Thanksgiving

Ah....little ones enjoying Saturday morning cartoon, Papa and Milla off to Tri-cities for a temple trip and I get a few minutes to sit and think over the last couple weeks.  It's been a nice time with family.  Because of budget cuts, my kids got the entire Thanksgiving Week off of school.  And we took advantage of the time to be together.  Saturday was official 'Fix the oven that we just realized was taking an hour to preheat' day.  After doing a little internet research and dissecting our oven we figured out the culprit was the igniter.  Brandon called every place he could think of to find the part, but to no avail.  So we went oven shopping (knowing we didn't have time to order the part before Wednesday pie baking).  But at one locally owned store we mentioned we really just needed an igniter and the owner replied...I think I might have one of those out in my van!  We watched hopefully out the window as he began sorting through an impressive mound of boxes.  Only took about 5 minutes for him to emerge victorious.  2 snipped wires and 15 screws later we had ourselves a working oven! So much fun.  I love home repairs when it actually works.  I was ready to tackle anything  after that.

Part of our Thankful Wall we had up for all of November

'There's only one place I like to be at Thanksgiving'  'Hawaii' (by Rin)

'Are you OK Bob?'  sign:bob  by Rin

  Monday the kids made and put up Thanksgiving decorations and Sean began his week of subbing in for a friend on his paper route.  He has always enjoyed wandering around the neighborhood so I don't think this ended up being too much of a chore.  I went with him a few times (as did Grandpa) and enjoyed the time to chat. 

by Milla

Turkey:'to the South'  Hunter: 'Wait a minute..???' by Sean

A recycle of Sean's birthday Dr. Who decor.  Now a couple pilgrims and a turkey. 'Pie or Turkey?'

 On Tuesday morning we got to visit the dentist!  The kids went back two at a time and emerged an hour or so later, mouths brighter and mama's pocket book (much, much) lighter.   Nana and Grandpa Dave showed up right on time Tuesday evening.  Wednesday we baked, and baked and baked.  We only had 6 pies on the menu but somehow ended up with 8.   No one was complaining.  Thanksgiving was lovely.  Nana had brought a fresh turkey and, cooked breast side down as Nana insisted, the flavor was divine.  Everything came out on schedule except the rolls, but they made it to the table only 5 minutes after we began eating so we survived.  My favorite part was that the men did most of the clean-up (Grandpa Dave was a power washer the whole week) giving Nana and I a chance to sing around the piano.

Rin and Sean made some games for later in the afternoon.  Fill the cornucopia Relay, Feed the turkey, and Dunk the turkey all made the cut.

Friday Nana and Grandpa were kind enough to watch the kids while Brandon and I took a day trip to Tri-cities to go the the temple and do some Christmas shopping.  Despite being on snowpack for the first 45 min of the drive through the pass, we arrived safely and quickly.  We didn't make it back until 7:30, but the family walked over to La Grande's 'Light the Downtown' parade that evening.

Dress up time. After this Dad told me the story of taking Shannon into Misawa and how everyone wanted to pat her little blonde head.

Saturday Nana and Grandpa headed home :(  We finished off the week with a matinee to see the Muppet Movie and have been enjoying hearing the kids fit quotes from it into conversation ever since.