Samantha and Amelia kicked off their Thanksgiving week with a feast at their preschool. I volunteered to help the kids make their special placemats the week before Thanksgiving, and the twins seemed pretty nonchalant with me coming in to both classes that day.  During the Thanksgiving Feast, however, Amelia freaked out when I went to help serve the food in Samantha’s class… so much so, that she would hardly touch her food. The girls were both a little weirded out by the whole potluck since they don’t normally stay for lunch at preschool, so I think being off their normal routine, plus having me there, became the perfect storm for having an off day.

It was quite the feast! The parents and teachers had a good time sampling everything after serving the kids, but next time, I’m thinking we should all sit down and have the kids serve us!

I came back to comfort Amelia after stepping eight feet away into Samantha’s class to help serve the food. Once her belly was full of turkey and dessert came around, she seemed to be in better spirits.

Samantha tried every dish and thought the whole potluck thing was a swell idea.

Amelia was proud of her turkey hat.

Some of the kids barely tried their food, but magically became hungry again after the pumpkin roll made an appearance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m having a hard time picking and choosing which crafts of the girls’ to keep now that they are coming home with something every day, and the clutter-hater inside me wants to keep the paper at bay. We usually hang them up for a few weeks, and then I take pictures and store a few of them in the girls’ portfolios. It’s already pretty full– can’t imagine 15 more years of paper! Some of the girls’ crafts this month:

I had fun working with Samantha and Amelia’s classes on their Thanksgiving placemats earlier in November.

This was the first year the twins were a little more aware as to what Thanksgiving was all about, so it was our first year doing a Thankful Tree at home. I had grand plans of making a cute tree with lighted branches, but ended up just telling the girls to go out back and pick whatever branches they could find. At dinner (i.e. whenever we remembered), we’d write down what we were thankful for. S and A repeated each other, Meredith, mom and dad, and Bandit pretty much every time, so we had to teach them to think outside of the box a little! We took the tree down at the end of November, but the girls have been asking where the Thankful Tree is, so maybe we need to keep this tradition year round?

In a moment of annoyance that the girls were whining about something or other one morning, I had them watch a short YouTube documentary clip about a boy named Juan who lived near a trash dump in Mexico and picked up trash with his family for a living. I was thoroughly depressed watching it, but the girls were fascinated and, at the very least, I think they may have an inkling of understanding about how blessed they are to live in a house and have plenty of food.

Now, whenever the girls whine, I remind them about Juan. Out of the blue the other day, Amelia proclaimed she wanted to give some of her toys to kids who picked up trash and didn’t have any toys, and she suggested giving away her favorite stuffed animal, a stuffed cougar. Touched my heart! Samantha added that she, too, would like to give some toys away to those less fortunate, and suggested giving away “Amelia’s piggy.” We’re still working on her.

Meredith was stoked for her first Thanksgiving! This girl loooooooves food.

The next day on actual Thanksgiving, it was time for Friendsgiving at the Erpeldings. Sheela and Todd were so gracious to host us, Sheela’s dad, and their other friends, Christine, Ragnar and their toddler, Annabel. The best part was having our feast at 11:30 a.m.! Best Thanksgiving idea ever! We all stuffed ourselves, the kids played and then we went home for a nap! THE BEST.

We brought the stuffing and cranberries, Christine and Ragnar brought some delicious pie, and Sheela, Todd and the kids put together some amazing sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, turkey, honey baked ham, and Todd’s specialty, sauerkraut! Sammy actually tried it and liked it! It was truly a team effort as Avery and Owen showed off their battle scars from peeling potatoes… way to go, kids!

Deciding on the menu, running around to gather all the groceries and supplies, getting the house ready and preparing all that food was no easy feat, but Sheela made it look easy! We were so grateful to spend a fun Thanksgiving sharing a nice meal with friends and hanging out.

With seven kids, plus Meredith, we had quite the lively kids table. Surprisingly, in between wiping mouths, fulfilling requests for more sweet potatoes, and picking up dropped silverware, the adults were able to enjoy our meal as well.

Samantha and Amelia had seconds (and thirds in a few cases) and were the last ones to leave the table. Actually, Meredith was the last to leave the table… she looked like a stuffed little turkey by the time she was done.

Such a cute kids table.

The girls were occupied coloring on the tablecloth and playing with their friends. Somehow, toys at someone else’s house are always more interesting than our own.

Yum!

Meredith gorged herself on turkey, rolls, potatoes, sweet potatoes and green beans. She had a little taste of pie and was quite angry we hadn’t been feeding her that the whole time.

With a new floor to explore, Meredith was in heaven before a post-Thanksgiving coma hit her and she napped all afternoon.

We had so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving and were so thankful to celebrate with our little family and great friends!

Lots of love,