We just finished up a week full of visitors. First was Grandpa and Gigi. I did a horrible job taking pictures but the kids got spoiled with trips to the pool and I got spoiled by having two extra sets of eyes and hands helping me get through Ikea with all three kids. I don't think I'll be attempting that by myself for, well, years!
Lucy also had her first night away from me when she spent the night at the hotel. When I asked her if she wanted to, she was concerned about missing Jonah too much (they share a room and love to yalk yo each ofher before they go to bed) but the ice cream plus movie combination seemed to help and she was returned to us in the morning, happy but a bit tired from all the fun.
Obviously very homesick
I was a bit worried about getting everything done for Thanksgiving with Norah Jane being only 6 weeks old. Mostly because I had a hard time dropping things. I kept considering ways to make my life easier, but couldn't give in. Store bought pie crust? No! Drop the sweet potatoes? I can't! And three pies for 4 adults and two kids might seem excessive but its tradition. I did use packaged stuffing since my regular recipe requires me to make two types of homemade bread but that was my one concession. But despite that, it was my easiest Thanksgiving yet. I was actually worried that I had forgotten something because it all came together too fast.
I guess years of helping my mom plus three years of hosting it myself have made it routine. And I didn't have any of last years gluten free worries. Plus, I've got a few other traditions helping me out - Craig takes care of the turkey (with a bit of supervision from me because I'm controlling like that) and Uncle Chad and Lucy make the green bean casserole together. She also helps me make the cranberry sauce so I decided Jonah needed a job too.
He took his job of buttering and making the rolls very seriously. He let me help him roll but then and refused my help with spreading butter or rolling then up. And they actually turned out really nice looking.
Add in a mellow baby and a couple of loving baby holders and, bam, you've got yourself a turkey dinner.
Lucy demonstrating her big sis skills.
The uncle and aunt also took it upon themselves to introduce to the kids the traditional Thanksgiving sport - football. Jonah has a little basketball hoop and a tee and glove that he occasionally plays with but I think football is his new favorite. But even Lucy had fun tossing it around.
But now the relatives have headed out, the leftovers are mostly eaten and its back to our regular routine. Well, almost. Advent has begun and we're doing Christmas schooling for our table time now. I just love this time of year. So perhaps I'll be better at keeping Advent and Christmas simple than I was with Thanksgiving. Perhaps not :-)
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