Thanksgiving Dinner

I have been working on this post ever since we got home. Blake is going through a stage where he does not want to be put down, so I can't type. Here is the first installment of pictures from our wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We were able to visit my sister, Liisa and her family for Thanksgiving. Tanya and Erik were visiting my parents in Bermuda (lucky!) so our family was split up this year. Liisa and I had a great time putting together our first Thanksgiving dinner without mom. The girls absolutely love playing with their cousins. Ashlyn twisted her ankle the first day that we were there and it was swollen and bruised, so she had a rough time, but she managed to get through it and still have a great time.

Everyone was getting started on some appetizers. Cheese and crackers, carrots and ranch, our family can't go without olives although the Lopez's don't like them, and Trent's favorite, cream cheese with cocktail sauce and shrimp.

Liisa bought cranberry sauce even though nobody likes it. Dad loves it so it was a tribute to him.

I made mom's rolls and homemade strawberry jam. It was my first time ever making anything with yeast. I was very proud of them.

Liisa was so excited to make her gourmet turkey. She spent an hour with the fresh herbs, lemons, carrots, and onions. She even went as far as to inject the turkey with it's own drippings. Since I don't eat meat I don't know how it tasted, but I was told it was amazing. We took a picture of it, but it's on Liisa's camera, so here is one of Liisa injecting her beloved turkey.

We were laughing so hard during dinner because we had so much food and not very many people. We had jello, yams, potatoes, and stuffing. Also, Liisa bought a 22 lb. turkey and only 3 adults ate it, plus the small helpings that the kids had. We also had 5 pies. I made 2 pumpkin pies and Liisa bought 1 apple, 1 chocolate, and a small cherry. We thought it was so funny that each adult had their own pie and their own can of whip cream.

We had so much fun with the Lopez family. I love spending time with my family and when my parents are gone we don't see each other as much. This weekend was extra special since we will each be at our own homes for Christmas. Thanks Liisa and family for hosting a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. Stay tuned for more pictures from the rest of the weekend.

As a tribute to Liisa I wanted to do a top 6 list of my favorite weekend memories...

1. Each of us having our own pie and 7 lbs of turkey to eat.

2. Taking apart a stocking and using the pieces to make Kayla's stocking for school. It was funny because the stocking I sewed ended up looking exactly like the one we took apart.

3. Trent trying to get Ashlyn to swing by herself. Him getting incredibly frustrated and Ashlyn saying that she "quits".

4. Haylee putting Blake's binky in his mouth and every time she turned away he would spit it out.

5. Our Santa pictures. They didn't turn out as well as years prior, and after buying the group shot and our own family shot we both decided to get them redone on another day. The group shot will have to do though.

6. Putting on regular clothes for the 30 minutes that we ate dinner and then having to change back into my pajamas because I was so uncomfortable. Oh the joys of having a baby before the holidays. You never quite have a chance to lose the weight before you start putting it back on again.