Our Lovely Thanksgiving

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

We did!

The best part was that Grandma and Grandpa (with tiny Dolly dog) came.

The second best part was that we didn't go overboard and knock ourselves out trying to put twenty different kinds of dishes on the table (especially since there were only 4 adults and 2 children). AND Grandma made the pumpkin pies and sweet potato dish at her house.

Let's see...we had the Martha Stewart brined turkey, Brussels sprouts with pecans, smashed potatoes and awesome gravy, sweet potatoes, Grandma's fruit salad, pumpkin pies with schmoo, homemade cranberry sauce...oh and how could I forget the stuffing?

Funny about the fruit salad...there was a mountain of it - heaping over a large bowl - and I thought it would take us a good week to eat it all. Wrong. By Saturday it was all but gone!

I don't know about you but I do Black Friday every year. Most years I have fun shopping with Beth (my sister-in-law) but this year she's in Alaska and I'm here so that wasn't going to happen. I drove two hours to go shopping. It was fun! (oh...and I wasn't after anything in particular ...I was just out because it's fun). I did manage to finish my Christmas shopping! Woo Hoo! Although, it is with sadness to say that I didn't get any super special deals like I'm used to getting when I'm out with Beth. My Big Problem came when I was driving home. Since I got up at 2:30am and drove two hours that meant my drive home was two hours. I had to stop at a gas station to pick up the Yuckiest Coffee in the World to keep me awake.

In the meantime, Grandma made Kool-aid play dough. Oh man, oh man! That stuff smells AWESOME! She and and the girls played with it on Saturday. It was lots of fun watching Grandma and the girlies make things. Grandma is very creative.

Okay...here are some photos from our Thanksgiving weekend....

I did a very simple table for Thanksgiving. I had wanted to use pears but all the pears looked yucky so I went with these pretty bright green apples. I like how they look with the orange napkins. I also had half pint mason jars filled with pebbles from our Lake Superior trip with a votive candle. They looked neat for about two minutes and then all but one of the candles failed. Next time use different candles!

How about a little Wii Fit after Turkey Day dinner? Annika and I both did a little jogging. Wowee...was that hard after a full dinner!

Watching Annika jog....


Look at all that venison jerky! That wasn't even half the batch on the smoker. We also now have 30 pounds of ground venison in the freezer thanks to the HUGE help from the Grandparents! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Grandma and the Girlies playing with the BEST smelling play dough out there!

Annika and her snowman (at least I think that's what that was).

Goofy grinning Ava. Can't get her to smile nicely for the camera!

Very happy Annika. Do you spot something else in this photo?


Grandma and her lovely Cosmos flower. She also made a carton of eggs...how fun! :)

Grandma and the Girlies playing with their Playmobil sets (from Tante Kirstin).


Little Dolly Dog...nearly got to go for a ride with the Local Bald Eagle.

GOOD BYE! Good bye Grandma and Grandpa! See you at Christmas!There was much crying after you left...but we'll see you soon!