Early Thanksgiving!

Is it me or does this apron make me look fat? Ha! Kidding (sort of).
Pardon the awkward side view...I was taking this one myself and my arms aren't very long. :)
Pillsbury Bake Off 2009!
I looked especially big in this apron this weekend as I was prepping for our big Thanksgiving meal with friends. I cooked/chopped/baked all day so I wouldn't have too much to do the day of (I wasn't stressed at all which is a major first for me. I had everything organized and ready to go...again not normal for me.). We had our little group of friends over for a "Thankful for our Friends Thanksgiving Feast"! Everyone went all out and cooked/baked/etc! Leanne made her first turkey/ham...and they were both FABULOUS! Great job Leanne! The men helped out with the kids while the mommies got everything ready. We ate until we were totally stuffed...and then ate some more! I was very happy to be able to wear maternity pants...I definitely needed them. Wes (Leanne's husband) told her that he might need to borrow her maternity pants for this meal! Too funny! We decided this would be a little tradition that we start down here. A lot of us have family out of town, so these folks are our family! It was fun to bring all of our own family traditions together and share them. VERY FUN...I highly recommend! It was fun to get out all of my china/Christmas dishes/crystal/etc...I don't get to use it much and LOVE getting all decked out for stuff like this. I seem to only have pictures of food and tables on my camera. I know we took some group pictures, but I'll have to wait for Leanne or Katey to post them!
Thanks ladies for such a GREAT evening...and for doing all of the dishes! You are too much!

Can't have Thanksgiving without some good country cornbread dressing. I've made it a few times, but it is always stressful to me b/c my grandmother's recipe is like..."pour in some of this...then add some of that...taste it...add whatever else you need". These are my favorite kinds of recipes (b/c I can't follow direction), but this one always stresses me a bit. Anyway, the dressing turned out "right" (as my mother would say) and I am still enjoying the leftovers!

Things I'm thankful for: Well there are lots of them, but one major one is that my husband is so helpful and will do whatever I need him to do to help get ready (without ever complaining). Sam even got in on the vacuuming action this time.

The spread...YUM! Seriously, we had quite the yummy spread. Calorie counts were not even allowed in this scenario (which is a good thing b/c there was lots of butter, crackers, cheese in those casseroles...and can't even start on the desserts)! Everything was so good...and so fun to see what everyone cooks for Thanksgiving. I love to hear about what other people's family holiday traditions are.

Dining room...the men sat in here. Dear Santa...can I please get a new dining room set (considering this is the one that Ben got for free I think before we got married)? Wait...maybe I should saying...Dear Dave Ramsey...in that case...pretty sure the answer is NO! :) Gotta love Dave...I mean my husband! In the meantime, I'll just keep tablecloths on it!

Treats for everyone to take with them. Found these individual baking dishes at Michaels for $1...cooked pumpkin bread in them, tied them up pretty and wrote out recipe for them to take home. I love treats! Mom makes these for people at school with pound cake in them...YUM! Going to try that next!

The girls sat in the kitchen. We knew the kiddos would be right where we (meaning the moms) were, so we were closest to the toys. It was fun to get out my Christmas dishes!

Little Girls Table - Addison, Addy and Alayna! These girls sat there forever and ate so well! So proud of them....aren't they so cute! Look at Alayna's little pigtails! So precious!

Little Boys Table - Sam (who ate crackers, rolls and a chocloate chip cookie for dinner that night), Jackson and Tucker! They sat there for about 2 minutes...and then they were off! Too much fun to be had.

Since we are headed out of town, I asked Ben to put the tree up so I could go ahead and everything done before we leave. I knew he wouldn't want to do it before going back to work. So, yesterday he did...with the help of Sam who is fascinated by the "Tee"..."Pitty Tee"! We also discovered that we need a new tree. I think we'll wait until after Christmas to try to find a good one on sale. I'd love to do a live tree one of these days, but this pre-lit business is just so easy! Maybe one day!

Not totally finished, but here's a sneak peak. I have a few skinny (pretty) trees in the foyer, but I just love this one with all of our family ornaments on it.

LOVE having a mantel again that I can decorate. Next year we'll have to make room for another stocking! Mom was excited that Jack will be born in 2010, so she'll have a whole year to finish his stocking.
Totally unrelated to the Holidays, but this little guy got his haircut yesterday! It definitely needed it! He actually sat in the airplane and let the hairdresser cut his hair. I actually got to sit down and not have him hang on to my neck for dear life...NICE! :) This was our 2nd sucker...since the 1st was covered in hair (GROSS)!