HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Today was a joy.....Mom and Kristi came over to celebrate and be with us. We spent the whole day just chatting and having fun with the girls. Jay came by later and was able to have a piece of pie and some coffee before he and Mom left. Mike and Jackie drove over to Seattle to spend the holiday with her daughter. We missed Mike! We missed Todd, Pam and the girls, too.
I cooked the turkey, the green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy (thanks Trader Joes!), and all the appetizers. Mom brought the sausage stuffed mushroom caps, the jello and the pies. Kristi brought veggies. Martin was such a trooper and helped me clean the house, as well as doing all the cleanup after dinner so I could sit with mom and go through the Black Friday adds. We are so blessed and so happy to have a beautiful family who we love so much!
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| Our beautiful table was set with our good china and good water goblets -- the girls help set the table and did all the table decorations. They worked for hours coloring their very best and cutting each one out, putting their name on the back, then ensuring each plate had 1 picture colored by Audriana and 1 colored by Sofia. A lot of thought went into how they arranged it all. Very cute... |
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| Audriana wanted to make sure Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kristi saw all of her recent Lego creations, so set set them out for display. Sofia even added in her Sponge bob Lego set that she put together! Isn't it great?!! |
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| Ginger's first Thanksgiving..... |
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| The girls were so excited for Ginger..... |
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| The girls were very excited that we were using my fancy glasses -- and that it was filled with organic pear sparkling cider! |
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This is the first year that I used a Reynolds bag to cook our turkey -- and it turned out AMazInG!!!! I will forever use a bag....it was so moist and flavorful. I had stuffed it with onion, lemons, rosemary and sage...plus poultry seasoning and butter rubbed all over the skin. So yummy! Martin did a grea
t job of carving the bird for us! |
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| Grandma sure loves these girls..... |
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| We were so proud of our Audriana -- she made all of us our own programs for her piano concert tonight after dinner. She played all the songs above, plus a few extra that mom requested. What a love she is....truly....so awesome. |
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| Grandma's homemade apple pie and a Costco pumpkin pie -- can't go wrong with either one! |
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| After dinner, Sofia decided to play some computer games and puzzles -- Aunt Kristi and Audriana watched a Harry Potter movie and Sofia is not allowed to watch it, so this kept her busy. |
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Aunt Kristi gave Audriana the Harry Potter book series for her 9th birthday last month, and she is already on book 5! We have a deal that she can watch the movies as she finished the books...so she watched the first movie after she finished the first book, watched the second movie after she finished the second book and so on. She watched movie #4 tonight with Aunt Kristi -- it's the last movie we have. I have a feeling that she is going to get the entire movie series from someone in her family for Christmas.....shhhh...
Look how grown up she looks with her legs crossed.....sigh......she's growing up.....sign...heavy sigh..... |
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| Ok, this is a bit embarrassing, but I have to note it here in the blog because it was so funny and we all laughed so hard about it. Jay ate at LaNae and John's house, but came over to our house afterwards. Well, Ginger was very excited when he got here and was jumping up on him, so he picked her up and she peed a little bit on his shirt! How embarrassing! He's pointing to it in this picture...thank goodness he's a good sport....and an animal lover! |
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| Oh me oh my! Look at my refrigerator! We have a few leftovers! LOL! |
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| One of the best parts of the night for me was when everyone left, Martin went to sleep, and Audriana went into the other room to finish her movie. It was just me and Sofia and we played the Headbandz game.....it was so fun and we both laughed and had so much fun together. When we were cleaning up, I hugged her and told her how special she was and that I will never forget our night together. I am so thankful for my kids! |
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| Sofia wasn't really asleep, but Ginger was, and she laid down next to her and simply closed her eyes. She loves that little dog so much -- they really have a wonderful little bond! |
