Thanksgiving 2011: Decorating

Friday was full of shopping, eating, and decorating. Dave braved the crowds and left at 6:00 am to do the shopping for the deals that were to good to miss. He scored and came home a few hours later with a smile and grin of success.

Then came the decorating...

Dave always does our main tree and this year was no different. The kids helped him with the setup and clean up. It looked wonderful.

Ryder had to wait until Saturday for me to start with the rest of the house. He wanted to get out the Baby Jesus.

Finally, Mom was ready to start. He found the nativity sets and eagerly brought each piece to me for display and commentary.

Mom, that is not right they need to talk to the Baby Jesus. Why are there two of them? They should be able to talk to each other. Mom, the sheeps need to up there. Why does he sleep in a scratchy bed? Why doesn't he have any pants? He was moving to fast that his pants kept falling down. Finally, they were setup to his satisfaction.

The Upside Down Tree.

Decorated by Rylee & Reganne. They did an awesome job all by themselves.

I quickly finished up the odds and ends, plus cleaned everything up and stored away the everyday decorations. Time for a rest.

One pooped little boy.

All the decorating really wore him out. I tried to wake him up for a shower, but no luck he slept straight through until 7:30 Sunday Morning. He promptly ran through the house checking all the decorations. Lucky for us they passed inspection.

This is only the start of the best time of year.

Thanksgiving Day 2011: The Food

Thanksgiving is a day to eat and give thanks for all we have. It's also the day I cook all morning, eat for 15 minutes, and then clean up all afternoon. This year was not different except I had additional help. Rylee wanted to help so she could learn how to cook. Ryder wanted to help because he was hungry. Decorating takes lots of energy and he was starving. Reganne just wanted to watch tv.

Our meal turned out awesome if I can compliment myself. Good food, good friends The Wheelers, and sunshine.


The cleanup took awhile to complete. Just as I sat down to read the Black Friday Ads the little voices came that they were hungry again.


This time for snacks & desserts

Rylee....All For Me

2nd round of desserts, treats, and snacks.

Dacoda & Reganne... No for us.

We all went downstairs and crashed in front of the tv to watch Zookeeper. A cute movie for a tired family & friends.

Is it time yet to decorate???

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

It was a Happy Thanksgiving this year with plenty to be grateful for. Good food, great friends, health, and a warm house. So many more things and not enough time right now to list them. We were lucky to spend the day with our friends the Wheelers. One highlight of the day was playing Wii and learning a new game. The kids played all day.

Wii Family Game Night...Rates an A+ and fun for everyone.

Yummy pumpkin pie and ice cream. Missed getting a picture of the $1.00 Turkey.

Decorating for Christmas... Our fun family tradition after Thanksgiving.

The Upside Down Traditions Tree

The kids finished their tree on Saturday morning. I am not sure this tree will survive with all the ornaments. The kids wanted to add more. Luckily we ran out.

Dave's Tree ... All Perfect and Beautiul.

Let's the craziness begin. We hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving Weekend. We sure did.

Thanksgiving and More

Thanksgiving it a time for food, family, and decorating. Not necessarily in that order. When Dave decides it is time then everything comes out and we start. This year is started last Sunday and has lasted all week. Bryan & Becca were coming for Thanksgiving and Dave wanted to make sure the house looked good for them.

This is Dad's Tree. It is perfect with everything matching and placed perfectly on the tree. This is also the tree that has tempted Ryder all week. He can't seem to leave it alone. He has broken bulbs, plugged in the tree so he can see the lights. Then he quickly unplugs them before I can't get over there.

Decorating Dad's Tree is hard work. They all had to have an ice cream treat afterwards. Ryder is into the Me Do It phase and he did it.

Ryder & Mom..This has been a busy week and bed time comes way to fast. Ryder brings me his blankets, books, and wants to rock before bed. Rylee has started reading to him also. They both love it.

Ryder & Aunt Becca..He discovered that whipped cream is a good treat. He didn't care for the pumpkin pie, just give him a bowl of the cream and he would be set.

Rylee, Uncle Bryan, and Reganne..Poor Uncle Bryan they girls were never far away from him. We loved having Bryan & Becca visit, but I am sure we wore them out.

Lori, Reganne, and our Traditions Tree.

This tree is all about traditions. The girls were upset Dad told them there was only going to be one tree this year. They begged all week to please to their tree. Saturday after cleaning and decorating the house we finally started our tree. I handed each of them their ornaments and we talked about each one as they put them on the tree. We had only one fatality this year. An ornament that Grandma Henderson gave us off her tree a few years ago. It slipped off and hit the tile.

It's all about traditions!!!

Oh how we love this time of year and spending time with family and friends. We hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving.