We had a great Thanksgiving week! It started off with the kids and I doing some Thanksgiving crafts, coloring pages, and watching the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving show. It is one of my favorites! One day the kids had their “Thanksgiving Feast” inspired by the Charlie Brown show for a snack. We did gram crackers, jelly beans, marshmallows, and pretzels. 🙂 It was a lot of fun, and the kids liked making their own plates.

We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents house. It was great to be around family and spend time with them. My mom did a stellar job on the Thanksgiving day feast. She always out does herself, and goes way above and beyond! Most people are satisfied if they can cook a turkey and a few sides, but not my mom. She not only cooked A turkey, but TWO turkeys (One wild shot by my dad, and one store bought), chicken and dumplings, mashed potatoes, dressing, corn, macaroni and cheese, green beans, stuffed eggs, rolls, a cake and pie!! Talk about being stuffed! 🙂

It was a house full! It was a fill your plate, and sit where ever you can find a spot! (Photo courtesy of Leah 😉 )

The kids had a blast going to Papa and Nana’s house. It had been quite a while since we had been there to visit, and so they were super excited to see Nana and Papa. I took some good pictures of them and the kids together. One of the many blessings I am thankful for is my parents! I love seeing my kids spend time with them.

My parents recently bought an ATV, and it was the kids first time to take a ride on it. They of course loved it! Both Dad and Mom “had” to take them for a ride(s). They loved it! I am so glad the weather was really nice on Thanksgiving Day. We were able to go outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Here is a picture of Leah, Mom and I! Samuel snuck in too! 🙂 Samuel doesn’t want to be too far from mommy, plus he’s a ham!

Sadly, Andrew’s family was scattered around due to Covid, and so we missed celebrating with them. We were however, able to have a small thanksgiving lunch with Jim and Alesia (Andrew’s parents), and our good friends Chris and Laura on Saturday. Andrew cooked the Turkey, he spatchcocked it and roasted it. I highly recommend cooking a turkey this way because it cooks in half the time, and tastes amazing! Of course it doesn’t give you the traditional whole turkey look, but if you don’t mind plating the turkey, it is so much quicker to cook! Especially if you are doing a lunch time meal, instead of dinner time. I made steamed green beans and carrots, and heated up frozen rolls. Yes, I took the easy way out this year!! I did make a French silk pie for dessert though! (too bad I forgot to take a picture! It was amazing!) Our guests brought the other side dishes! We used paper plates and napkins! Honestly, I think it was the most relaxing meal I have ever hosted!

We do have a lot of leftover turkey! We did grocery pickup, and ordered about an eleven pound turkey. They were sold out of that size, and gave us a twenty pound turkey! Needless to say, we have a lot of turkey on our menu this week! So far we have had Turkey chili and turkey nachos. We will probably have turkey paninis, and there is this creamy turkey pasta Casserole recipe that I want to try. I’ll let you know how it turns out!

Advent is here! It has caught me by surprise this year, and I don’t have a thing planned! I did manage to buy this cute advent wreath with the candles. I love that the candles have the words Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love on them. It’s good for “us” kids 🙂 I did do a quick browse today to get some ideas, and I found this blog about teaching through the nativity. I thought it was a cute idea, and we have one of those little people nativity sets that would be perfect to use. I think I will try it and see how the kids respond! Sometimes I feel like we are the only ones who do Advent. I would love to hear some of your ideas and activities for Advent if you are one of the rare few who still celebrate or prepare for the birth of Jesus in this manner.

We are still attending worship via drive in! Sometimes it helps to get dressed up even though you are sitting in the car! Emma put on her Sunday best this week. She had a new dress from Grand-mama that she wanted to wear. 🙂 I know it is only Tuesday, but it feels like a really long week already! We have had such a difficult time getting back into our routine this week, David especially. I am thankful that so far this week the school assignments have been really light, because David has not wanted to do much of anything. He is already in full swing Christmas break mode!😬 It’s funny how at one point during the day I will want to strangle him, and then later I catch a sweet moment like I did this evening that just melts my heart. David was reading a story to Emma and Samuel! 🥰 My three blessings!

Love,

PK