Thanksgiving by the Hour

7:00am--Daddy and Spencer get up and go to the annual ward Turkey Bowl--Young Men vs Old Men.  Both my men come home uninjured and I take advantage of this fact and send Daddy to the store for a couple of last-minute ingredients. 

7:30am--kids come to snuggle in bed with mommy (a favorite weekend tradition of ours) and end up playing on the computer

Google's Thanksgiving turkey graphic proved to be entertaining for the kids (and adults)

9:00am--I finish baking the last of our four pies

11:00am--Glen puts the turkey in the oven

12:30pm--Matt, Karey, and Lincoln arrive and the kids play outside and enjoy the beautiful day

4:00pm--Pete, Mika, Lauren, McKenzie, Bridgette, and Davin arrive and so we run outside before it gets dark to take some group shots. 

4 out of 8 Crain siblings (sans Lara the photographer), 10 out of 12 Crain cousins (please come to visit Andrew and Madeline!)...

And the girls wanted to try out  a jumping photo just for fun! 

4:20--go inside, socialize for a few minutes, say a family prayer...

4:30pm--time to eat!  Green beans and 2 varieties of mashed potatoes made by Mika.  Homemade rolls and sweet potatoes made by Karey.  Turkey made by Glen. Cranberry sauce and 2 pies made by Lara. More pies made by AnnaLisa and Sue (our neighbor). 

4:45pm--Eat, laugh, and try to hear over the happy din of cousins playing!  (I threw this picture in mostly because I wanted there to be at least one picture of me in here, but there were several children hiding behind my chair and randomly jumping up that AnnaLisa was trying to capture in this picture.)

5:00pm-- The tryptophan didn't seem to work on the kids and they proved to be a little on the hyper side throughout the evening.   AnnaLisa attempted to calm them by showing them her webcam, but it proved to have more of a riling effect than calming. 

6:20pm--Our neighbors, the Tapps, arrive and we eat dessert.  AnnaLisa made  coconut cream and pecan.  I made apple and lemon meringue.  Sue brought Boston Cream Pie and Pumpkin. Everything was delicious-o!

6:30-8:00pm--Decibel level reaches record breaking heights in our home.  Thankfully it's all of the happy sort of noise. 

8:20pm:  Everyone's gone home, the dishes are done (thanks to my Hunny), and we break into the "Blessing Box" (a post to come on that later).  We then attempt a quick game of Pit, but don't even make it two rounds before someone is in tears.  We quickly put the kids to bed and RELAX!!

Never:  I'm proud to announce that I did not spend even 1 minute of today looking at Black Friday ads.  I'm sure I'll get some online shopping done tomorrow, but I am definitely not setting foot in a store tomorrow.  :)

It truly was a wonderful day and I was happy to spend it in the company of family and friends. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, dear blog readers!