Turkey, Turkey, Lots of Turkey

Hosting my first Thanksgiving dinner was a success! Brent's parents came to stay with us on Wednesday night, then his sister and her family also joined us for a big Thanksgiving Dinner. I did the turkey and some of the sides, and Dee and Amy chipped in as well. When they guys were helping clean everything up, we realized that we were probably putting away 50% of what we made, so we literally had twice as much as needed. Oh well, I LOVE leftover turkey dinner with all the fixins'!

That was good, too, because that night I went to work the overnight shift, and brought with me ROUND TWO of Thanksgiving dinner in my compartmentalized Tupperware container. Yummy!

I got home at 7:30am and at 8:00 on the dot we were on our way to the Twin Cities to see my side of the family. I was able to sleep really well the whole way there (thanks once again to the air mattress in the back!) and as soon as I walked in the door my mom took one look at me and sent me to bed for another hour. Since I had been awake since 5:30am the day before, I complied readily!

While I was sleeping, my wonderful husband was helping my wonderful parents on ROUND THREE of Thanksgiving dinner. I woke up, got ready for the day, and was just finished as this fun family walked in the door!



That was one example of a potential Christmas card picture, but with a 2.5 year old, the pictures can be interesting! It had been almost two months since Brent and I last saw him, so of course he's grown and changed and become even smarter and funnier!

While we waited for ROUND THREE to finish up, David got to play with his favorite Uncle Brent. They really like each other! David loves puzzles, so he was excited to show this one to Brent.


He also loves all trucks, bulldozers, etc, so was having fun showing off this front-end-loader and all of the things it could carry.


After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner (round three) we settled in for some fun, and the smallest of the group changed into his jammies. Here he is showing me his fishing pole puzzle. He's pretty proud of himself!


And finally before they had to leave, I got to read him some bedtime stories. "Where's Spot", "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" and "Panda Bear, Panda Bear, What Do You See?" are three of his favorites. It was fun to hear him say more words, and also think he's saying more words. (There could be a 2 minute monologue of mumble jumble that he's sure we understand. We don't.)


I sure love the kid, and miss him bunches and bunches!

On Saturday, I slept in fairly late and woke up to ROUND FOUR of turkey dinner (for a late brunch for me) then Brent and I were able to do a little bit of shopping (mostly wandering). Then I met up with my best friend, Aimee, after she was done playing a piano gig at a local Macy's. We shopped and ate Italian (NOT turkey!) and talked and talked and talked. It was wonderful! She dropped me off at my parents, came in for a bit to chat, then it was bedtime for all...

After church this morning, Brent and I went back to my parents while they finished up some stuff, and he finished my Italian food leftovers while I partook (is that a word?) of ROUND FIVE of turkey dinner. As you can tell, I really love turkey dinner! We watched the start of the Vikings game, then headed back here to Wisconsin.

Where, I'm happy to report, all those leftovers await me in the fridge!