{Turkey Day}

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had this year! We were able to spend it with both friends and family which made it all the better. Eli even managed to give his first, real, big dimpled smile which completely melted my heart!

Ryan and I spent most of Wednesday cooking up a storm and for the most part things went smoothly. The only mishaps we had were the two loaves of yummy pumpkin chocolate chip bread and zucchini bread. It was a sad day. I have made both of these recipes numerous times so I was very surprised when they didn't turn out. I of course found a way to blame Ryan for it ;) I told him if he had been helping me like I had asked him to then I wouldn't have been making them simultaneously. I'm pretty sure I mixed up some important ingredients between the two of them. haha! Oh well, they were just a bonus anyway.

Ryan's parents arrived Wednesday night and I literally finished the last thing on my "to do" list moments before they walked in the door. Whew! It was a busy day. I immediately handed over our sweet Eli to his Grandma and Grandpa. I love to stand back and watch when grandparents get to meet a new grandchild for the first time. What a precious, priceless moment.



Since Ryan and I had done most of the cooking before hand, Thanksgiving morning was fairly relaxed and we were able to enjoy one anothers company. Adalee was so happy to have some new faces in the house and loved all the attention she received. Grandpa took her for lot's of "horsie" rides and Grandma read her lot's of books and snuggled up on the couch with her. Our kids really are blessed to have such great grandparents!


Whenever I lay out Eli's blanket to wrap him up Addy either plops down next to him and starts rolling herself and him in the blanket or she just tries to wrap him up herself. It's pretty cute. For some reason whenever I wrap him up that is when she wants to hold him. "Hold you? Hold you?" What a good big sister!

We also spent a good chunk of the morning browsing through the Black Friday adds and coming up with our game plan for the early morning shopping! Ryan and have made it a tradition to go out shopping on Black Friday. We thought there was no way we would be able to do it this year with the new baby, but since Larry and Debbie were able to come we decided we could make it work. I was pretty excited :)

Thanksgiving dinner was supposed to be served at noon, but it always seems like there are last minute things that were forgotten so it was more like 1:00. We were only an hour late, not bad right? I really hate the hour before the big feast. It's crunch time and the kitchen always turns into a mad house trying to get everything done at the same time.



Our dinner turned out beautifully and it really was a BIG Thanksgiving feast. We were able to have our friends Kyle, Kristin, and KJ over for the big dinner this year. They brought quite a few yummy things to add to the table so we had quite the feast. Ryan insisted on buying a giant turkey because he wanted lot's of leftovers. So an 18 pound turkey it was . . . and we are still eating leftovers.



We have so many things to be grateful for in our lives, but I think one of greatest blessings is our family and our friends. It was wonderful to be able to spend time with Ryan's parents. They spoiled us all rotten, especially the kids. Addy somehow left Toy's R Us with a ginormous monkey to go a long with her new recent obsession to monkeys, which I'm pretty sure her mommy didn't, and wouldn't have ever, bought for her ;) As if she wasn't already obsessed with monkey's since visiting Monkey Joes. I think we can officially say she is OBSESSED with MONKEYS (more to come on this story later)!

We hope everyone's Thanksgiving was wonderful. We love you all and are so thankful for each and everyone of you!