Thankful for Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of the year.  Despite the hustle and bustle of planning for the meals, schedules getting the kids, and the upcoming holidays (my mom and Kylie's birthdays, and Christmas around the corner), Thanksgiving has a sense of pause to it.  Which may not make sense after I just mentioned a lot going on around this time, but I think because all we really are expected to do for Thanksgiving is be thankful and eat, it seems to be a relaxing holiday.

Keane and I hosted my dad's side of Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Keane's brother and sister-in-law hosted their dinner on the Sunday before, and I was taking notes on all the last minute things I hadn't thought of for our dinner -- ice, veggie tray, tables, etc.

There were 22 people total at our house on Thanksgiving Day.  I'm wishing now I would have taken a few moments to photograph my table decorations and the wreath my sister and I made the evening before.  Why oh why don't I take more pictures?  Probably because I was busy making corn, mashed potatoes, gravy, oyster dressing, and regular dressing.  The "regular" dressing basically went untouched, and I don't blame anyone for not eating it.  I had gotten my aunt's recipe and she told me to use bread crumbs...so I used "bread crumbs."  Afterwards, I was talking to Keane's mom about a recipe of hers and she said, "For that I use bread crumbs, or you know, croutons..."  CROUTONS!  That must have been what my aunt meant.  Better luck next year.

 

Keane got up in the middle of the night to put the turkey on the smoker.  And let me tell you what -- that smoked turkey was magnificent.  I have always chosen ham over turkey (my family has always had both ham and turkey for Thanksgiving) and this year I was just as excited to have the smoked, tender, juicy turkey on my plate as I was for the sweet, delectable ham. 

This year I made sure to put a little bit of everything on my plate, since I had technically asked everyone to bring such food items.  And we had a lot of different food items to choose from.  It was all so good.

Then we had our annual White Elephant Gift exchange.  I attempted to switch up the style of the game this year.  We used to number the gifts and everyone drew a number, and would get the gift that matched their number.  The next person could either steal or get a number of their own.  The last two years, we found a poem on the Internet that had a rhyme and directed using numbers and matching words which gift everyone should grab and who to trade with.  This year we had fake money and we could "auction" our gifts off.  However, there wasn't much buying power with the fake money, and I had sort of, a little bit, forgotten that sometimes our gifts are exactly what they are supposed to be which are "gag" gifts, which in turn are things that people don't usually want to buy...ha.

Next year I think we'll go back to the original way of playing.  But it was fun.  I ended up with my cousin's leftover wedding things such as bubbles.  Keane got a bag of home goodies from my cousin's husband which included an extension cord, superglue, and a lighter.  Kaden got water balloons and a pump from my little brother, and Kylie ended up with a frame of mine from RusticCo that she bought with all her fake money and was very proud of -- "Happy Thanksgiving to me!" she exclaimed.

I was very thankful to be surrounded by my family for Thanksgiving, thankful to have a home to share with them, and for the recipes and traditions passed down in my family that everyone looks forward to year after year.

And it's always wonderful when my sister and nephew come home to visit.  I hung out with them Friday until they left in the afternoon.  McCoy is so easy to love.  We wrestled and laughed and covered ourselves in his blanket.  He giggles at things that are funny and talks a lot.  I am so very blessed with the family that I have.

Back from AZ

 

 

My cousin, who has been my best friend through childhood and now into our adult years, moved to Arizona for a job a couple years ago.  She came home last Thanksgiving, and she is back in town for 12 short days.  Keane and I were able to see her both Friday and Saturday last weekend.

 

Friday night, we met with her, her sister, brother-in-law, and nephew for supper at a local bar.  Then we stayed and had a few more drinks until she was ready to go.  At some point in time during the evening, Lindsay mentioned that she loves sushi.  Keane told her that he knew of a great sushi restaurant he would like to take her to.

After sleeping in on Saturday, and feeling very lazy, I get a text from Lindsay..."Sushi?"  We all got ourselves ready, and traveled an hour (the closest any sushi restaurant is) for my first time having sushi -- and it was really good.  The ambiance and experience was most of the fun, and the food wasn't bad either.



Then we stayed in town and met up with some more friends to watch the MU football game, until we decided to head back to our little home town, and get McDonald's ice cream on the way home. 

 

We laughed so hard that my stomach hurt and I thought I was going to pee myself.  That hard.  It is so much fun reunited with a friend that's been around for life, and knows me better than I even realize.  Someone who can look at you across the table, and know exactly what you're thinking.  Or someone who walks into the restroom while I'm sympathizing with a random stranger about her newly filed divorce, and makes a comment about the dreadful face I'm making, afraid that my dog died or something, thus making me laugh so hard that any kind aura I brought in the beginning, was flushed down the toilet.

Thanks for some really good times, my dear friend.  I have missed you.

