David and I did not have many plans this Thanksgiving long weekend, however we managed to fill up every second of it with friends, family and food. (Funny how that works)
Friday night we have our second "French Toast Friday" with Scott & Courtney. We follow this up with some Harry Potter & the Philosopher's Stone as Courtney received the book series for her birthday and recently finished the first book.
We randomly brought out some baby albums to look at and came across this gem of me trying to nurse my doll. Maybe this means I'll be a natural!
David leaves to help Brent pick up and move a fridge to their house, but we get a call as they're on their way back that they need help moving it from the van to the house. And up we get to zip to Brent & Amy's to visit and help with the fridge.
Saturday morning David and I sleep in blissfully and don't crawl out of bed until at least 9:30. Everybody keeps telling me to enjoy sleep while I can! Take naps! Sleep in!... OKAY! DEAL! As we lay in bed snuggling with the dog, letting the daylight pour in I sit up and say, "I love my life..." Feeling grateful this weekend!
We pry ourselves out of bed and whip up some waffles (okay... Eggo's) for breakfast. I mention going shopping for some maternity clothes as I have outgrown my in-between clothes, and am lacking in the jeans department significantly! $200 and some minor panic attacks by Renee later... I purchase a pair of maternity jeans from Thyme Maternity (JEANS THAT ARE LONG ENOUGH!!), as well as two hoodies and three long-sleeves from Destination Maternity in Langley. David reassures me it is okay to spend money on these things as I don't have any jeans that fit, and none of my hoodies zip up anymore! Okay.... thanks for the reminder dear... I hate spending money.
Hooray for jeans that fit!!!
Yes... some very important errands indeed...
David LOVES Halloween, so we made a pit stop at the big Party store in Langley for him to peruse and dream!
We run some more errands and then it's home for some quick chores (like going through all my clothes and hiding all the things that don't fit so I can stop being disappointed when I don't get to wear what I want). At 3:30 I've booked a haircut, and brought David and Sherlock in the car with me as we are on our way to dinner at David's parents' house! Hmm.... what can David do with 30 minutes to kill while I get my haircut?... I KNOW! "Hunny.... Here's $5... you don't want to grab me a Pumpkin Spice Latte do you?" Yummmm.... Worth it.
Dinner is being prepped when we arrive at Larry & Shelley's, so we jump in to help out where we can. Shelley is making a slightly unorthodox Thanksgiving dinner of meatballs, potatoes, gravy, veggies and stuffing. I'm all for variety! I don't need more turkey anyway! This is also much less time-consuming. I am on gravy duty, and I whip up a pot of chicken gravy (which I then regret thinking I should have done beef to go with the meatballs... oh well) and it seems to be a hit. Phew!
I always regret not taking pictures of/with the people I'm spending my time with. Really, they are so much more important than the food, or the place-settings. It is an awkard position because yes, I could go around taking candid photos of everyone, but then I'm not in any of them! Also... my iPhone camera isn't very good at all. I think having a better camera would help me there a bit...
The whole family hasn't been together in quite a long time, so after dinner we enjoy each other's company, play some games, eat some dessert, and have some laughs. Finally, David, Sherlock and I are beat and we head home for the night, with plans to have NO plans on Sunday!
Sunday rolls around and I wake up blissfully again with a good hour and a half to go before we have to leave for church. All this time!! We mosey through our morning again, enjoying some Bacon & Egg Muffins for breakfast before heading off to church. At church we have a special guest worship team (Derek Gust & his band the Hopeful Son). It is so nice to have something a little different and maybe a bit more professional. Maybe I am just happy to be able to sit and enjoy the music instead of worrying about having to play.
After church, our plans to do nothing turn into plans to go to E&A for brunch with a few folks. Shortly after arriving, I have to bow out as I haven't been feeling great with heartburn. I take a gorgeous sunny walk alone back to Mom & Dad's and crash on the couch until the others get home. Despite not feeling 100%, these 5 minutes alone in the sunshine has inspired me to get David and Sherlock and go to Tynehead to walk and get some fresh air!
