Okay, Okay! I know this is waaaaay overdue! My Thanksgiving was just so wonderful (and chaotic) that I haven't had time to write all about it. It really was wonderful and it really was chaotic! When you have a big family and they all are in one place at one time, things get crazy - you learn to embrace the crazy!
I already have several new things I want to post about. But Thanksgiving first!
Our week started out with my sister-in-law's family coming to town. She has the most wonderful boys. I really love them and enjoyed having those two sweet things around. I wish they lived closer so that my girls could spend more time with them. But since we don't get to see them as much as we would like, we tried to make the most of their visit.
It started with a cousins fishing trip which didn't exactly go according to plan.
No Fish!!!
Then Thanksgiving Day arrived and brought a whirlwind of cooking very yummy food. Jason suggested we use the rotisserie - it was a very good idea!
The Thanksgiving Menu:
BLT Tomato Bites & Cranberry Sauce
Pork Tenderloin stuffed with Cranberry Dressing
Sweet Potato Puffs (covered in coconut and filled with marshmelows)
Veggies Roasted with Thyme, Rosemary, & Oregano ( Carrots, Sweet Potatoes, Zucchini, Brussel Sprouts, Onions, & Garlic) - this was, by far, my favorite dish of the whole day!
Fresh Green Beans with a Pepper Pine Nut Butter
and the un-healthy splurge - Baked Macaroni & Cheese...
Our table was all set and ready for a great family meal. Jason's parents and sister's family were all here for the 'event'. There were 10 of us eating - which is quite a small group for a family holiday meal. I really enjoyed it!
After lunch, we were all excited to head over to my mom's for some big family time!
The kids had been promised a bon-fire so they could hardly wait to get there!
Even Carlie was excited!
Everyone brought their leftovers to share. We all love good music and several people brought instruments. We had our very own personal 'jam session'. I can only pray that this will become a tradition. We sat around and sang Praise &Worship songs for hours. It was wonderful.
You can't tell from the picture, but at one point someone told me they had count 84 people coming in and out. Now that is a BIG FAMILY. It was surreal. I just sat back and thought - this is my family.... I am so glad that this is my family.... I couldn't have hand selected any group that I would be prouder to call mine....
It was the most perfect night of 2010. But it was a late one! It didn't stop the kids from being up at the crack of dawn with a project on their minds. Of course, Alaynah was the project manager. They were building a fence with a door way and a gate. This is a picture I took early in the afternoon. They had already built the doorway and dug holes to sink it into the ground. They went on to build an entire picket fence. I was impressed.
The next few days were filled with playing games and eating leftovers.
My week off school absolutely flew by. Getting back to routine was only tolerable because of my students. I have taken this month to try to focus on being thankful, and I tried to carry that into my classroom by having them write things they were thankful for every week. It took us an entire month to completely fill the board, but we did it! It was a great way to wrap up a great month!
I can't even imagine what December will bring...
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