Thanksgiving 2012

Tanner and I hosted Thanksgiving dinner this year! My sister, Josi, and her cute family came to town and stayed at a quaint little bed and breakfast a few miles from our house.  At the last minute Tanner's parents decided to DRIVE out from Idaho to see us, too! They stayed at the Coudersport Casa (aka: our house) on our lovely pull out couch. Tanner's parents arrived on Monday afternoon. Parker and Tanner both talked a mile a minute telling our guests all about life here in PA.  I made cowboy casserole and sat back and listened. My boys make me so proud. Tanner had taken a test that day and learned that he scored the highest grade out of all 80 students. And that was not the first time he'd scored the top grade! The next day I helped in Parker's class. The kindergarten had a "Thanksgiving Feast". The volunteers helped set everything up along a huge stretch of butcher paper on the floor and then all kids (about 100) of them sat down and enjoyed the feast! They sang songs and said what they were thankful for. Parker said he was thankful for Grammy and Papa. He was a little bummed to be missing them while he was at school so the next day I let him skip school and go with Tanner and his parents to Palmyra and to see some Amish people.  

 Here they are running around Palmyra! I didn't go because I was waiting for Josi to arrive. 

I made Josi's favorite dinner (Chicken and Rice) and baked her a chocolate cake! Baby James is so darling- he gave me the sweetest hug/snuggle when they got here!

 The birthday girl!

 Gorgeous family!

It was so nice getting to spend that one on one time with my sister! It's been quite awhile since I've been able to just sit back and focus on her and talk! We sang happy birthday and she made a wish and we had a very nice evening. 

The next day was turkey day! It was also my brother's birthday and he was hosting Thanksgiving at HIS house in California. We face-timed him in the afternoon and got to chat with the whole family! My mom cried tears of joy and we all laughed and smiled! It was hard to understand what we were saying to each other but one word was crystal clear: CRANBERRIES! Isn't it cool how families have, like, a secret language? We didn't need to hear every word each of us was saying to got the message: we love each other.

I spent most of the morning in the kitchen. Our oven sucks and we had only one big pot to cook with so I decided to buy those cheap tin pans and a "turkey bag" to cook the bird in. Upon transferring the bagged bird to the pan the bag broke! 

Ughhh, turkey on the floor. 

Not the best moment. But certainly the funniest. Not quite as dramatic as the year my Aunt Kaylynne realized (at about 5pm) that the oven was broken and not working. It was Boston Market in San Francisco for us that year! 

After we succeeded in getting the turkey into the oven we walked over to Parker's school and played around in the sunshine for a little while.

Then it was back to the kitchen to get the feast going! Monte mashed those Idaho potatoes like a boss. Only cool guys wear sunglasses while attending to their potatoes.

Monte also carved the turkey while Kim made the gravy. Kim was a tremendous help in the kitchen- peeling tons of potatoes and making a delicious raspberry dessert!

Here's our makeshift table. One day we will live in a real house with a real dining room and have real plates and things to eat off of. Monte had to sit in the recliner in the hallway. I believe at one point Tanner sat on a cooler. We had to borrow some plates from one of Tanner's classmates- we only brought 3 to PA!

 At the end of the day everything turned out great. The food was delicious, if I do say so myself. It was a very peaceful, relaxing day. I quite enjoy cooking a Thanksgiving meal- I didn't even mind doing the dishes. As long as my family is happy and content with full bellies I am good. :-)

 Parker's new best friend: Uncle Matt

 Tanner's parents left a day early to avoid a snow storm and to be sure not to miss Kassidy's mission call. We were sad to see them go but I made sure to snap a few pictures of Tanner saying goodbye and sharing a few more PA school treasures.

He wanted his mom to hear his heart beat and remember it always. She had toilet paper because she was shedding a few tears. ;-)

Later that morning we met Josi and her boys at the Frosty Hollow for baby James' first birthday party! Josi went all out with decorations and games and a beautiful cake! She's amazing! 

The birthday boy! 

What a cute family!

 James was not really into us singing Happy Birthday. He started to cry and cute Parker began to sing Itsy Bitsy Spider to make him feel better- it's his favorite song. :-) The cake was super yummy and James had a blast digging in!

After the party we took some family/maternity pictures of Josi and her boys.

 Oh James! You're cute even when you're crying.

 I LOVE this one.

After the shoot we went back to our house for some Thanksgiving left overs. Then we drove to a cool little train station that was giving rides to Santa's Village!

Cousins

We got cookies and hot chocolate while we waited for the train to arrive.

The train was so awesome! It was old and charming and totally decked out for Christmas. Santa LOVES Christmas decorations.

We sang Christmas carols and laughed all the way!

Hey Tanner! Are you taking pictures???

Santa's elf's came around and handed out stickers and paper to do a Christmas craft while we choo chooed down the track.

 At last we made it to Santa's village! And guess who was there?????

 Why, the BIG MAN himself! He climbed aboard and said HO HO HO to all the good boys and girls! He asked what we all wanted for Christmas (Parker said it was a secret and was too shy to tell Santa but he confided in me that he wants a Hot Wheels shirt and jacket) Santa also gave all the children a bell from his sleigh! We are supposed to hang it on our Christmas tree and ring it everyday so that the reindeer will know where our house is.

 The conductor did a fabulous job driving our train and we had a lovely time. We ate dinner at a nice family style restaurant and had a wonderful night. The next morning we woke up to magical falling snow. It was a nice, quiet day and we were able to catch up on laundry/homework/cleaning. Parker and Tanner had a snowball fight which I gladly avoided. That didn't stop Tanner from putting snow down my shirt. Not cool Tanner. Not cool. 

You'd better watch your back.

Now it's the 2 week wait until we fly to sunny so cal for Christmas vacation! I can't wait!!!!

 This was us keeping warm in the car before the train ride.

 Tanner's parents took me out to lunch at the Maple Leaf one day while both boys were at school. It was SOOOOO good and such a nice time spent one on one with my sweet in laws. They probably don't know how much that little lunch meant to me. Thank you!!!

 These pictures were the few I snapped from Parker's Thanksgiving Feast at school. I'm seriously in love with those kids and had such a good time with them that day. They are so adorable and have the sweetest little smiles!!