While we are at brunch I get a message from Elissa & Michael inviting us over for dinner of homemade pizzas. Our only plans at home were to make ourselves pizzas and to do nothing, so there was no good reason we couldn't go. Of course we'd love to come hang out! It has been SO long since we've gotten together. The last time I could still drink the night away with Elissa if that helps... We are there for 4:45 and get straight to prepping our pizzas. Elissa made the dough, and we put together a pesto pizza, perogy pizza, and a meat-lovers pizza. They all turn out absolutely perfect. I eat way too much (again...), but Elissa has made an Apple Fritter bread for dessert, so of course I indulge in a massive slice of that as well, followed by some candy and chips while we play a few games! We did not leave hungry... It is so good to reconnect with these two. It has been far too long and we've all been busy. Let's not go 6 months between visits next time... deal? :)
Again with the food... Come on Renee! We were there with awesome company and games too!
Monday! This feels like a super long weekend, in the best way possible! So much fun crammed into three days. We know waking up that Monday is going to be a busy day. We crawl out of bed at 9am again (so much sleeping in!) and go straight to Mom & Dad's where Scott & Courtney have decided to make Bacon & Egg bagels for everyone. Why does my life and events always revolve around food? What's that all about?!
After feasting for breakfast, it's back over to our house where we're hosting Thanksgiving dinner for my family. Scott is on Turkey duty, so we need to get that going and in the oven! Courtney found the last big fresh turkey at Fresh Street Farms, and it is 20 lb. We are expecting 9 people for dinner. That's a lot of turkey!
Adam, Aly and her friend Lauren arrive a little later on and we're ready to get some more food prep going while playing Bananagrams on the island. Shortly after that, Mom & Dad, our final two, show up and bring 4 different red wines to taste for Adam & Aly's wedding next summer. Impromptu blind wine tasting for all! Still trying to narrow down to the perfect red wine, but each time there is a tasting they seem to get closer...
Making sure the gravy is PERFECT. I think our family is weirder than other families about gravy... It has to be just so. We have multiple testings and tastings and tweakings of the gravy before we are ready to serve.
Scott brought his Chromecast, and we played some Cards Against Humanity together. Dad seemed to think it was pretty funny despite how uncomfortable some of the cards made us feel playing with the parents! Haha!
Luckily mom is good at taking pictures of the candid moments! Playing Cards Against together.
Before we know it, Scott is carving the turkey and dinner is ready to go on the table! The table which has been exquisitely set including little hand-made plate features (is there a real word for these things???) that Aly brought along with her.
"Thank you for the food before us, the family and friends beside us, and the love between us"
Dinner is... to DIE for. We have WAY more than enough food for 9 people. So much that I am able to make each person a leftover for lunch. There goes all my tupperware... I asked everyone to "BYOC" (container) if they wanted leftovers, but everyone forgot! Hopefully I'll get some of them back some day! On top of all these leftovers, I put together some turkey packs, another meal of just potatoes gravy and turkey for us, AND a huge container of potatoes and gravy for... the rest of the week I guess! Rich, delicious food all week! Here we come!
Missing Jeff & Marta. I love this table. Best Craigslist find we've ever had!
Dad's appropriate use of a Bitmoji after eating.
After dinner before everyone falls asleep on the couch, we start up a game of Girls v. Boys Linkee. (If you haven't played before, it's a fun game where the Question Master reads off 4 hints that each end up with a 1 word answer, and then both teams have to try guess the link between the 4 words before the other team gets it). It's a thinker, but everyone can participate as it touches on different strengths all the time. We play best 2 out of 3 games and naturally us ladies steal the show and win the third time!
By the end of the night, we are all completely bagged, stuffed, and thankful.
Moral of the story? We have SO much to be grateful for in our life. Our friends and family will always be there for us, and we will always have food on our table.
I hate spending money too. Especially on maternity clothes that can only be worm for a short season! Must have lots of babies to stretch that dollar… Your family dinner looks so lovely!
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