Hope those of you that live in the States had a lovely Thanksgiving weekend! We had a very relaxing and enjoyable holiday. Here are some of the few photos I captured (thank goodness for my phone, I swear, I hardly pick up my big camera anymore).
The best part of Thanksgiving every year is having our family in town and a house full of guests. There's nothing like cousin time on special holidays!
My daughter was totally into cooking this year, even more than last, and she basically took over all the planning and head chef duties. The day before, she corralled the kids and made those cute acorns you see all over pinterest:
I can't tell you how pleased I am that she is finally uses pinterest. After all my attempts at explaining why she would like it fell on deaf ears, her college dorm mates convinced her. (Of course, right?) She also pre-scooped the ice cream for the pie thanks to pinterest. :
She didn't seem to mind bossing me around too much:
And truthfully, I didn't mind it either, I love making pies (we made one pumpkin and 2 apple), and frankly, she did such an awesome job it was easy to give up control!
My neices went through an entire pad of art paper, making various signs and things like leaves and acorns to decorate the house (like in the first photo- you can see they loved my paper crimper too).
I can't tell you how much I love art made by kids! Love it! And look at those cute arrows, makes an arrow obsessed Aunt proud. Look at the faces and directional arms...and that squirrel!
As I mentioned when I posted this on my instagram, they were clearly fixated on the "asind seeting" ...{their mom explained to me that although they are twins, they are in separate classrooms and one has a teacher that is very focused on spelling correctly, the other does not, so one asks her mom for correct spelling...of course, I find the incorrect spelling so charming.}
Not too long before serving dinner, I popped in the dining room to do something and saw one of my nieces, ready and waiting at her place. How cute is that?!?
I was so glad she let me take her photo, and it didn't take long for her sister to find her:
It does make me sad that my brothers live in Nor Cal and my family and my Dad live in So Cal. When I look at these pictures, I miss being able to participate in each others' lives on a regular basis. I'd love to babysit (which would most likely mean them chasing my son around the house for much of the time, just like cousins do!)
Thanks to my daughter, we enjoyed a lovely feast, and our friend Gillian, who is English, informed us that the correct way to open party crackers is with the help of a friend, not all by yourself, like we'd been doing. In case you are the type to have holiday party crackers, now you know the proper English way too.
I'm happy to report that thanks to the signage, everyone was able to not only find their way to the dining room, but also to their correct seating! There were a couple very pleased 7 year olds. I will save my "Ant Pam" placecard forever.
After dinner there was the general lolling about, dish washing, pie baking, and apparently some ipad-ing too.
And just like every year, some dear friends stop by and we do even more lolling about, eating, visiting and always big group game playing. We seriously need Catch Phrase to come out with a new edition of replacement discs, we've been through the same words year after year. Luckily, we adults are forgetful, and the kids grow so much from year to year that they relate to the words differently each time, so, so far, so good.
The firepit is a favorite place to gather and hang out. I've still got to get the rocks to cover the ring (we all can't agree- some what glass marbles, some want sand and natural stone, I'll let you guess who wants what). But finished or not, everyone loves the fire pit- it's mesmerizing, and comfy, and perfect for s'more making and general stretching out the evening and the fun times. The new furniture around it and my sparkly shoes from TJMaxx were both big hits as well. Although, in all honesty, even though the shoes were flat, they did hurt my feet by the end of the night...a case of you get what you pay for maybe?
And then it was time to love on Papa and say goodnight.
The next day was more of the same, sans the big meal, without all the guests. More relaxing, more games, more eating and drinking, visiting and dishes, and walks to the park to play basketball and run (especially after cousins). No shopping, no working, no homework: a true "stay-cation" as they say, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
