waaaaaaaaayyy late posting about Turkey day. so bad. i know. i hosted this years feast & my parents drove up & stayed for four days, which was really nice. even though there were only 6 of us, a LOT of food was made. everyone had their requests for what they wanted to eat. luckily, the menu was kept SUPER SIMPLE! i had my mom bring some store bought pies, so she didn't have to worry about baking them & i didn't have to worry about buying so much ingredients.
our menu: a whole turkey (brined) & seasoned with butter, garlic, sage & thyme, stove top stuffing, sweet potato fries drizzled w/ honey, candy yams (for my parents), collard greens, green bean casserole (for the hubs), mash potatos (i think that dish is a waste of time concidering it's usually something you eat on a regular basis, but the hubs wanted it), whole grain dinner rolls (so yum), jellied cranberries, pecan & pumpkin pies & one big happy family!
yes, i had the timer going in this photo. i wanted to make sure "I" was in the moment of feasting w/ the family this time around. think i'll do this every year. i have found being the host i didn't snap many photos. i was more concerned about getting things done w/out having to rush or stress myself out. even though i started a few days ahead of schedule w/ the cooking, the last hour before setting the table & getting everyone to gather to begin eating, was crazy. just trying to reheat everything & making sure nothing was forgotten...well, i did forget about my dads black eyed peas...LOL!
we also celebrated Ty's 9th birthday...can't believe my little man is nine already! he's getting tall & so lean. it's freaking me out already! since i waited til the last minute to bake his cupcakes, he was in a hurry to open his presents. so, we used the pumpkin pie as his cake...LOL! he was happy & so was everyone else ;)
Friday, i didn't do any Black Friday shopping. wasn't in the mood to get up early & deal w/ the crowds. instead i headed up to boot camp at 530 am...LOL. i had to work off all that yummy food i cooked :D glad i did. i felt so good & less guilty & didn't care if i over indulged the rest of the weekend.
Saturday rolled around & Tim & Ty headed out to PA to hang out at the family hunting camp. i had to make sure there were photos of the kids w/ their grandparents before he left...especially since i was too lazy to pick up my camera the last few days.
by this time, he was being grumpy, i wasn't too happy my baby was leaving me for 4.5 days & NOT be w/ his mama on his birthday, which was Sunday, Nov. 27th. it was such a bummer he wasn't around :(
my parents headed back home Sunday morning. we snapped some pictures of the four of us before they left...it's amazing how tall Corinne is now standing next to them. she looks like she is five years old. after the parents hit the road, the girl & i ran errands & enjoyed a nice sit down lunch together at one of my fave restaurants...it was a nice break from eating leftovers.
i, by no means, advocate hunting what so ever...matter of fact, i am so against it. but my husbands family has been hunting for years (i was shocked when i found out they hunt & love to eat deer (poor bambi) yes i know, i'm 41 & still think of deer hunting as bambi hunting...LOL. anyway, my boy was super excited to venture out to the family's hunting camp. we set out before he left to Gander Mountain to pick him up some hunting gear. he LOVED IT! even bought him a camouflage sleeping bag & he now sleeps in it on his bed, lol.
here he is target practicing. when Tim emailed me this photo i about flipped. freaked me out. but i kept calm. but like Minny said in "The Help" this photo gave me heart palpitations, lolol!
here is Tim goofing off in front of the camera w/ his dad in the background.
i had evey intention of putting up my tree a week or two before Thanksgiving. Tim had the boxes down in the garage for several weeks & i just didn't have time to get to it all. that Sunday afternoon Corinne & i decorated the outside of the house & put up the tree on Monday after school.
we waited for the boys to arrive home from their hunting trip that Wednesday to decorate the tree, which was perfect, b/c it's how we started out the first day of my December Daily album. the tree has since been re-decorated, hahaha. i've rearrangd ornaments added beaded garland & wrapped the wide ribbon around the entire tree...looks so so pretty ;)
i will share more on my December Daily album later this week. i have been snapping photos everyday & typing up my journaling every evening. i won't be sharing photos daily (yes i know it's already nearly the middle of Dec, ha) but i will share a few photos later this week & then share the entire album at the end of the month. i have taken a slightly different approach to the project this year. so, i am not having to worry about getting photos of every day to post on the ole blog. i love the feeling of not being overwhelmed & enjoying the process.
be back later...
