Thanksgiving 2017

Our third annual Friendsgiving with the Erpelding family was hosted at our house this year! Our two families were joined by Great Grandpa, Sheela’s mom, who was visiting from Richmond, VA and Sheela’s best friend from Richmond but who now lives in Japan with her family came into town last minute to spend time with Sheela, so we had them over too! With 20 of us, it was a full house! The older kids were awesome helping with the little ones and we split who was responsible for which dish, so with all that team effort, it was a relatively easy-going Thanksgiving!

Ready to go before the feast begins.

We brined the turkey in a huge bucket of salt water and spices two days before, patted it dry and let is sit overnight in the fridge and then roasted it for a few hours on Thanksgiving. The result was a juicy, tender and crispy on the outside turkey that everyone gobbled up.

Our friend, Michael, has a wet stone for knife sharpening and graciously agreed to sharpen all of our knives prior to Thanksgiving. Our super sharp knives felt like brand-new!

The Erpeldings brought a delicious honey-baked ham, yummy green bean casserole, yummy marshmallow sweet potato casserole, their traditionaly yummy sauerkraut, and yummy pumpkin and pecan pies. We contributed the turkey, rolls, pecan-crusted sweet potato casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, regular mashed potatoes, cornbread stuffing, cranberry sauce, mini pumpkin pie desserts for the kids and homemade apple pie from the girls’ school’s fundraiser. We all had leftovers for days! Everything was homemade, but if I had to do it over again, I would definitely outsource the rolls… no matter how many times I try them, I am not a good bread/roll maker! We were in luck that the weather was unusually warm this Thanksgiving and was 85 degrees in the afternoon! The kids worked on crafts before dinner and because they seemed content playing outside, the adults went ahead and started eating first, inside.

Halfway through our dinner, the kids all decided they were hungry, so we took a little break to dish everyone up and let them loose outside where they feasted at their kids’ tables. Meredith sat inside on Sheela’s lap and ate, along with Ulala’s adorable baby, Emi, in the high chair.

Samantha and Owen dine together.

Lily put together a fun montage of photos she took, which was great since I was so busy hosting that I didn’t get any pictures! The Musicaly app she uses has a time limit, so you have to pause to look at all the pictures closely!

After dinner, the kids partied in the hot tub and pool. I’m sure our neighbors were wondering what kind of raucous Thanksgiving we were having!

I was in the kitchen getting out the desserts, when all of a sudden, I heard a loud chorus of “Pie! Pie! Pie!” coming from outside. Apparently, the kids were out of the pool and ready for dessert!

Samantha, Sheela, Amelia, Avery and Meredith

Great Grandpa and Meredith with their tummies full!

Our biggest ever Friendsgiving was a huge success thanks to everyone’s team work. We’re thankful to have such great family and friends! Happy Thanksgiving!

Lots of love,

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Thanksgiving Preschool Potluck and Friendsgiving

Samantha and Amelia kicked off their Thanksgiving week with a feast at their preschool. I volunteered to help the kids make their special placemats the week before Thanksgiving, and the twins seemed pretty nonchalant with me coming in to both classes that day.  During the Thanksgiving Feast, however, Amelia freaked out when I went to help serve the food in Samantha’s class… so much so, that she would hardly touch her food. The girls were both a little weirded out by the whole potluck since they don’t normally stay for lunch at preschool, so I think being off their normal routine, plus having me there, became the perfect storm for having an off day.

It was quite the feast! The parents and teachers had a good time sampling everything after serving the kids, but next time, I’m thinking we should all sit down and have the kids serve us!

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I came back to comfort Amelia after stepping eight feet away into Samantha’s class to help serve the food. Once her belly was full of turkey and dessert came around, she seemed to be in better spirits.

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Samantha tried every dish and thought the whole potluck thing was a swell idea.

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Amelia was proud of her turkey hat.

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Some of the kids barely tried their food, but magically became hungry again after the pumpkin roll made an appearance.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

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I’m having a hard time picking and choosing which crafts of the girls’ to keep now that they are coming home with something every day, and the clutter-hater inside me wants to keep the paper at bay. We usually hang them up for a few weeks, and then I take pictures and store a few of them in the girls’ portfolios. It’s already pretty full– can’t imagine 15 more years of paper! Some of the girls’ crafts this month:

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I had fun working with Samantha and Amelia’s classes on their Thanksgiving placemats earlier in November.

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This was the first year the twins were a little more aware as to what Thanksgiving was all about, so it was our first year doing a Thankful Tree at home. I had grand plans of making a cute tree with lighted branches, but ended up just telling the girls to go out back and pick whatever branches they could find. At dinner (i.e. whenever we remembered), we’d write down what we were thankful for. S and A repeated each other, Meredith, mom and dad, and Bandit pretty much every time, so we had to teach them to think outside of the box a little! We took the tree down at the end of November, but the girls have been asking where the Thankful Tree is, so maybe we need to keep this tradition year round?

In a moment of annoyance that the girls were whining about something or other one morning, I had them watch a short YouTube documentary clip about a boy named Juan who lived near a trash dump in Mexico and picked up trash with his family for a living. I was thoroughly depressed watching it, but the girls were fascinated and, at the very least, I think they may have an inkling of understanding about how blessed they are to live in a house and have plenty of food.

Now, whenever the girls whine, I remind them about Juan. Out of the blue the other day, Amelia proclaimed she wanted to give some of her toys to kids who picked up trash and didn’t have any toys, and she suggested giving away her favorite stuffed animal, a stuffed cougar. Touched my heart! Samantha added that she, too, would like to give some toys away to those less fortunate, and suggested giving away “Amelia’s piggy.” We’re still working on her.

