Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!

I hope you all have something to be as thankful for as Decky is for his $9 Disney balloon 🎈

Balloons aside, we have so much to be thankful for this year, and I love this reminder to pause and reflect on all the beauty in our lives. As always, these three crazy goofball boys of mine are my biggest blessings. They keep life messy and hilarious and always interesting. If you ask Ez what he's thankful for, he'll say Wacky Tacky (an indoor playground), Disneyland, and Decky. In that order. And I'm sure if Decky knew what "thankful" meant, he'd say he's thankful for his stuffed elephant, graham crackers, and his brother. Also in that order. Clearly 2017 has been good to us.

We'll be spending the day at my family's house, burning off stuffing and mashed potatoes by running laps through Gangy and Grampa's house, chasing two very loud and fast little boys.  

Wishing you all a weekend full of family, friends, laughter, and food...of course food 😉

Our Thanksgiving

My mom was gracious enough to host Thanksgiving this year so it was a peaceful, relaxing, family-filled day. For most of us, anyway. My mom may feel differently ;) She made us a huge feast, including salmon for us non-turkey eaters, and all the yummy sides and fixings. For dessert we had three options, and you better bet I sampled all three. 

Ez and Declan had a great time running circles around the house, playing chase with the uncles and grandparents, and then nearly falling asleep in their food. Declan had to take a nap mid-meal. Post-eating we played Apples to Apples and then it was time to celebrate Grampa's birthday, which is on the 1st, but he's celebrating in the happiest place on earth: Disney World! Ez kindly helped Grampa unwrap all his presents and then promptly threw each one on the floor when he realized it wasn't a toy. A little glimpse into the next few years' Christmas?

Thanksgiving was everything I'd hoped it be, a family-filled house, full bellies, lots of laughs, and two very happy kiddos who soaked up every second of being the center of attention. I hope your weekend was the same! 

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I know there's a lot of chomping at the bit to get on with Christmas festivities already, but I really do love to pause and appreciate Thanksgiving. I try to count my blessings all year long, but sometimes being thankful is the last thing on my mind when I've got two hungry kids in meltdown mode, a minefield of tiny, painful cars strewn across the living room, and not a single thing crossed off my to do list for days in a row. So having this one special day to sit still and think about all that I have to be grateful for is a blessing in itself. 

This may not go over so well, but the food doesn't do much for me (a meal centered around turkey is kind of eh for vegetarians). What I love most about Thanksgiving is all the people gathered around the food. For the third year in a row we'll be spending Thanksgiving with both mine and Joe's family, and any day that Ez and Declan get to spend with two sets of grandparents is cause for celebration. I love all the messy food prep, crowded kitchens filled with delicious scents, dish after dish lining the table with more food than three families could possibly eat in one sitting, and most of all the conversation and the new memories being built. I love board games and chasing the kids around outside to work off some of that food before it's time for another one of my loves: pie. Apple, pecan, pumpkin, I love em all! And that's just the stuff I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving day.

This whole year has been amazing as far as getting to visit with so many family members, far and near, and I know it's a year I'll never forget. Living in the Bay Area and getting to see my sister for impromptu midweek lunches, spending a whole weekend with ALL my sisters, and hanging out with my besties from grade school on a more regular basis has been so good for my soul. I'm thankful that through the ups and downs and ins and outs of learning to balance the demands of parenting two adventurous, energetic little boys and nurturing our own relationship Joe and I continue to grow closer than ever. I'm thankful for our beautiful wedding. And most of all I'm thankful for this family of mine, my reason for everything, who make each day, and especially holidays, so much more magical. More messy, and loud, too, but mostly more magical ;)

I wish you all a day filled with family and food - two of life's greatest blessings!

Our Thanksgiving

And just like that Thanksgiving is over. I remember after Halloween I said something to the tune of November being a relaxed, laid back month, but even without tons of stuff on the agenda it still flew by at lightning speed. 

It's crazy to think that last Thanksgiving we announced to our parents that we were expecting baby #2 and this year Declan was sitting at the table with us. 

Joe's mom and her husband flew in on Wednesday to spend the weekend with us and my parents and brothers drove over for Thanksgiving day. It was a full house and both Ez and Declan gleefully soaked up every single minute of extra attention. Ez took on the role of commanding each person to sit down, whether it was on the floor to play with him or at the table the second all the places were set. Declan was just happy to watch all the hustle and bustle from his grandparents' arms. 

Our menu consisted mostly of classic faves with a few twists. We had: turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, mac & cheese, homemade rolls (by my mom), zucchini casserole, butternut squash and blueberry salad, and salmon en croute that we got from Whole Foods. It's salmon, cream cheese, and spinach wrapped in puff pastry. So yummy! There was so much food that I couldn't take more than two bites of each thing before I was completely stuffed. Until dessert, of course. Then I magically found room for two pieces of pie (apple and pecan are my faves). 

After we all stuffed ourselves we walked over to the park and attempted taking approximately six hundred group photos. It was naptime by then, which means only about six out of six hundred photos turned out somewhat decent, but I kinda like the grumpy kid outtakes just as much as the smiley photos.

