Taking the Scenic Route

Zora was totally stoked about having a “FEAST” at school and talked about it for more than a week before.  Much to her delight she had both me and Oma as her guests.

We were told she was also very excited about her Oma and Opa and Uncle Steve coming over that night for our family Thanksgiving Feast.  Originally we were going to go to a restaurant (Zach & I were both fighting colds and not sure if we were going to be up to cooking), but as it drew closer, we decided we would rather cook the traditional meal.  As it turned out, Zach (with Zane helping) did all the cooking because I went with Mom and Zora to pick out Christmas outfits for the kids.  We found some awesome sales for her dress, and hit paydirt at the consignment store for his outfit.  The consignment store even yielded a few other items for under the tree/birthdays, so it was a very successful trip.

The meal was extremely excellent, and it was a particular treat to come home from a day of shopping to an already prepared Thanksgiving feast with all the fixings (and a clean kitchen to boot…damn, he is GOOD).   We missed Nora, but had a nice evening.

If you notice, there are no pictures of the evening meal.  The only downside to the day was me accidentally leaving (and not realizing it happened) my camera at school.  So we were without a camera for our family gathering, and the entire thanksgiving weekend.  (which is why the picture for putting up the tree are so weird…they are taken off a huge clunky video camera that we dragged out of storage in desperation).  I can tell you it makes me really twitchy to not have a camera for nearly a week.  Thank goodness the people at the school recognized the camera and kept it safe for me over the weekend.  I was SO relieved to get it back that I cried.  (also why the post is late, I wanted to wait to see if the camera would reappear and get the school pictures off of it before I posted)

One of these things is not like the others….. (I found myself short one pie dish and had to get creative.)

Zane’s favorite part of the meal…CHERRY PIE!

Ms. Cutie Pie

When everybody finished dinner it was time to go outside and play with the remote control car Zane got on his 3rd birthday.  (we keep it at the farm because it is far too big for our apartment when we got it, and still too big for our place now)

Zane was making a game of trying to get it to go in between his legs and playing chicken with it.

It was a wonderful family Thanksgiving. Great food, Great conversation, Great fun.

Nothing particularly dramatic, but just a nice holiday with the family. On Thursday we went out to my parent’s farm for a big turkey dinner. Mom & Dad, Maternal Grandma, Steve & the four of us. The food was great, the atmosphere was comfortable, and the conversation was good. The kids had fun playing on the piano and with the remote control car. I didn’t get a many pictures because my camera died while taking a picture of the pies, but the memories are nice.

Friday we mostly cleaned and hung around the house. Robert came over in the evening and we watched tv and the guys did some programming. Saturday we went to Exploration Place late morning for the Little Explorers workshop. This weeks theme was something about Christmas bells and the kids played a song on hand chimes and learned about the clapper in the bells. Zane rode the merry-go-round on his own again this week and was grinning ear to ear. Zora still needed Daddy to stand nearby (she is too little to get on by herself anyway) but was thrilled too.

Sunday was the big reunion for my Dad’s family (his siblings and all of their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids). It was great to see everybody, naturally. Zora and her second cousin, born 2 weeks earlier, played together quite a bit. Zane and another of the second cousins who was just a bit older than him played a game of “Trouble” (the one where you press a dome to turn the dice and then move your pegs around the board). We don’t know how that started (we assume the other cousin initiated it and somehow showed Zane how to play) but it was pretty exciting for us to see him playing a game with somebody. He spent most of the time playing his Nintendo DS because he was starting to get overwhelmed and wanted to go home.

The siblings and their spouses. Howard & Joyce, Gordon & Annie, Larry & Teresa.

Wish this one were less blurry, but I love it anyway

Playing a game

The girls

Zane working on “Princess Peach”. He accidently erased his game history on the game the night before and was having to replay a bunch of levels.

We did find our thoughts turning to Zach’s Dad through the weekend. He is very missed. Our prayers went out to my sMIL and Zach’s siblings who are used to his actual presence (instead of just long phone calls) on the holidays. I am sure as much as we were feeling the loss, it had to be much more immediate for them.

Thanksgiving at our house!

Joining us:  My Mom & Dad and my Maternal Grandma 

The menu:  Roasted Turkey, 8 lbs of Mashed potatoes (yeah, we really like potatoes), Stuffing (sourdough bread, mushrooms, bacon, and herbs), Sweet Potato Casserole, Green beans with bacon & “schmutz”  (flour that makes a sauce with the bacon grease),  a Pumpkin Pie with whipped cream and an Apricot Pie with ice cream.  The only things store bought was the bread for the table and the stuffing.  We made a big pot of turkey broth the day before for the gravy & stuffing because I was low on chicken broth…I think I will make that a tradition because it was really good.

It was a low key event, like most holidays in our house.  I didn’t even get the house as clean as I would like, but I am fortunate that has family that cares more about the people than the stuff, so I knew it was ok.  The only decorations were the craft projects Zane has made.

Zora snuggled with her Grandma and fell asleep in her arms a few minutes later.  Her Great-grandma was admiring her curls and how impossibly soft her hair is. 

And the biggest thankful thing this year, that everybody is happy, and healthy, and HERE.  I am so glad it wasn’t
“the first Thanksgiving without Dad”.  It was so close.

Ready to eat (except Zora, who was still asleep and I wasn’t going to wake up)

And, after dinner, Zane helped finish up the Apricot Pie.  I didn’t want to stay up until 5am to finish it off the day before, and everybody is always way too full to eat right after the meal anyway, so I saved the Apricot to finish up after eating.

Hanging out after dinner.  My Grandma and Zane looking at pictures.  (Zane is balanced in typical fashion…his legs are over the rebounder and his shoulders on the couch arm)

Zora wakes up from her nap and snuggles with Grandma while she is “not quite awake, not quite asleep”

Zane’s Grandma & Grandpa each took a turn playing on his Nintendo.  After a while, Zora wanted to join in and asked (pulling me over there and asking “up! up!”) to be lifted over the gate to join Grandma in there. 

Wonderful, WONDERFUL day.  Relaxed, happy, warm.  Lots of laughter and smiles and even some quiet, peaceful moments of just “being” instead of “doing”.  I like that.  I am so thankful!