Happy Thanksgiving!
How can I help but be thankful when I have these two little faces to kiss and squeeze everyday!!!
God TRULY is good.
Here's a little run down of our Family Thanksgiving 2010...
AKA (mother of 4 hosting at her house...yikes!)
I made as much as I could ahead of time and prayed the whole way, hoping I wouldn't completely mess everything up since in between each step of my recipes I'd stop to change Rylee's diaper, work on potty training with Cora, fix a broken toy or break up a brawl between the boys. :) Ah, yes...the joys of hosting guests in this season of life :) I used to absolutely LOVE hosting events at our house...I'd jump at the chance to have friends over for any reason at all. I'm learning that hosting looks different now than it used to, and that's okay. There is a season for EVERYTHING under heaven (the bible says), and I'm sure God was smiling at me as I was kneading dough and trying to keep my children's sphere of destruction to a minimum the day guests were coming to enter our little world :) This maybe isn't the season for a lot of dinner parties, but Thanksgiving must go on!
And it did...a little something like this...
...Tuesday...
Pioneer Woman mashed potatoes (love her!)
These can be made ahead of time and warmed up in the crock pot the day of Thanksgiving :)
Cranberry sauce
If you've never made your own, it's the easiest thing in the entire world!
1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 bag of cranberries...yum!
...Wednesday...
Pioneer Woman Sweet Potatoes
They've become a tradition...way too much sugar, but oh so festive on our plate and yummy in our tummies! John LOVES them, so I cut the sugar in half and will make them every year from now on :)
Rolls
Dough in my bread maker, baked them in my oven :)
John and I cleaned the house after the kids went to sleep...have I mentioned that I couldn't of done ANY of this without my amazing husband? Seriously...he's incredible.
...Thursday...
Turkey
Green Beans
fresh green beans (cooked) then tossed with sauteed onions and almonds
Stuffing
Super low maintenance...the way I like it right now
butter, onions, celery, cornbread and cubed stuffing with a little of the turkey drippings at the end for flavor...it was yummy and SO easy. Can you tell that was the theme this Thanksgiving?
A picture of everything (minus the potatoes that were in the crock pot warming up)
Table set, with name plates Cole made at school :)
We had a wonderful time with our family plus two other friends we invited to join us this year! Seriously...my goal this year was to have a relatively clean house and feed everyone warm food. I think we reached our goal! Other than John telling me the rolls were too dry (they were...I left them in the oven too long while giving Rylee a bath the night before and missing the timer going off), and Ryder telling everyone that the carrot cake one of our guests brought for dessert looked better than it tasted, (he did...at least we all got a good laugh!)...it went well!
Here are the kiddos coloring while dishes were being washed and leftovers being wrapped up for the next few days. I thought cooking a 20 pound turkey for our family plus 2 guests would give us PLENTY of leftovers...We're starting to feel the effects of feeding our family of 6! We've eaten leftovers 2 days in a row and we're finished everything but a bit of turkey I'll make potpies with this week...then, that's it! Wow...
One of the highlights of this year for us, was a tradition we started called the "Thankful Tree"
A few weeks before Thanksgiving, we cut a bunch of paper leaves out of red, yellow and orange paper and tied green yarn to each one. Each night we'd all say one thing we were thankful for, write it on a leaf and hang it on a fake tree we have in our house. Ryder, especially LOVED it and would remind us to do it each night. My heart was warmed with the way the kids all mentioned each other first. We truly are thankful to be placed in a family together by the One who made each of our hearts. We don't always get along or agree with each other's thoughts or ideas of how things should be done, but one thing that is evident, is that the love we have for one another runs deeper than any circumstance could shake.
This is written days before Rylee is given another hearing test. She passed her newborn screening, but in the passed few days, John and I have had some suspicions that she isn't hearing all we thought she was. Honestly, she may hear just fine, and part of her adjusting to life as the youngest of 4 includes ignoring our claps and shouts. We don't know...none of us have been in her little shoes before. Regardless of the results, we are thankful. There is something significant and precious about being thankful...deeply grateful...amidst hardship and trial. Our family has been there before with Cole, and we are reminded of that once again even as we wonder about our Rylee. Again...the test may come back that everything is fine, but for the moment, God is reminding John and I how precious, unique and purposeful every moment of each life He created, is.
Lord, THANK YOU for your presence in our life...for everyone of the little beings you've given us to raise...for a patient, steadfast, intentional husband to raise them with...and for your plan for our family that you continue to work out in our lives for our GOOD and for your GLORY. We are yours. Draw us out of ourselves this Christmas as we move toward celebrating your COMING and being among us...we love you, Emmanuel.
