Keys to a successful Thanksgiving

We had a really fun Thanksgiving week. Yea, in keeping with our new family tradition of stretching out holidays as long as possible, we pretty much started celebrating Thanksgiving last Saturday, when my family came into town. And we finished it up yesterday morning when they left. (All except Grandma Cuca, who we get to keep for another week--yea!) Here's what made it a very fun and memorable Turkey week for us:

*GOOD FOOD--This is, of course, a necessity for everyone on this holiday. And our Thanksgiving feast was quite a success if I do say so myself. We had all the traditional foods--turkey, dressing, yams, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls....mmmmm. But throughout the week we also had rice and beans and tortillas--my favorite meal EVER. And enchiladas another night. I'm not looking forward to stepping on the scale at the dr's office this week. What, I'm not supposed to gain 5 pounds a week at this point in my pregnancy???

The feast...moments before being devoured.

*A whole bunch of family members--We had a house full and I LOVED it. With the majority of our family members living two thousand miles away, this isn't a chance we get frequently.

This was our Turkey Day crew:
Brandon, Carson, Avery, Whit

Andrew, Destinee, Mason, Ryan

Daneen and Paul (who look SO happy to be here),
Grandma Cuca, my Dad and Mom.

It was great to always have someone to:

play Guitar Hero

or Singstar with,

shoot hoops in the back with the kids,
(even Grandma Cuca got in on the action!)

take us geocaching,

(We even found one cache!)

go to the park, play cards or Mad Gab.....never a dull moment.

*Lots and lots of Football--Andrew even faked a back injury so that he could lie on the couch and watch his favorite spectator sport for three full days. OK, I'm totally kidding about him FAKING the injury, but Old Man Sweat really was down and out with a bad back for three full days. He was in A LOT of pain. But I don't think he mind being forced to take it easy for a while.

*Using the internet to do my Black Friday shopping--I decided that unless you are going to save hundreds of dollars on a big ticket item, it is just not worth it to fight those crowds, the cold, and lose that sleep to shop on Friday morning. So, this time I stayed up until midnight playing Singstar with my family and then hopped online and did my shopping. I still got some great deals and most of the sites I used offered free shipping. Can't beat that!

Unexpected Perks: My dear, sweet brother was brave and repaired a slow-draining tub in the bathroom they were using by digging out 4 toothpaste caps and a band-aid among other disturbing items....I'll stop there. Some people will take the initiative and fix problems like these. Others (like me) will continue to use Drano every other month and wonder why it is still draining sooooo slowly.

THANK YOU, PAUL!

My awesome Dad repaired the taillight that burned out on my van last week. It had been driving me crazy because the blinker goes really fast, but I hadn't taken the time to fix it yet.... Who knows how long it would've taken.

THANK YOU, DAD!

We feel extremely blessed to have people travel such long distances to be with us for this holiday. Thanks to everyone who came and for the sacrifices you made to be here. I think everyone else around here is so done with eating the leftovers. As for me, I'll enjoy the turkey and the yams for a couple more days and remember the great Thanksgiving we had.