Thanksgiving All Week

We got to spread out the Thanksgiving goodness all week long, starting on Sunday, November 24th, with the Blanchard Family Thanksgiving Dinner.  We met up with the Wihongis and Paul and Kim (and Aggie) in West Haven for the full spread of deliciousness.  It's always great to get together and when you have turkey and pie involved, well that makes it even more fantastic!

My cheat sheet for the stuffing I made
(for both family's feasts, as it turns
out) - it was a hit!

(I just followed this recipe (using 1 can
of broth instead of what is listed),
but cooked it all in a crock pot on
high for about an hour and a half.)

Let's eat!

Just desserts!

Loadin' up the leftovers.

Kage and Dray.

Scott and Heather.

Paul and Kim

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
(in their made-for-the-occasion
turkey hats!)

On Tuesday, the 26th, Callie had the most adorable first grade Thanksgiving program I could even imagine.  (Why, yes, I am biased as her mother, but it really was stinkin' cute!)  I told Gregg afterward that I was getting teary eyed watching our girl up there; not because it was an emotional or spiritual program or anything, but because she was just so adorable and I was just so proud!

The invitation Callie decorated for the program.

Some pre-show photo snapping.
Callie is on the second row from the top, fifth kid from the right.

We found our "seats" in the back (so we ended up standing
the whole time for the best view).

bonus videos!

"a few snippets of the show"

(but if those are hard to understand, just ask Callie to tell you a few of her

Thanksgiving poems or color songs and you'll see what I mean by adorbs!)

So proud of our girl!

It was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa Blanchard
come to watch the show, too.

On Tuesday evening, Cal and Sam helped me make popcorn ball turkeys for table decorations/place settings for the Elwood gathering on Thursday.  They were super helpers and we ended up with quite a batch of wonky turkeys.  (They look like turkeys if you use your imagination, but they actually taste really good, and that's the most important part for me!)

Thanks to OBB for their quick and easy microwave caramel
popcorn recipe!  It was a breeze!  And YUM!

More than one wonky turkey in this bunch!

Love them!

We got all our Thanksgiving dinner prep (made cranberry sauce, cranberry salsa and cheese ball, chopped celery/onion/garlic for stuffing, made the popcorn ball turkeys, packed up all the food and equipment) done on Tuesday in hopes that the weather would cooperate and we could meet Heather and Grace at the Hogle Zoo for one of their free Wednesday admission days that they're having for the rest of the year.  Alas, we got plastered with snow!  It snowed and snowed and snowed all day long!  We shoveled in the morning and again in the afternoon, about 4 inches each time!  And it just kept snowing!  We did have a fun morning between the shoveling/playing outside to have a google hangout with Heather and Grace, Kylie and my mom.  The kids even played play doh together virtually, which was quite fun! 

After Sam's nap we decided that we'd take the little lull in the weather that was happening then to drive to Providence then instead of waiting for Thursday morning (when it was supposed to be snowing heavily again after snowing all night).  I'm sure glad we did that!  We got to enjoy Taco Plop night at my parents' house and we didn't have to worry one bit when we woke up Thanksgiving morning to over a foot of snow outside our window!

They were SO psyched!  And they kept
begging to put on their skis!

Snow biking - why not?

And a scooter, too!

Playdoh time with Gracie.

Since we weren't going to the zoo, and all my other food prep
was done, I decided to make a pie!  Haha.  This was Mel's
cranberry apple pie that I couldn't stop thinking about since
she posted it.  I opted for a crumb topping, instead.
In other news, that's the prettiest looking pie crust I have ever made!

That's a lot of filling!

This thing is ginormous!

And done!  Do not skip out on the foil lined baking sheet under-
neath the pie if you ever attempt to make it!  It was a life
saver!

Is that golden enough?  (I decided to tent the top
with foil and pop it back in for a few more minutes to avoid
any soggy bottom potential!)

Thursday morning, after a great night's sleep (I never sleep well anywhere, but I was out and it was so nice!), Gregg and the kids and my dad headed outside into the winter wonderland.  My dad got to use his new snowblower for the first time and we were all so grateful he bought it at the end of last winter!  Gregg helped build the biggest and best snowman ever and the kids came in soaked and happy after an hour in the snow.  My mom and I chatted with Megan on facetime while we made rolls and cleaned up breakfast.  We hoped and prayed that Heather and Terrell and fam would be able to make it through the storm and they did and we were so happy!

Later, Nate and Shelly and kiddos came over and then cousin Parker and (Great) Grandpa and Grandma Elwood.  We had such a fantastic feast!  Then we played some Wackee Six (Cal has been begging to learn how and I told her Thanksgiving would be a great time with lots of people to play with) and Slapzie (Heather and Terrell brought that one) and then sat down to eat again when the pies came out.  Holy buckets!  Heather made all but my mom's coconut cream and my crapple (thanks, Nate, for that name!) and everything was delectable!  

We visited and snuggled baby Maggie for a little while longer and then we loaded up our stuff and our fair share of leftovers and headed home, getting there just in time for a normal bedtime for the kids and some more shoveling for the parents.  The deck had another 13 inches of heavy settled snow that we had to dig a tunnel through to get in the door.  After we cleared the driveway (saving the deck for later), Gregg and I watched half of The Empire Strikes Back (prompted by the light speed-looking snowflakes that were falling on our windshield as we drove home through Ogden Canyon) before we were falling asleep on the couch and decided to head to bed.  Whew!  What a day and what a week!  We are so thankful!

Snowblower in action!

Grandma's Christmas decorations outside looked
especially festive.

Winter wonderland in the back yard (Sam is in the sandbox
under the slide - ha!)

Muscle man to roll those huge snowballs!

Carrot nose inserted.

Stick arms attached.

Finished!  And mighty fine looking specimen, if you ask me.

Little miss is too tired to care about the feast!

Heather, Terrell and Shelly enjoying their meals.

My attempt at a pic of that end of the table (missed Nate, but
got him earlier).  It was fun to have Terrell's sister Rachel hanging
with us, too.

Gregg got up for a group shot.  Whoops - we didn't get one
of the kids' table, though!

Pie time!
(And I was cracking up at Evy grabbing a spoon
and digging into the cream "just to have a taste")

She succumbed to the sleep and the snuggles
of Uncle Gregg.  (Whenever I held her, she
gave herself the ab workout of a lifetime trying
to sit up and she'd never relax to snuggle into me!)

 

Our driveway after we got home and pulled into the garage.

And the deck!

Thanks to Gregg for digging us a walkway in!