finishing the turkey ;)

I left off yesterday right after lunch but that is not where the fun ceased. We went to my aunt Jills house for our thanksgiving dinner around 530ish and really had a great time. She had it decorated so nicely and an awesomely warm fire in the outside fireplace.

Jared, Kaley and I sat with MG, Sheridan, Mema and Jabin. Looking around that table would be enough to give extreme thanks for...much less looking around the entire room! Kaley held up a brownie and said 'I love carbs.' Sheridan said 'I thought those were called brownies!?!' I laughed so hard. Of course MG promptly asked for more 'dirt' (brownies).

Mom really outdid herself with the food she took over. Hashbrown casserole, frozen cherry salad and waldorf salad. woah. seriously good stuff.

Sheridan played me in a game of checkers. I am very competitive and so I felt just fine when our game got interrupted so that we could give thanks for the food. I was losing badly. :)

After an dinner that no adjective can do justice, Jared spoke to us about ThanksLiving. You bet I stole the title of my last post from him...he is the master of things like that! I was so thankful to be in that moment. To have my husband sharing with my family and wanting to do a really good job, to have MG and Sheridan in my lap and to be able to breathe and feel home. It was great and greatly needed.


After a thoughtful prayer from Jim and the amens were said, MG decided that she wanted to paint her 'ornment'. Jill, Nicole and Charity had prepared salt dough ornaments for the kids to paint. They did such a great job with them and had a lot of fun.

Kaley and I challenged Jim and Jared to a foosball game. I don't think Jared had truly seen my competitiveness come out in that way...probably a good thing. He said he was excited to see that because it means our kids will have a competitive spirit. ha. I have a feeling that we are going to eat those words.
We slammed them in the first game and then they made this rule about how it was against the official foosball rules to SPIN the handles. Needless to say, spinning is essential to winning for me and we lost. My apologies to Kaley.

Today has been pretty laid back. The boys went to play football this morning while the girls went shopping. Mom decided to stay home and get out the Christmas stuff for tree decorating tonight. As I type, I am sitting on the back porch, watching the geese swim and play in the water; wrapped up nicely in a coat and scarf even though i don't really need it. The boys are fishing together and the rest of the ladies are resting their pretty heads.

I am finding this year that my greatest challenge is to be in the moment. Not labeling everything as 'the last one' but knowing that it is for a while. Enjoying the laughter that comes from anything and everything but especially from Matti Grey.
It's a pretty simple life I lead and small things make me happy but I am telling you, God is great. I don't thank Him enough. My life is beautiful and for Him and to Him I am grateful!

Happy ThanksLiving!