Thanksgiving Day

We had a great Thanksgiving, although I think by the end of the day, we were all exhausted and just collapsed into bed. That morning, Keith and my dad went golfing and Lexi was at the Knight's house. This meant it was just me and my mom with Thanksgiving dinner to prepare and a houseful of small children, one of them being Keeley. So basically, only one of us could be doing anything productive at any one time while the other one took care of the baby.
Even though we had done quite a bit of preparation the day before, we could have used a couple more hands--someone to come behind us and clean up, for example, would have been nice. ;) It was not easy getting dinner on the table, and in fact we ate more than an hour later than we had planned--but it turned out really nice anyway. You can see in the above picture how beautiful the rolls turned out, but they were very nearly a fiasco. They had risen too much, and then fell so they were flat as pancakes. I just could not see how we could serve them, so we rolled them out again and hoped they would be able to rise enough in a very short time--somehow they turned out perfect! My dad came home from golfing and fried not one, but two turkeys, and they were super yummy!

Later on, we checked out the  shopping ads while Keeley showed everyone what a big girl she was, pulling herself up to standing.

Then the kids put on a little Thanksgiving play they had prepared. First was the musical score.

Then the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Grammy Jo had brought the pilgrim people as a little craft for the kids to do, and then they made the boats and props for the play.

Sometimes the performers were visible.

Sareny constructed the boats so they would hold the people in them.

It was a pretty cute production.

The proud performers!

After the play, me, Keith, Lexi, and my mom headed off to Walmart and Target for some Christmas shopping. Bampa was super nice and stayed home with all of the kids so we could go. It may be over-commercial of me, but I do enjoy black friday shopping. It was a crazy fun adventure. Especially if you ventured near the movie bins at Walmart.

We Rock

On Friday we went over to our good friends, the Dominguez's, for dinner and to try out Sandra's birthday present--Guitar Hero. We thought it was a lot of fun, and if we had a game system to play it on, I would be thinking about asking for it for Christmas, but I guess I'll have to ask Santa for something more practical. (Are we the only people in America without a Wii? It seems like it.)

The kids enjoyed playing it on the Beginner level where all you have to do is "strum" at the right time. Keith and I started out on the Easy level where there are three buttons you have to push in addition to strumming. By the end of the night I got brave and moved to the Medium level where you have to push four buttons. I wasn't that good, but had fun trying. Maybe all those years of playing the viola helped me out!

We had shredded beef tacos for dinner, which is my favorite thing to eat at their house. They are seriously so good, and lots better than when I make them, possibly in part because Sandra fries her own tortilla shells. Thanks so much for inviting us over!

little chefs

Sareny and Isaac were playing kitchen and Sare decided they needed to wear chef hats. She wanted me to wear one too, but sadly, they wouldn't fit on my head. However, being the smart little problem solver that she is, she improvised and put a pair of her panties on my head. It's unfortunate Keith isn't here to take a group photo.

Also, does everybody have trouble keeping clothes on their kids, or is it just me??

I have realized that Isaac doesn't like getting his picture taken. I have to chase him down every time and have used Brandi's "there's a spider on my head" trick a couple of times to get him to look at me.

Fin Lynn is so sweet--whenever I lay her down to change her diaper, she just smiles and smiles at me. She must know a nice airing out is coming!