I made an apple and cherry pie, and a mandarin orange cake. The kids enjoyed helping out with the cake. Emma is old enough now that she wants to help too! 🙂 David and Emma both have to make sure that they are included in whatever the other is getting to do, and that mommy is not paying attention to one more than the other. I think and hope that it’s just pre-baby gitters! They of course had to have a hand in licking the cake batter. 🙂

 

I remembered to take a picture of my pies, but since I have pregnancy brain, I forgot to take a picture of the cake! The cake was super moist and delicious. It is a cake that my Grandma used to make, and so it seemed extra special to make it this thanksgiving.

Some apple pie recipes ask you to cook the apples ahead of time, but I have come to love the recipe I use that does not ask you to do this. It’s so simple and delicious! I love it when the apples are not all smooshy and still have a little bite to them. Here is the apple pie recipe I use. My cherry pie was made from fresh cherries that I had put back in my freezer. For some reason fresh cherries were very scarce and an unreasonable price this year. I’m thankful for my one bag of frozen cherries I had left in the freezer! Here is the cherry pie recipe that I always use. My grandmothers mandarin orange cake is one that I’ve made only a couple times, but it is so easy to do. I don’t know why I don’t make it more often! The ingredients include 1 box of yellow cake mix, 1 15oz can mandarin oranges undrained, 1/2 cup oil, and 3 eggs. Mix well and pour into well greased 9×13 pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about thirty to thirty-five minutes. Let cool completely! For the frosting: 1 large can of crushed pineapple, 1 package of instant vanilla pudding, 1 9oz container of cool whip. Drain the juice from the pineapples into a mixing bowl with the instant vanilla pudding. Mix well together. Add the pineapple and cool whip. Mix well and spread on the cake. Refrigerate the cake overnight.

 

It was a beautiful thanksgiving day, and the kids were able to play outside quite a bit. I tried to take some pictures, but it was hard to get cooperation. 🙂 As you can see from the pictures above, we had the “adult” table and the “kid” table set up for thanksgiving dinner. Emma was so funny, she looked around and had the expression of, “why am I sitting over here away from mommy and daddy?”! She picked up her plate and literally carried it over to where we were sitting and sat it down. She moved herself to the adult table! 🙂

I was very happy we were able to be together this year for Thanksgiving. We just buried my grandfather a few days before and we miss him, but are thankful for him and the memories of others we love that are not with us.  Since the weather was nice we took a trip to the cemetery to visit the graves of those we miss dearly. My maternal grandmother passed away my first year of college in 2003. I never knew my maternal grandfather because he passed before I was born. It may seem a sad or depressing thing to go to the cemetery on thanksgiving, but it was important and profound to us. In fact, I hope we do it every year. It was meaningful to remember and say thanks to those we love who are no longer with us.

 

The day my grandfather passed it snowed. I love snow, and it was hard to have such a painful event mixed with such a joyous one. I will always think of my grandfather when it snows! The ground only accumulated about half an inch, but it was Emma’s first snow. She didn’t know what to think. This was her expression when we first went outside. 🙂

She eventually started to enjoy herself, and wanted more snow! Hopefully we will see more snow this season.

Speaking of the season, I have recorded a Christmas album! You can listen to it by visiting my Media page!

I dressed the kids up for church this morning and tried to take some pictures of them together. There are no words to describe how nearly impossible it is to get them to pose correctly at the same time! 🙂 This is the best I got! I hope they do better for family pictures once Samuel arrives. Am I dreaming? Is it too much to ask? 🙂

 

We finally have the nursery put together and ready for Samuel’s arrival! The only thing I lack is the curtain for the window, which I have ordered a matching valance. I think it is super cute and sweet. I love the colors! Only a few more weeks till we meet Samuel!

 

 

By the way, I have been putting up with a lot of shenanigans this past week! David and Emma have both been pretty rambunctious, and with the days being shorter it’s hard to wear off that energy outside. Maybe I’m just too pregnant and tired! Either way…, the picture below is the kind of things I’ve been finding! 🙂

Peace,

PK