Thanksgiving Week

We celebrated our (almost) fully vaccinated/boosted Thanksgiving week back around the table with our families who we've missed being with like this, maskless, inside, with lots of people. We partied (almost) like it was 2019!

We gathered with the Utah Blanchards at Paul and Kim's house on Sunday afternoon for Thanksgiving #1. It was delish, naturally. And then after dinner, the kids helped Grandpa walk the neighbor dog, and we visited, played games (that was especially fun, thanks to Cal for suggesting), played with trains, and then ate some more. Yum! and Love!

Thankful for these people!

Thankful for this food!

Thankful for these games (we played Apples to Apples and Telestrations
and it was the perfect thing to get a bit of interaction out of the usually silent
teenagers)!

Between the two Thanksgivings, we had a pretty normal week, though we did get our Christmas tree on Wednesday, not to beat any snowstorm like in 2019 (where is our snow?!) but to beat the Black Friday Instagram Tree Hunters (they're a real thing, as we learned last year!).

Then, on Thursday, The Day, we met up with (most of) the Elwoods (Ky's family was with the Herzogs this year) in Providence. We played games, did crafts, read books, and caught up with everyone before lunch, then did more of the same after, plus basketball and football and pie. It was wonderful to be together again!

This game used to quack incessantly and as soon as I saw
Sam walk out with it, I was ready to send him outside
with it. But then somehow the quacking feature has stopped
and it's not nearly so annoying as it used to be. Phew!

Sam brought his newest Hot Wheels things and was
good to share with all the cousins.

The blinds made for some really crazy lighting, but
I just couldn't resist these cuties playing together.

Crafter girls! (The boys did some, too, but
didn't last nearly as long as them.)

Let us eat! Thankful for Thanksgiving!

An Elwood Thanksgiving tradition for at least the last decade-plus
(when did this start?) is our post-dinner game of Turkey (aka Pig, but with 
a Thanksgiving flair). It was especially fun to see my parents' basketball hoop,
given two years ago for this very purpose, finally being inaugurated.

This is a spoiler, but it fits well here:
I WON! (I never win, especially against
the boys and my two basketballing sisters,
but I did today! It was a Thanksgiving miracle!)

Not pictured, but also super fun: after Turkey, we played
a rousing game of Lighting (War, I guess, because we got back in
when the person that got us out got out). Woo! That got the blood pumping!

The kids and the grandparents were the audience
and cheerleaders.

And ran around the yard like crazy people.

No socks and shoes? On Thanksgiving?!

And grandma was even brave and chaperoned all
the littles down to the park!

Indeed! Thanks for the cute pic, Evy!

Pie time - I only took a pic of our apple (and this was
the day before, right after we made it), but we also
had chocolate pecan, pumpkin, and coconut cream!

Miss Maggie was pretty good at maneuvering
my old steed, Rodeo Rose.

Happy and Thankful this year, muchos!