I Love You Because...

Our Thankful List 2012

I am thankful for Owen

Ethan's Thanksgiving Thoughts 2011

Thanksgiving 2010

Last night we had the kids decorate Turkey Cupcakes... it was a messy hit.

Today has been all about hanging out with each other. We turned on the parade, gathered every catalog in the house and put the kids to work cutting and tearing out everything they'd ever want... and then whittling the list down to start forming a Christmas letter to Santa. It was also a hit... and pretty messy too.

Then it was time for dinner... this year I decided not to cook. For one reason... I didn't want to spend the entire weekend cleaning up the mess of Thursday. So we had it catered in and I experienced my first 'Southern' Thanksgiving and can I just say, for the record, Cornbread stuffing?! EWWWWW! It's just wrong to even be called stuffing. Deceitful I tell you. But, other then that the food was wonderful and my mouth is watering just thinking about the leftovers we're going to enjoy all weekend. During dinner we had the kids read from their little Thankful Books. Earlier this week I had them make up little notebooks and work on writing down everything they were thankful for in it. Owen's book is full of scribbles and the letter O (just learned that) and baby bear references. Ethan's is all about the items he is thankful for... like a DSi, Star Wars Lego's, Movies, the Couch, his treasure box, gum and grandpa's tree house. Lorali's is full of people. Her 'bruthuers' her Mom, her Dad, and baby 'Jeezez. Friends like Jaylyn, 'cuzens' like Tate and best friends like 'Peechs'. It is pretty darn cute. My favorite of them all had to be the sentence from Lorali's book, "I am thankful for Dad poren wooter on Mom" (Dad pouring water on Mom) complete with a picture of me naked in the shower and Doug throwing buckets of water over the door. 

After getting things settled from dinner we relaxed by watching A Christmas Carol and then the boys played Lego's. Tonight Shauna's family & Davis, Sue, and the girls came over for dessert. My pumpkin pie was a disaster but thankfully Sue saved the day with a yummy Apple Sauce Pie and some homemade caramel popcorn.  Overall it was a wonderful day. 

 

Ethan's Thanksgiving

chasing turkey's

Yesterday the kids and I made up some cute little turkey cupcakes. They invited a friend over and went to town cutting, glueing and decorating. The only catch for them was that they couldn't eat any of them until I had gotten a chance to photograph them for the Tombow blog. I had taken a few while they were decorating but couldn't really get any great shots because everytime I turned around Owen would have another one of the candies shoveled into his mouth. The older kids were losing patience with him eating their turkey's beaks and eyes. The kids finished and went to play in the playroom while I cleaned up, of course with the promise that after I swept and mopped (and took pictures) they could eat as many cupcakes as they wanted. I finished cleaning and left the kitchen to go down and tell them to pick up the legos while I took pictures. "Hurry guys, by the time you finish picking them up the turkey's will be ready to eat!". They sprang into action and I grabbed my camera and headed for the kitchen...

This is what I found. You might not be able to tell from the photo but, I'm sure you heard my scream. This is what was left of the cupcakes. Just toothpicks and patterned paper.

I won't post what was left of the dog. Let's just say the kids were heartbroken they didn't get thier cupcakes, I was furious my newly mopped floor looked like this and Sadie was well, she was lonely in the cold garage all night. Good thing the kids and I had fun making them anyways. I'm loving spending the week with them. I wish they were out of school all the time!

Rule Breaker

Growing up we had a strict rule at our house. NO CHRISTMAS MUSIC until Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving Day, when I was 12 I drove up with my Dad and big brother,Chad, to Southern Alberta. We were going to pick up two very important packages. Grandpa's horse, Rix, and Grandma. My Grandmother was very sick with Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS) and with Grandpa focusing on the love of his life he didn't have the time to take care of his precious stallion. So Rix was coming to live in Draper and Grandma and Grandpa were going to be spending the holidays with us. Since it was Thanksgiving our music rule was irrelevant. I brought an old pink tape player (thanks April) and the only two Christmas tapes I could find. Bing Crosby and the Osmonds. 12 hours there and 12 hours back. 2 tapes. Looking back I couldn't believe my Dad had that much patience. Chad certainly didn't. He wanted to ring my neck the entire time. Ever since then it never felt like the season had really 'arrived' until I heard those two albums entirely. Today as I was doing some photography for Tombow and I needed a few Christmas decorations for the background. It was less than 10 mins later and I had all the Christmas boxes hauled right into my living room and, of course, The Osmonds and Bing playing on my iPhone. Yeah. I've always been the rebelious one. But when you're in the mood, you're in the mood. Right?! Happy Holidays!