A Wonderful Thanksgiving

We had such a nice Thanksgiving! It was small, compared to previous years -- Jon and Susan were in Texas, and Grandma and Grandpa were spending it with Grandma's sister and some friends. But Memere and Pepere were here for three fun-filled days, and Patrick and Karen came over on Thanksgiving afternoon with Braxton and Bryson, plus Karen's mother, Lou.

The day before, we were a mad flurry of activity as we cleaned the house and baked the pies. Sweet Pea insisted on helping with the pies, which was no surprise -- she loves to work with me in the kitchen. But I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that Little Man loves peeling apples, potatoes and carrots! He was very enthusiastic about it. "I'm skinning them alive! Ha ha ha!"

Thanksgiving afternoon was full of warm conversations, laughing, and good food. We celebrated Bryson and Braxton's birthday with carrot cake and cheesecake.

Bryson unfortunately broke his ankle the day before, so he was on crutches and wasn't able to run around playing football or Nerf guns like usual. But the kids had a blast playing their new favorite game: Grounded for Life. It's a kids' version of Cards Against Humanity, and I don't think I've ever heard so much giggling! One of the prompts was, "In the event of a zombie apocalypse, I would grab ______." Bryson's card said, "Training Bras," and the kids hyperventilated with laughter for a good 15 minutes. 

The next day, we went with Memere and Pepere to see the Wicked movie, which we'd been looking forward to since we saw it on Broadway last fall. It was really good, and the singing and theatricality gave me goosebumps! But I still haven't figured out how it was just the first half of the story and was almost 3 hours, when the entire show on Broadway takes less than that.

The rest of the weekend was filled with leftovers, football, and more games with Memere and Pepere. Amber didn't manage to steal any food, which I believe is a record (although she almost got the blueberry pie). The weather was beautiful, and the company couldn't have been better. It was truly a wonderful holiday!