Happy Thanksgiving Weekend

First I must apologize for the picture - less post this will be. Rhyan's first Thanksgiving and not one picture of her in her pretty dress and moccassins ;( Oh, well that seems to be the pattern when hosting events, I never have time nor remember to take pictures. You'll have to settle for two, really bad pictures I took the night before on my phone with no flash because the battery was about to die.

Table setting, Turkey Ornaments are napkin holders and favors for guests to take home. Bells are for the kids to hang on their tree.

This year Thanksgiving was hosted by me and Lisa at our place for a small dinner party, 5 adults and 3 and 1/2 kids ;) (Rhyan is the 1/2 just in case you didn't guess.) Our get together started around noon. Here's the menu:

Appetizers

Spinach Dip

Artichoke Dip

Deviled Eggs

Main Dishes

Turkey Breast, stuffed with proscuitto, mozzarella and basil. Breaded, pan fried and baked

Stuffing

Scalloped Poatatoes

Cranberry Sauce

Carrots

Dessert

Apple Pie

Oreo Cheesecake

Served with three flavors of bubbly

Pomegrante Rasperry

Pomegrante Apple

Apple

Almost everything was homemade except the spinach and artichoke dip, (save time, buy your appetizers) stuffing and oreo cheesecake. Lisa made homemade cranberry sauce and this delicious carrot dish and the best apple pie I have ever tasted. I am NOT a pie fan, but I ate both slices she left, it was divine. We both made the turkey, I really didn't have a big crowd so my stepmom suggested to just do turkey breasts. They turned out great! And poor Lisa also got stuck slicing the potatoes and onions. Bruce is a handful when I need to be busy in the kitchen he wants to be involved throughout the entire process. Anyway, the meal was delicious and a lot of fun to make.

Kiel stopped by with his police car so the kids could check it out. Bruce absolutely loved it! He's been a big fan of cars lately. He likes to walk up to every car and try to open the doors and play with the headlights (I'm sure my neighbors are thrilled) so it was quite a treat when daddy let him sit in the cop car and press most of the buttons. Jack and Mariah had fun too. They love to watch Monster Inc. and Toy Story 3 and Jack and Bruce had a great time completely destroying Bruce's room. There wasn't one toy untouched, unfortunately there was a toy lost. I still can't find Jack's car. Those two also had a blast on the stairs, Jack really made Bruce laugh a lot. Mariah and Jack also had big news to share with everyone, Mariah announced that her baby brother Jace was born Thanksgiving morning! congrats to the Jordans! Kiel's parents brought Mariah and Jack over to our house and celebrated that day with us while Shelley and Steve hung out at the hospital with their new addition.

After all was clean (thanks Lisa) and our guests were gone, we enjoyed hot chocolate with cinnamon marshmellows and rested our feet for a quick minute. I headed to Target for the midnight opening of BLACK FRIDAY while Lisa stayed home and took care of Rhyan because unfortunately she did wake up and Kiel was not the happiest guy to find out his wife had ditched him and the kids for a sale (but he said he wasn't surprised.) Here is my quick rendition about black friday. Thankfully, my friend Katie was already in line while I was at home putting Rhyan to sleep. I only had to wait an hour and she waited two hours. The line wrapped around the building three times, luckily we were in the section where it wrapped around once. I could have easily picked up the 47" flat screen for $278 bucks but we don't need one. When we do need a T.V. though, I will be waiting until black friday. Instead, I picked up $5 blu rays, pj's, gifts for families and saved $65 dollars. I saved more than I make in 2 hours so it was worth it but I think next time I will wait in line when I need something big.

Friday day, Lisa, me and the kids had breakfast, cleaned up and went to Suzy Cakes. If you've never had a Suzy cupcake you are missing out on some major goodness. We bought our cup cakes and went to the El Segundo shopping center where the water floor fountains are and they also had their giant tree up. Plus H&M and JCrew are in this shopping center. After eating our cupcakes we did a little retail therapy. Shirts for $5 bucks, sweater dresses for $15, you can't beat that. I'm still soft and gooey all over and decided not to buy clothes that show off my love handles (sorry boys.) Maybe in another month or two or three or four? From the mall, Lisa went to Shelley and Steve's and I went home to put my tired babies down for naps. I think it was around 3 in the afternoon that I started feeling ill and around midnight I had the major case of the flu. I made regular visits to the bathroom all night. Luckily, Bruce and Rhyan both slept in till 10 a.m. so I could try and recover. I had a headache the rest of the day but thankfully I did all of my throwing up during the night. It would have been weird with Bruce hanging right by my side like he does with everything else I do.

Anyway it was a fun filled weekend and I am so thankful for my family and friends and nephews and nieces. My little ones have so many cousins within their age bracket that holiday get togethers will always be fun! Jack, Luke, Bruce and Sydney will be best buds and Erica, Rhyan, Jace and soon to be born, Sophie will have great fun too! My friend Katie mentioned that her mom rents a bouncy house for the kids every Thanksgiving. Eventually when we have our own house we'll have to rent a bouncy house on Thanksgiving for all of the cousins, that would be a lot of fun!

Happy Thanksgiving, we have a lot to be thankful for!