Thanksgiving

This is actually the first year in many many years that I've had 2 Thanksgivings. I usually end up working and then just stay at home to celebrate with my in-law family. Well, now that Abbykins is in our family, I think I will always make an effort to celebrate this holiday with both families, though it does involve quite a bit of traveling! But, the awesome thing this year is that we celebrated with my family Saturday and Jay's family Monday afternoon so we weren't rushed at all which is always a huge stress relief for me!

So it was great to see Ben, Jess, & Abby at my Mom's house. My Uncle Steve was there for the day and we went to visit Grandma on Sunday. She's doing really well and her personality hasn't changed a bit since she had her stroke.

It was busy, busy, busy at my in-laws on Monday. It always is, and it always will be. The whole family was there. That's 10 adults and 9 kids under 7!

But the bird was great, all us kids always bring a dish to contribute to the meal to help out so it makes the load a lot less (I hope!). Here's a pic of Grandma teaching the girls how to make gravy and Uncle Jay whispering in their ears "Ask Grandma if she's sure she knows what she's doing!"

The kids all got along great, and for the first time ever Braden actually played with his twin cousins. For some reason Braden just always seems to avoid them, but maybe now that they're 22 months and getting older he likes them more? Not that he ever didn't like them, he just always avoided them!

 It's really nice that the Uncles/Daddies of the family can take over playing with the kids while the gals tidy up. Some of the guys help clean up, but mostly if the kids are taken care of...that's all I care about!

Grandma turns 60 on October 17 but has a busy busy week that week so we celebrated early. Here's Grandma with all her grandbabies except for Blake because he was having a good snooze...and we all know better than to wake a sleeping baby!

I've said it before and I'll say it again and again...Braden is so blessed to have ALL of his cousins live so close to him and be so close in age! Luke is 19 months older, Chaz & Nolan are about 10 months younger and he's a bit over 2 years older than Abby.

So? What am I thankful for this year? So many things...too many things that I don't deserve and that I know I can't possibly write them all down. But it looks a bit like this:

• My freedom, both that Jesus gave me and that I have as a Canadian
• My health and my family's health
• My beautiful home with an almost 1/2 finished basement now
• The anticipation of changing our life and family forever in a mere 4 weeks or so!
• My family. My side has been through some really tough times with my Dad over the last year and we have all stuck together and it has brought us closer together, and for that I am SO thankful. I'm also thankful that my in-law family has been so supportive, loving, and caring to me through all of this and that Braden has such an amazing bond with his Papa and has strong male role models in his life.

Only 2 days left to vote so please help a girl out! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Canadians are thinking...ummm...that was last weekend! And the Americans are thinking...ummm....that's not until next month! Well, you're both right, but this is when it gets blogged, okay! I hosted for the 2nd year in a row because my mother-in-law's kitchen is usable but still under renovations and Laura's house is alllllmost ready but not quite there yet! Next year, Laura - next year!

Shhhh....don't tell the other kids that Luke & Braden got to lick the whipped cream beaters!

The kids were making these weird noises...then we looked and they were making music with this toy - it was so sweet!

This is totally what he thought of pictures that day!

Happy Turkey Day!

Well, we had a wonderful/chaotic/exciting Thanksgiving weekend all in one! It was my first ever holiday meal that I hosted, and thankfully I had my Mom to help me. Mom taught me how to cook a turkey, so I think I could do it all by myself next time....maybe! It also helped that Laura was here all afternoon helping to make salad, she did potatoes, and a lot of other prep stuff. Joy brought a sweet potato dish, Brenda brought dressing and a carrot dish, and Mom did a salad and a casserole dish among many other prep things. So thanks to all you ladies for helping me host my impromptu Thanksgiving meal. Originally Ben and Jess were going to join Mom and me for Thanksgiving, but Ben had to work last minute. Since the guys were going to be harvesting, I told Brenda that she and Ray were more than welcome to eat with us whenever they could make it over. Since B&J had to cancel on us and I had a BIG bird to cook I decided to just suck it up and invite ALL the Schultz's over. It was actually a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to hosting an early Christmas for the Schultz's as well....with help from all the ladies again!

I did have some pictures of the day, but my memory card crashed AGAIN...so mom took a couple of pics so here they are:

Luke is SUCH a great big cousin! He's so gentle and takes such great care of Braden.

Luke (2), Braden (8 months), Serena (almost 5), & Ella (3.5)

Oh! And look what Braden learned to do today!