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Meredith was stoked for her first Thanksgiving! This girl loooooooves food.

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The next day on actual Thanksgiving, it was time for Friendsgiving at the Erpeldings. Sheela and Todd were so gracious to host us, Sheela’s dad, and their other friends, Christine, Ragnar and their toddler, Annabel. The best part was having our feast at 11:30 a.m.! Best Thanksgiving idea ever! We all stuffed ourselves, the kids played and then we went home for a nap! THE BEST.

We brought the stuffing and cranberries, Christine and Ragnar brought some delicious pie, and Sheela, Todd and the kids put together some amazing sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, turkey, honey baked ham, and Todd’s specialty, sauerkraut! Sammy actually tried it and liked it! It was truly a team effort as Avery and Owen showed off their battle scars from peeling potatoes… way to go, kids!

Deciding on the menu, running around to gather all the groceries and supplies, getting the house ready and preparing all that food was no easy feat, but Sheela made it look easy! We were so grateful to spend a fun Thanksgiving sharing a nice meal with friends and hanging out.

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With seven kids, plus Meredith, we had quite the lively kids table. Surprisingly, in between wiping mouths, fulfilling requests for more sweet potatoes, and picking up dropped silverware, the adults were able to enjoy our meal as well.

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Samantha and Amelia had seconds (and thirds in a few cases) and were the last ones to leave the table. Actually, Meredith was the last to leave the table… she looked like a stuffed little turkey by the time she was done.

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Such a cute kids table.

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The girls were occupied coloring on the tablecloth and playing with their friends. Somehow, toys at someone else’s house are always more interesting than our own.

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Yum!

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Meredith gorged herself on turkey, rolls, potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans. She had a little taste of pie and was quite angry we hadn’t been feeding her that the whole time.

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With a new floor to explore, Meredith was in heaven before a post-Thanksgiving coma hit her and she napped all afternoon.

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We had so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving and were so thankful to celebrate with our little family and great friends!

Lots of love,

 

 

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Thanksgiving 2015

Having just arrived back from Utah, we decided not to travel again for actual Thanksgiving, even though we were sad to miss all the family that got together at Aunt Linda and Uncle David’s for the holiday. Samantha and Amelia had a blast last year at their park and playing with all the various yard creatures at their place. We hope to visit soon!

Thanksgiving at Aunt Linda and Uncle David’s in Yucca, 2014:

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Uncle David and Amelia– such a little baby last year!

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We missed our cousins this year!

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Our friends, Sheela and Todd, graciously (and bravely!) invited us over for the Thanksgiving meal, which was perfect since we didn’t have to travel more than a couple miles. Samantha and Amelia “helped” with the pumpkin pies we brought over… and by “helped,” I mean created the most disastrous mess in the kitchen/their own bodies. We ended up keeping one of the pies they “made” at home for them to enjoy since most of the filling ended up in their hair.

Samantha and Amelia were completely occupied from the moment we arrived playing with Lily, Avery, Owen and Gavin’s toys. They didn’t even want to stop to eat dinner they were having so much fun with the kids.

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Lily and Avery were pro babysitters and knew just the way to the girls’ hearts– princess costumes.

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We served up the kids their Thanksgiving fixings first. What a fun group at the kids’ table!

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Then, since the food smelled SO good, we all decided to sit down together and eat. Baby Girl was definitely having a field day with all the delicious fixings on the menu. The “grown up Dora movie” was a huge hit with S and A who were totally engrossed while the adults finished our dinner.

How did Avery know that Amelia loves to be tucked in? She was one happy camper!

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After dinner, the kids entertained us with a musical skit written by Lily in which the kids said what they were grateful for and performed a song and dance to match, plus an acrobatics show choreographed by Lily. Some serious talent over here!

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Then, the kids showed us their favorite Turkey Dance Song, which is sure to become a tradition at our house now. All the adults and kids had a dance party, while S and A weren’t too sure what was going on!

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The Turkey Dance Song for future reference next year!

We didn’t see the girls for a good 45 minutes because they were so busy upstairs playing in Lily and Avery’s room. Lily and Avery were so sweet about sharing all their dolls and toys. While the girls chatted, the boys hung out on the couch. Gavin was especially attached to Jake. What a cutie!

The moment everyone had been waiting for– dessert! Toddler and adult approved.

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It was the perfect Friendsgiving! We were so grateful for Sheela, Todd, Sheela’s mom, their sweet family friend, and the kids for a great evening. I haven’t had that relaxing of a dinner in a while and it was adorable seeing all the kids interact.

The next day, we had Great Papa over for dinner and pie, story reading and puzzle putting together.

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Samantha is quite the puzzle maker these days.

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The girls begged to be carried around in a “pouch,” which is what they call my baby bump.

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Two babies in the “pouch” flashbacks! So glad we won’t have to do that this time around.

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Pie for the second night in a row!

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Sugar coma.

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Kisses and hugs for Great Papa!

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We are usually traveling over Thanksgiving and never get our decorations up until the first week of December, but since we stayed home this year, we put everything up (except the tree) Friday and Saturday. Samantha came shopping with me to grab a few extra rolls of wrapping paper/baking items and thought it was hilarious to be covered up with all the supplies.

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Sunday was relatively relaxing with just church on the agenda. Amelia loves to occupy herself putting stickers on my bump.

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Coloring at church. Whatever keeps them quiet.

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Fun Thanksgiving memories from 2013. Amelia:

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Samantha:

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And the classic:

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Happy Thanksgiving 2015!

Lots of love,

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