 

 

Hunter in the woods

 

 

 

 

Can you see him?  Can you see Keane in these pictures?  He takes a lot of pride in his hunting gear, and rightfully so as he has slowly built up matching necessities for his hunting attire.  He likes the Mossy Oak Breakup Camo and he has taught or expressed to me that it is very important to match your camo if at all possible!

Opening Weekend

A chance of rain...a lot of wind...warm temperatures...full moon.  Almost anything you can think of to make for a bad deer hunt, we had this past weekend, on opening day of gun season.  I liked the warm temperature part, but deer move more when it's cold.  And the wind was something fierce, all weekend long.

Keane hunted on some haybales on Sunday morning, but couldn't stay long because Kylie had her last basketball game!  After the game, we hurried home to our first hosting of a midday deer camp, which turned out to be a nice turn out.  Keane's friend, Greg, came by to show us his nice bow kill, a few hunters had a bowl of chili and later left to go back to the stand for the evening, and some stuck around until night time. 

 

A group of kids played basketball, and a few of the men, too.  Our deer camp may have been a little loud, because Keane and Kaden could hear some of the hollering from their deer stand.  "You all okay?  I can hear screaming back here! :)" said a text from Keane.  Keane and Kaden saw two does and two small bucks that headbutted each other, and that was it.

Sunday morning, Keane, both Kaden and Kylie, and I, were all planning on hunting.  Kaden with me, Kylie with Keane.  When we woke up before the sun, the wind was blowing so strongly.  I told Keane I didn't feel like sitting in the wind.  Since he was already up, he asked both the kids if they wanted to go to the woods with him, and Kylie (the other early bird) wanted to go. 

 

The funny thing...she had to take her stuffed bear, Smarty.  I saw her go into her room and get it, and got a kick out of it.  Keane said that when she asked about bring Smarty, he told her the bear could go with them to the woods, but it had to stay in the truck.  Later that day, Keane was showing me the pictures he had taken of the two of them, and lo and behold, Smarty is in the pictures with them.  This made me laugh all weekend long. 

Another funny story.  I woke up to a text from Keane saying that Kylie was watching a raccoon climb into a tree, and while sitting there, she said, "I can't wait for that fat lil bastard to come out."  Keane said that she now knows bastard is a bad word.  Kylie told me later about how the raccoon was so fat it had to squeeze its butt into its hole in the tree. 

To wrap up the weekend, Keane, Kaden, and I went hunting.  Kylie was at a Selena Gomez concert with her friend, Caitlyn, for Caitlyn's birthday!

This kid is nearly as tall as me!

Keane and Kaden sat together in a tripod by the creek, and I sat in Keane's tripod.  The boys saw a doe 30 yards away that Kaden wanted to shoot, but it stayed behind brush the whole time, not allowing him a chance to shoot.

That was it.  There were not a lot of deer, mainly due to the weather, and no kills for us.  Keane took off Monday to hunt, and took Kaden for a little bit in the morning, but again, they only saw a couple deer total.

Thanksgiving Frames

Thanksgiving will be here before we know it!  RusticCo has three frames for sale, providing a place to display your thankfulness in your home.  Personalize your Thanksgiving frame with what you, or your family, are thankful for -- just fill in the blank using a marker, and change it as often as you would like!

Since Thanksgiving is coming soon, your frame will be shipped the following business day upon your purchase.  The prices for these frames have been reduced -- now only $17.99 each. 

RusticCo

A Thank You to our Veterans

I want to take this holiday to do what it was set out for -- to celebrate, thank, and remember our Veterans of this country.  They sacrifice so much of their time, their safety, their health, and a whole lot more than that, for the freedom of this country...for me and for you.  They protect us and they do it with pride and dignity.  They deserve our upmost respect, and our greatest thanks, today and every day. 

 

Thank you.

My brother-in-law speaking on behalf of Veteran's Day

 

A special thank you to my family members who have served:

Brother-in-law Lonnie (National Guard)

Paternal Uncle Calvin (Army)

Maternal Grandpa Leon (Navy)

Maternal Grandma Jody (worked on ships in the Navy--how she met Grandpa)

Mother's Great Aunt Gladys (buried in Arlington National Cemetery) 

Throwback Thursday - Halloween

Since we just had Halloween, I felt encouraged to find the kids' Halloween pictures from previous years (that I know of).

2004 - 2006 (Kaden ages 8 months, 1, & 2, Kylie age 10 months)

2007 (Giraffe-Kaden age 3, Ladybug-Kylie age 1)

2008 (Spiderman-Kaden age 4, Batgirl-Kylie age 2)

 

 

2009 (Kaden age 5, Kylie age 3)

2010 (Toy Story's Jessie-Kylie age 4, Ninja Turtle Raphael-Kaden age 6)

2011 (Kaden age 7, Minnie Mouse-Kylie age 5)
 

2012 (Scary Creature-Kaden age 8, Vampire-Kylie age 6)

 

2013 (Cheerleader-Kylie age 7, Baseball player-Kaden age 9)