Turkey Day

I sat down to do a posting on Christmas stuff, but then couldn’t bear to not put up some stuff for Thanksgiving. We spent the long weekend at mom and dad’s house. Our plan was for Justin to get off work early on Wednesday, me and the boys pick him off at work, and head up. For future reference, there are approximately 34 billion cars on the freeway, at that time, on that day. 15 minutes north of Eugene we were already in stop and go traffic, with literally about a hundred miles between us and Portland. Then there was Portland to deal with. After a few pleasant minutes of discussion (not), debating suffering through hours of traffic or turning around, we decided to give up and try again first thing in the morning. An hour later, we were back home, where we spent the night and then got up at the crack of dawn (unfortunately, the norm for us anyway) and were on the freeway by 6:30. Not a car in sight.

So we arrived a day later than planned, but it was all up hill from there. My whole family was there, with the exception of Aja, who was on a mission trip in the Dominican Republic during her Thanksgiving break. Seth still made it, braving a solo plan ride with Ezra. Weekends with my family are always fun, but can also be exhausting and overwhelming. Lots of people, lots of toys, kids off their normal schedules, it’s just a lot.

Don’t mind my sweet pajama pants. I brought some stuff along for some more structured activities for the adults. My parents have a ping pong table in the unfinished section of the basement, and I had the brilliant idea to have a ping pong tournament complete with a bracket and a (homemade) trophy. Thanksgiving day was the only day that every one of the adult children were there, so throughout the day different people were paired up for games, ending in the final matchup of Mom and Seth. Yes, I said MOM. (It also has to be mentioned that Mom made it to the finals after squashing Justin in a semi-final. He almost made a comeback, but still. Squash).

A also brought a Family Feud style game that Amber had found. That one required quite a bit less energy, but was a fun way to stay engaged while sitting around. Better than watching football, or, since we were at my parents, Fox News, House Hunters, or Nascar. Mom and I have already started plotting the next Thanksgiving there, which will be in 2 years. It was fun having some activities planned (there’s room on the trophy to mark another winner ya’ll). Next time, we are thinking we will have some kid stuff planned also, since we will have 3 two year olds, a 4 and a 5 year old. GAH! Plus who knows how many new babies by then (not from me). We were thinking some ornament making crafts….

I suppose it goes without saying that Thanksgiving dinner was delicious. I love my mom’s cooking, and you really can’t go wrong with the Thanksgiving menu. In spite of SOME of our skepticism, even Sam’s first-try-deep-fried-at-the-neighbor’s turkey was delish, as was his classic cornbread sausage stuffing (YUM). Tessa got a good shot of the dinner table, but my all time fav is the photo of Thatcher.

First time “kids table”…semi-success. Turns out it’s harder to get your kid to eat a reasonable dinner when he is a table away. Ate that bread real good though.

And for a closer shot….

…And Justin and Sam keep eating after everyone else leaves the table.

I was trying to remember how the boys slept while we were there (2 months later at this point), and I guess it must have been okay, since I can’t even remember. When we visit, we usually sleep in my Grandma’s old room. It has a walk in closet that we put the pack and play in for Thatcher. We call it “Thatcher’s Room” instead of saying, “I’m putting my baby in a closet”. Ha. It works. We keep the door open.

Since we got together with my family for Thanksgiving, and not Christmas, we also did a little gift exchange. And by little, I of course mean that there were a massive amount of gifts, including my mom’s infamous “gift table”.

So, there you have it, Thanksgiving 2012. Quite the event. Can’t wait till next time.