Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was spent with Nana, Papa, Taylor and Hayley.  Nana brought her matching aprons to do activities with Claire.

The kids put together little candy turkeys consisting of chocolate wafers, Nutter Butters, mini M&M's, jelly beans, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, candy corn, and frosting.  I haven't eaten any (and don't plan to), but the kids seemed to like making and eating them.

While we had 4 adult house guests, Jacob and Claire gave up their room... and slept in our closet!  A few observations: the closet is very dark, and they sleep very well in there; it turns into a fort, which they go and play in for hours; they weren't even sore from sleeping on the ground all week!

We had to get a picture of the table, full of food.  They're nothing like the pictures Amber takes while she's here (this is the first Portland Thanksgiving she's missed... because she's celebrating Turkey day in Turkey!).

Dani bought a special plate for the turkey.

After dinner was over, Jacob waited as patiently as he could to eat his second helping of turkey (the centerpiece ones).  He was nearly hyperventilating because he was so excited.  When we finally gave him the okay (and took a picture of him with it - and yes, he's wearing his gorilla with headphones shirt for Thanksgiving... must've snuck that one by Nana!), he ate it so fast!

Jacob was into 'deal making.'  One deal he made with T was 5 minutes of wrestling for 5 minutes of back scratching.  I don't think T realized that Wayland had already taught him the mantra of 'Control the head, control the body,' which Jacob took very seriously.  Most of my pictures are of Jacob attacking T's head.  Claire also joined in the wrestling (she's the blob under the green sleeping bag).

Taylor and Hayley (who Jacob is sitting on) enjoyed playing with all 4 of the kids, and the kids all enjoyed spending time with them.

Thanksgiving night, the girls went to the outlet mall and T and I went to Target and waited in a very long line, wrapping around the parking lot.  Taylor ended up in the electronics line, waiting for an iPad (which he got!), and I wandered aimlessly around the store, more or less people watching.  I ended up with a couple very non-Black Friday things, but it was entertaining to be there.

We took 1 night and went out to eat at Andina.  We ate tapas style, and the food was delicious (though the lighting was a little dim, so Nana and Papa used their flashlight apps on their phones to help read the menus).  Afterward, we topped it off with dessert at Papa Hyden.  Pictured are the Baked Alaska, the Hazelnut Merengue Chocolate cake, and the Passion.  Not pictured are Dani's Banana Cream Pie and Papa's Chocolate Cube.

We got tickets to see the Forgotten Carols.  The music was great - that is still probably my favorite Christmas CD.  They did the story, which was fine, but hearing the music live and really listening to the message was especially meaningful.  We could've done without the last 30 minutes or so, though, where they advertised for a new musical and the audience participated in a couple sing-alongs, but it was a fun night.

The last night, Nana and Papa shared pictures of their trip to Jerusalem and shared a few items they brought back with them.  We reenacted the Wise Men scene a few times with the shepherd scarf and the wise man's box and gifts.  We appreciated hearing about the experiences my parents had walking in places where the Savior walked and taught.

We are so very grateful for our family.  We got to Skype with the Streeters and are grateful for the technology that exists that allows us to stay connected to friends and family while we are far apart.  We are grateful for the joy our children bring to our lives - we can't imagine a world without their smiling faces. Most of all, we are grateful for the Savior and his love for each of us.