Then rest of our afternoon and early evening was spent half watching Star Wars while playing Headbandz, a ridiculously hard but fun and silly game which I highly recommend for big group settings. We also celebrated my stepdad's birthday, since he and my mom are spending the actual day at....(drum roll)...Disney World!! They're actually on the plane right now. Happy (almost) birthday Grampa! Have fun you two!

Food, family, games, and laughs = one successful Thanksgiving. I'm sad it's over, but also so ready to completely embrace all things Christmas. I just couldn't commit to trees and decorating until Thanksgiving had passed, but now it's game on! 

Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is sitting around with their loved ones, wearing their stretchy pants, getting ready to feast. Maybe even round two, if you got an early start. For the second year in a row we will be doing Thanksgiving with two sets of grandparents, as well as my brothers, and it's a tradition I hope continues for many years to come. 

I've taken a mini unplanned blogging break this week, but with so many things to be grateful for this year I wanted to take a quick moment to jot them all down.

First of all, as always, I'm so thankful for Joe. Corny as it may sound, he's the yin to my yang, my partner in crime, the peanut butter to my jelly, my umbrella on a rainy day. He's 100%, without a doubt my soulmate. Hopefully I say this everyday, but especially on Thanksgiving, here's a big thank you for all you do and for being you!

I'm thankful for these two happy, healthy, always keeping me on my toes but also always making me laugh boys of mine. Some days I can't even remember what  life was like pre-parenthood, but I know it didn't hold a candle to this kind of happiness.

I'm thankful for all the friends and family, both far and near, that have shared in roll-on-the-ground, gut-busting laughs as well as a few tears with me. I love you all! 

And I'm also thankful for this big community of moms that share their honest parenting experiences both in real life and here in blogland. From the triumphs, to the humorous, to the sleep deprived and downright scary. It's nice to know we've all been there and we're all in this together!

K, sappy post over. Time to go back for leftovers!

Our Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving was exactly what you want from the holiday: family, food comas, and stretchy pants (or stretchy skirts, in my case). It was sunny and in the 80s on Thursday, so after I baked a pecan pie, we started the morning off with a walk around a park. Ez had been up since before the sun that morning, so he was more in a "carry me" mood than a "run off energy" mood. Since it was kinda hot, we just did one short lap and went back home. Ez fell asleep in the car, and while he was napping I started my Thanksgiving contribution: a vegetarian wellington stuffed with chickpeas, pecans, and mushrooms, all wrapped up in puff pastry. It was delicious, and it vanished right away. I'll do a separate post with my favorite Thanksgiving recipes later, because I found a few new winners this year that I want to remember for next year.

We ate dinner at Joe's uncle's house, which was packed with family and friends. Joe's mom and grandma were there, along with his cousin and her son, Logan, who is two years older than Ezzy. After dinner everyone gathered in the living room to chat, watch football, and play cars with Ez and Logan. It was a lot of fun up until the point that Ez and Logan got in a toy dispute and Ez threw a car directly at Logan's forehead. Joe and I felt so bad. And Ez seemed scared, because usually when he throws stuff at adults, we don't start wailing, so I think he may have finally got the point that it hurts to have stuff thrown at you. I tried to have him "say" sorry and give Logan a hug, but he just ran away scared. We decided that was a good time to call it a night. 

On Friday Joe and I braved Toys R Us to pick up a new carseat for Ez, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon cooking, cleaning, and watching the first half of Gone with the Wind, which Joe has never seen. The reason for all the cooking was that we did a second Thanksgiving for the grandparents at our place that evening. A fully vegetarian Thanksgiving. I was too busy/tired by the end of dinner to get many pictures, but we had a ton of food, and Ez loved every second of having two sets of grandparents doting on him. 

Thanksgiving Day Walk:

Thanksgiving Evening at Joe' Uncle's:

Vegetarian Wellington

Friday Thanksgiving (Round 2):

Ez "sharing" his food pouches with Gangy & Grampa. Gangy wasn't a fan, if you couldn't tell.

Ez's 1st Real Thanksgiving Meal: (which he ate approximately two bites of)

Our Vegetarian Thanksgiving Spread: Tofurkey, Corn Casserole, Mac n Cheese, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, Rolls, and lots of pie:

Hope you had a great family-filled Thanksgiving as well!

Thanksgiving, Round 2 - Veggie Style

Tofurkey and all the fixins.

Mmm, yummy sweet potatoes from Grandma.

No more kisses, Grandma

Santa Ez.

Apparently he's only a fan of kisses when they come from Taylor.

Tofurkey Roast

Even though Ezzy woke up at 4 am, right on time to score some black Friday deals, we spent our black Friday safely indoors, avoiding all the retail madness. Instead we fired up the stove for round 2 of Thanksgiving festivities, this time serving up a vegetarian feast. Grandma Kathleen and Grandpa Brett came over with Tofurkey, and we served up all the traditional sides and feasted till my belly was ready to burst. And it was a lovely, rainy day. Perfect for snuggling up in some cozy sweaters and stuffing ourselves to the gills. This was my first time trying tofurkey, and it was pretty delicious. Ezzy scarfed down some sweet potatoes for the second day in a row. He ate one full bowl, then threw a fit when he realized there was no more. He proceeded to eat an entire second helping of sweet potatoes, lunging toward the spoon whenever it got within a few inches of his face. He's only six months old, but he already understands what this whole Thanksgiving feasting is all about.