Turkey Day

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We spent three nights at my sister's house, and we all had a ball. The highlight of my weekend was running my first 5k, with my sister, and her sister-in-law. It was an accomplishment for me, and I really enjoyed it.

I really appreciated how everyone in the house came along and cheered us on. As we ran to the finish line, Henrik came out from the crowd to greet me. It was so sweet. My girls and my nieces were playing music from our iPod on the van speakers for all to hear, and we enjoyed hot chocolate and muffins as we chatted in the sunshine.

When we got home, we continued our feast day with donuts and chocolate milk :) followed by appetizers before Thanksgiving dinner: veggies and dip, cheeseball and crackers, and "blessing mix," all while we watched Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Then we indulged in all the traditional holiday favorites.

It took us a while to get to dessert, but it didn't disappoint: chocolate pecan pie, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and raspberry pie with vanilla ice cream. We were so stuffed that night, that we postponed making cookie turkeys until the following day.

At one point we turned our backs on the table and then turned around to find a mountain of Hershey Kiss wrappers. I'm not the only chocoholic in the family!

My sister Tamara and I got in on a little Black Friday shopping in the not-so-early morning. We spent three hours at one store, and then Oliver was screaming back home. We all went to COSI for the afternoon and then had pizza and a movie that night. How many kids can you fit under a Snuggie?

Saturday Eric went to the temple to help the youth from our new ward do baptisms for the dead. The kids were sure happy to have more time to play together, and it was a good experience for Eric. The drive home was not quite as peaceful as our last trip back to Canton. Henrik stayed awake the whole time. The. Whole. Time. We had to stop not long into the drive to change his diaper, and then he just stayed awake. Oliver screamed at the beginning of the drive, and the girls were fighting in the back seat. Jolie kept asking for things or just asking questions until she finally fell asleep. Mierae was out as soon as we had two minutes of silence. But Eric and I were still able to chat a little bit, and we finished off the blessing mix to stay awake.

This year we really talked a lot about the first Thanksgiving with the kids. We read books, watched movies, and the girls heard stories and did crafts at school about the Pilgrims and Indians. It makes my gratitude more complete when I fully understand what we are celebrating, and how we are able to celebrate it.

I am so grateful.