November happenings

Okay, Okay. I know I've been remiss. Blah, blah, blah. Apology. Now here we go.

We are Loving the fall weather and leaves. My poor neighbors probably think I'm looking into their windows a lot, but really I'm just gazing rapturously at the colors! I took this picture one day when I convinced Jordan to go on a walk with me. Love it!



Of course a LOT of this blog will be about Thanksgiving. We have much to give thanks for this year. Mark and Marcus returned home safely from their deployments. We sold our home in Colorado the Friday before Thanksgiving! Mark enjoys his job, I got a dream job, Jordan has some great classes at school. Ben is doing well and Casey is a working machine, working 2 jobs and taking an online class!

So - Here's our pumpkin pies. I substituted coconut milk for the regular canned milk. Ooops. Forgot that on my shopping list. FYI, you can't tell the difference! Yum!

Along with Friday night pizza we decided to start another new tradition. Meatballs on Sunday! They are delish. Soooo good. 

During the midst of Thanksgiving preparations we ran out of bread. I stopped and immediately made some. Cinnamon and chocolate chip were gone VERY quickly. :) 

The holidays gave time for games. Here is Ben playing Quelf. If you've ever played it, it fits our family very well. Very quirky. 

Here is Mark in yet another game of Quelf. :)

I must say, holidays are very different these days with older kids. Here's Ben at about 9am on Thanksgiving morning. I was relishing this quiet, while thinking about Jon and Julie's, Wendy and Tim's and Sarah and Will's prep. Knowing full well that their mornings were NOT this peaceful! :)

Our Iowa cousins came for the holidays. Wendy (my sister) informed me as soon as we announced that we were moving to Virginia that they were coming for Thanksgiving. So they did. And we were so glad.  Caroline had a cousin sleep-over with us a few days before the feast. She wanted to be woken at 8.This is sleeping beauty at 9:30. :)

As I was given my assignments for the dinner I asked if I could make a pumpkin cheesecake. Yes! So, along with pumpkin pie, cranberry relish and lemon meringue pie I made cheesecake. It was a HUGE hit. Here it is BEFORE the oven. 

Caroline ran with me to the grocery store to get a few ingredients. Along the way she found a pet store her family owned. Not! Though with all the animals the Webers have maybe they should get some stock. :) Wendy is an animal lover. She ALWAYS brings at least one animal to family get togethers. This time she brought a kitten. At the reunion this summer she brought a cat, a dog and almost a cow!

Aunt Sarah really appreciated Marcus' muscle in mashing the potatoes. 

The great thing about family get togethers is talking. Here's Casey, Will and Will's brother, Ken. 

And of course there's the waiting for the food. Hurry, we're hungry! 

You may have to look very closely at Hannah to discern what the kids were up to while waiting on the turkey...

Chalk! Of course, being Meyers' offspring they couldn't just draw on the concrete. No - they had to draw on the wagon too. 

William was more traditional in his approach. Ben - in the background - had just finished his 'turkey dinner'. 

There's Meyers, then there's Meyers boys. Jon's buddies fit the bill exactly. They were looking for water to deepen the hues of their chalk. Good thing the water had been turned off for the winter. I helped them figure out that they could just spit in their chalk for a similar effect. :)

Juliet. Always a smile, except when Caroline bullies her. :) I also found out that Juliet is a WONDERFUL sales person. Seriously, if you ever need to go shopping - bring Juliet. 

Ben's 'turkey dinner'. Can you find all the essential elements? On the right is the cornbread stuffing. What's up with that? I've only ever made that once in my life?! Must be the schools' mis-guidance. :)

Jon is a great dad. Here's he's helping draw Avery's name. Smart Avery recognized his name!

Remember the Meyers' thing? Yeah, here we are coloring cousins' feet. Who would have thunk? Meyers. 

Not only are Meyers peculiar, we also are kings of overkill. Wendy kept calling and calling saying we needed more potatoes. I asked her how many we had (we had 22 of us to feed). "Only 16" was her answer. "They're those baking potatoes." "Wendy! That will be plenty! Each potato will feed 2 people, and we have 4 other side dishes!" She finally relented after several phone calls. 15 pounds of potatoes later here is our Mount Potatious. We had leftovers. 

Sarah's not mad. I'm not sure what she's looking at Jon that way for. :) My boys were duly impressed by the turkey being completely covered in bacon, which Jon is removing in this picture. 

My plate. The 'brown stuff' is prime rib. What a great time and dinner! 

Proof of visitors. Piles of shoes. :)

The Griesmyer Family had spoon skills. Elizabeth is the queen of spoon noses! 

Oh, did I mention the cheesecake?! 

The after dinner coma. 

Caroline must have been so full she had to wear her pajamas and lie down. :)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.