Thanksgiving

Wow! What a great Thanksgiving! Our house was overflowing on Thursday, and we actually had 4 little ones running around, too (well, Charlie isn't quite running yet). People started showing up around 10:30 for some fantastic appetizers and some boring football, and dinner was served around 2:00.

Fortunately for me, everyone brings something. Pickle roll-ups anyone?

I put an appetizer table in the family room this time, and it sure helped the congestion in the kitchen.

That still seems to be where everyone gathers, though.

Teddy once again carved the turkey. I'm so lucky to have a professional on hand for this job (not my favorite). I think he was about done, here - that poor bird looks pretty picked over! It was delicious! My one glitch in the dinner was the mashed potatoes. I cooked them in two pots since I didn't have one that was big enough, and the first pot I checked was totally done so I drained all of them and put them in a huge bowl. Well, the 2nd pot was NOT done. Lumpy potatoes, anyone? Even my mixer couldn't get those lumps out. Oh well....

It was fun having Tom, Kim, and Amariah here from Illinois.

Seal of approval! Oh, by the way, check out the SNOW on the deck - looks more like Christmas than Thanksgiving.

Amariah was so cute in her turkey bib.

And, of course, Charlie stole the show.

Maddox and Corey posed for a few pictures,

and one of my goals for the day was to get a family picture for this year's Christmas card. This one did NOT make the final cut! Actually, everyone cooperated really well, but we just had to do one "goofy" picture. Some things never change!

Charlie finally got to eat his dinner long after everyone else was through. He actually thought this plastic banana looked pretty good!

Hmmmmm - not bad!

Ahhh, carrots, rice cereal, and real bananas - that's much better!

Chuck got into the feeding action, too. I think Jenna's trying to train him for doing some daycare. He draws the line at changing diapers, though, so it may be awhile before he does more than an hour or two.

What a great day! We are so thankful for all that we have, and for the chance to spend time with family!