Thanksgiving...3 days, 3 celebrations!!

Thanksgiving is always hectic for us...even more so than Christmas. Kendall doesn't have school the Wednesday before, so as soon as Barry gets home (he only works 1/2 day), we get the car loaded up, drop Scout off at the kennel, and hit the road! This year, we headed to my Dad's first for dinner and a sleep-over. Kendall had asked if we could take the Wii, and we thought that would be just fine, since there are no other kids and my dad has a kick-ass projection TV. Let's just say that things got competitive once my dad and Taffy started bowling. We bowled until 11:30 Wednesday night! Thankfully, my dad finally beat Taffy, so we could stop and watch a movie.On Thursday, we hung out, had lunch, and waited for my brother to arrive. We didn't want to leave before he got there, since it would be our only opportunity to see him. See, he and my dad go hunting the day after Thanksgiving, so he wouldn't make it to my mom's on Friday. Anyway, he finally made it and not long after, Kendall roped him into playing Wii with her. Of course, he talked a bunch of smack about how he was so good at video games, but Kendall beat him in everything they played. I'm sure he had a lot of good excuses to hand out...and I'm equally as sure she wasn't buyin' it.After she whipped his butt at Wii, the "guys", Noah included, headed into the gun room to "talk guns". Noah was very pleased to be included in this, and quickly made himself busy with the duck calls, coyote calls, and deer grunts. He was not impressed with the guns though. When the guys headed out to shoot, Noah asked to come inside because it was "too woud".

Soon after, we had to head out to Barry's dad's. I was in charge of dessert and made a pumpkin cheesecake (no pics, sorry! But it was a sight to behold, I tell you!!!). And of course, I made my own whipped cream...you guys know how I feel about Cool-Whip. YUCK!!

We had lots of yummy food, but here was our second Thanksgiving feast, and we'd still not had any TURKEY!!! Ham, ham, and more ham. I was getting a little stressed, I have to admit. All of the kids played really well together, and Aunt Amy had organized a game of Win, Lose, or Draw for them, which they played for a really long time.Then it was off to my Mom's, where we basically went right to bed. It was late, and we'd had a long day already. Friday morning was spent playing with the kids, preparing for the guests, and getting all of us showered and dressed. Oh yeah, and Jessie did what we all SHOULD have done..And guess what else? WE HAD TURKEY!!! I was so happy...turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, salad, rolls, pumpkin pie...you name it, we had it. WE let the kiddos play for a while more while the adults sat around talking and then we headed out. It was so good to be home. I don't know what it is about getting older, but I rarely sleep good when I'm not at home anymore. Just more evidence of me becoming a hermit, I suppose.

Hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! I know we all have so many things to be thankful for, and just so you know...you are all near the top of my list!