Thanksgiving Day

Thursday

I awoke early on Thursday morning. The guests were fast asleep in the basement and Thanksgiving had finally arrived. The only way to kick off the big holiday is.... you might think I'd say Macy's Parade and while that is true, it seems that I usually end up getting up early to head off to..... Wal-mart. Yes, I needed to go search for that one missing item. This year is was the turkey roasting pan. Yup, a big one to miss. I got in bed the night before and it hit me that I had failed to purchase a disposable pan. Since I knew I had to get the bird in early, I was very motivated to get up, dressed and out the door before the rest of the gang stirred.
Once the turkey was in the oven it was time to cook! Sarah, my mom and I had things in the oven and in the fridge in record time. It really is so much more enjoyable making all the fancy and sentimental dishes with people you love.
Rhett started out the day with a much needed haircut from Jeff. Since Jeff was Rhett's regular barber, he had not cut his locks since Jeff moved to Milwaukee in July. Rhett looked good before and great after! Brynn happily played dress up with Sarah.Rich and my dad visited. Of course there was the parade on the TV while we cooked. It was on this program five years ago when I first watched and listened to Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel sing Popular from the Broadway play Wicked. The boys had a blast playing a friendly game of football in the front with the neighborhood gang.

Brynn escaped the house like this while I was taking pictures of the boys, but my mom was quick and took her and Kaitlyn back inside for tub time and to get properly dressed.Kaitlyn in her festive attire. The table Edible cornucopias, fall magnets and a Mayflower utensil holder.

The Hamilton's arrived for the feast, which was truly delicious. That is what you get when you finally buy a turkey with a pop up timer and your mom makes the gravy! Kristi made 'to die for' pies and rolls.
The kids colored while we finished cooking the last bits of the meal. AnnaKate

Josh's finish product.Kristi tries to lure me into the world of Facebook. No sirree.

This one is for you TIFFANY!! "It always looks better when you pose!"The Feast!

Brynn decided to forgo any utensils and go straight with the hands.Yummy! Finger lickin' good.Trey had the same idea with his huge turkey leg. My dad had the other one. He always has a turkey leg on Thanksgiving and at Disneyland.Kristi's wide assortment of pies: Pumpkin, Banana Creme and Smoky Apple. Kristi- you are a hoot!Craft time! If you have ever shared Thanksgiving with me, then you know that you must have crafts. For the past eight years I have always found fun crafts to do after dinner. The reason why? My mom always came up with crafts for the entire extended family at our Thanksgiving feast growing up. She found crafts for us in Utah and mailed them to Lexington. We made Christmas trees. Yes, I sacrificed my body constructing them. I got two mean blisters on my thumb and finger from the glue gun. But after two band aids, I was ready to craft some more!

Once the dishes were done and the house was in order and our foam trees were perfectly decorated, we sadly bid the Hamilton's farewell. Next year they'll be with their own families. I am happy for them, but sad for us. Eight years together just isn't enough! As the Hamilton's drove back to Louisville, we still had a night of fun ahead. My dad read the Animal Book (Childcraft #5) to the girls. Here they are being the snake eating the large egg. I do the same actions that my dad did with me with my kids. I love it. They love it even more. The girls chant 'animals!' to request this book every night when they get ready for bed.
The kids got in their jammies and we knew what would make the night really special- a round of Hearts. This is my family's favorite game. Matt and I came in second. Not too bad since I haven't played for awhile. Then it was off to bed. We had an early morning wake up call on Friday.

Thanksgiving Day Four: Around Lexington

SATURDAY
This was Jeff and Sarah's last day with us and their flight left Lexington at 12 PM. I knew just the thing to wrap up their time in Kentucky- Breakfast at the Track Kitchen at Keeneland and watching the thoroughbred race horses workout on the track. I call ahead and made sure they would be open. I was assured they would be. Rich took Josh and Matt to basketball practice at 9 AM while the rest of us piled it the cars and headed to the track. Well, all my fancy planning was for not. The kitchen was CLOSED and there were no horses running. At least Jeff and Sarah were able to see the grounds which are lovely and get an idea what horse racing entails. My mom, dad and Rhett watched races at Keeneland two years ago when they came out to visit. So instead of eating grits and biscuits and gravy we hit McDonald's for all All-American feast before Jeff and Sarah jetted back to Milwaukee.

Did I mention that I do not enjoy goodbyes? They stink. Jeff and Sarah will not be coming home for Christmas because Sarah has to work, but at least we drew their name for Christmas, so we will be sending a bit of Christmas love their way in the coming weeks. WE LOVE YOU GUYS!

After Jeff and Sarah left, the rest of us went to see Bolt.

I will be honest, I didn't have high hopes for an animated show about a dog and a girl with Mylee Cyrus's voice (I'm not into her....). Plus the girls didn't fair so well watching Madagascar 2: Escape from Africa a few weeks earlier, but boy was I wrong. The movie was DARLING! I laughed as much as the kids and the girls were perfect. Kaitlyn fell asleep near the end and Brynn sat on my lap and watched the show. It really was a treat to see a show all together.You must know that a visit from the Grandparents MUST include a trip to Chuck-E-Cheese.

We had been saving up our tickets and got major prizes for the girls- a Barbie and a Barbie horse that cost a measly 4,500 tickets. Yup. That was about a years worth of gaming. Thanks to all who happily contributed their skills to the new toys. The girls thought Christmas came early. I wished I could have hidden the toys under the tree!And last but certainly not least, my mom and I went to see Twilight. I had no plans of seeing it, but when we went to Bolt that afternoon Rich asked me if I had planned on going later that night. Sounded like a great idea to me. I really did like the show, my mom, not so much. I thought Edward and Bella were perfect and believable. I liked Charlie and Bella's mom and thought Jessica was funny. Alice was perfect and Emmet was fine. The rest I had problems with. Esme was okay, but the remaining characters... What were they thinking? Jasper looked like a possessed zombie, Carlisle could not have had more powder on his face and Rosalie was truly awful. I didn't really like the 'bad' vampires either. Everyone just wasn't as pretty as they should have been. All in all I liked it, but there were a few laugh out loud moments when I shouldn't have been laughing. Like when Edward was sucking Bella's blood after she was attacked and Carlisle told him to stop, he was killing her. Man, I am sure everyone in the theater heard me giggle. The special effects were quite poor and the flashback scenes made me think of Kiddie Kandid shots in sepia tones. But I was entertained and that is what I was paying for. It was fun and I was very happy that Rich knew exactly what my mom and I needed.

The only bad part of the day? Jeff and Sarah were already back in Wisconsin and time was running out for the Salem bunch. Family visits are never, ever long enough.