Fall Memories Part 3--Thanksgiving and early December

We continued our hosting and enjoying special events in November and December. 

Steven's Aunt Winkie came and stayed a few nights, 

then enjoyed Thanksgiving with the family.

We took her to walk around the Waterway, rode the Trolley,

and checked out the tree on Market Street.

Had to add these of the big baby in the bathtub!

 A gorgeous Thanksgiving Day!
Starting with Flag Football at the park

Steven leading Grace

Dessert table

Tables set up in the garage

Aunt Jill and Ellie

Lady talk

Mary Clare and Emily with Aunt Winkie

The kids put the tree up Thanksgiving night!

The day after was a "Friendsgiving" play day and picnic

at a local park

Sweet scenes by the tree

After a morning of hunting, he came home to find

baby dressed in camo to welcome the boys home

The girls went to see a local Nutcracker where some of their

homeschool friends performed, one as Clara!

Big boy after Sunday Mass

Santa at our city's Lighting of the Angels

Aunts Marilyn and Kathy (my mom's sisters)

came for a surprise visit and stayed here overnight.

They came bearing many gifts!

And they joined us at our homeschool Park Day

and Cookie Exchange!

And I helped with our homeschool group baby shower on Dec 2nd!

So many fun events this time of year!

It's Baby Day!

Well, it's past midnight and I'm scheduled for an 8:30am delivery of our baby boy in the morning! We really thought he'd be joining us before Thanksgiving, but he had other plans and has been pretty happy inside. I, on the other hand, have been quite uncomfortable with all the contractions and the anxiety of wondering when he was going to arrive. He looked big and ready on the ultrasound this morning (Monday), so my doctor felt comfortable moving things up a few days. I'm incredibly nervous and not sure if I'll sleep tonight, but am grateful for all of the prayers being lifted for me and the baby!

Our holiday week was a fun one, and it was nice that I didn't have to be on bed rest anymore. We hosted my parents and Steven's side of the family (about 28 people) for a Thanksgiving celebration on Friday, so we spent a lot of Wednesday and Thursday preparing. We saw the new Disney movie "Moana" on Thanksgiving Day, and we did a bit of shopping over the past week with fall clothes for the girls and some Christmas crafts. We've yet to get out our Advent and Christmas decorations, but the crew might get a head start on that while I'm in the hospital. We had a few little sniffles, but overall enjoyed the cooler weather, the time without having homeschooling to do, and being able to look forward to the new baby's arrival!

I was disappointed to not deliver last Monday after a long morning of contractions, but was glad to be able to snuggle little Katie when she wasn't feeling well.

Some of the cleaning craziness...wiping the ceiling fans, vacuuming the couches, oh and me at the hospital for one of my non-stress tests.

Mary Clare selfie by the Moana advertisement

Me with the big kids at the movies while Daddy rested at home with Katie

We finally got these little shelves painted (thanks, MC) so we'd have a nice spot for the Chatbooks in the living room. I also rearranged the living room gallery wall and like it much better!

My one phone shot of Thanksgiving as everyone was digging in to the buffet! It was sure yummy! Steven roasted a big turkey and smoked a brisket, Mary Clare did a ton of baking (pie, cookies, rolls), and the family brought the rest!

MC took this shot of us hanging out in the garage since it was such a nice day!

Tommy has now lost his two front teeth, and another lower one today! That makes SIX lost teeth for the 6yr old!

On Saturday we ran some errands and Steven told the kids he'd take them to walk around the mall while I rested in the car with Katie napping. Well, she woke up too quickly, so I had to go in with her. We enjoyed a few minutes at Pottery Barn Kids, and it brought back memories of biking to the mall with toddler Mary Clare to let her play when Ellie was in-the-belly!

And last but not least, I went to the local LifeTeen mass on Sunday night since I wasn't up for going across town with everyone else that morning. I was excited that they were having a healing and anointing service after mass, so I got to receive the sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. Such a grace. May it give me the strength, courage, and healing I will need in the coming days... 

Thanksgiving 2015

This Thanksgiving was an especially meaningful one because it was the first time for us to host a big family holiday at our house! We had about 30 people over, including Steven's parents and all but one of his siblings and only 3 missing nieces/nephews. It was a great way to get our house cleaned up and to finish some other little projects! We love having company over and are so glad to have a bigger home in which to do that!

It was also fun and challenging, and a tad stressful, to figure out how much food we needed to feed that many people! We handled the turkeys, stuffing, cranberries, rolls, some desserts, and drinks. His parents and siblings brought lots of other side dishes and goodies too.

A good friend gave me some great recipes for Cranberry Sauce (the Williams Sonoma one) and Stuffing (from her friend, using both herbed and cornbread stuffings and sausage). I also enjoyed making my Apple Pie (Better Homes cookbook, but with refrigerated rolled crusts) using the cheese grater for thin slices, and Ellie made Oreo balls. We did the Alton Brown turkey technique, including an overnight brine and using the double ovens in our vacant old house to roast them. They were good, but not good enough to feel like the extra effort of brining was worth it. Also, we got two turkeys that were each about 14 pounds and we didn't have much leftover!

Playroom cleaned by the girls! Woohoo!

The B family Thanksgivings always start with a flag football game at the park led by Uncle Thomas!

And with our new TV, the older cousins figured out how to stream the football games! That was a new thing for us!

All the cousins except three!

Like father, like son. 

This was when the family was still over. He fell asleep right under the TV!

Hope your Thanksgiving was filled with love, laughter, family, fun, and a good nap!