Thanksgiving 2014

A couple days before Thanksgiving the girls each made a Turkey and colored each feather with something they were thankful for.

Liv was thankful that she can be quiet, that spring is coming and she can smell the flowers, that she can run fast, frozen heart cookies, her little sister, this craft, and snowmen

Scarli's cute turkey

The day before thanksgiving our sweet Livy came down with the flu. She came into my bedroom that morning and asked me what day it was. I told her it was Wed, preschool day, and she got a sad look and said, "Mom, I'm sick so I can't go to preschool". I knew immediately that she must really be sick because she would never ever give up on going to preschool that easily! We went down and had waffles (I would regret giving her breakfast very soon), and i set her up on the couch with her pillow and blanket. After a minute she came over to me and wanted to cuddle, which is not uncommon when she is not feeling well. Then she told me her tummy was hurting and I asked her if she needed to throw up. She said no, so we just cuddled until she shot up and cried "I'm gonna throw up"! I scooped her up and ran to bathroom! The second we got in she let it explode! Unfortunately the toilet lid was down so it went all over the seat and ricocheted everywhere. Not super fun to clean, but I love my baby so much and I love taking care of her. I gave her a bath and then we got a bowl next to her for the rest of the day, which I was cleaning all day since she continued to throw up all morning, almost every 10 mins. It is so sad to watch her little body throw up like that, I wanted to cry for her every time. Luckily by the night she was done with the vomiting, and on Thanksgiving she did start to feel better after a nap, and wanted to watch what we were so busy doing in the kitchen :)

This year we decided to forego the friends celebrations and do the whole shabang for our little family. With Brady being gone so much for school, sometimes going out with friends is too draining for us. Not because we don't like our friends, but just because we need and want time alone with each other and our kids need us too. I guess we are both a bit introverted and need some home time to recharge. I always feel a bit torn when we decline offers to be with friends because I hate missing out, but when Liv was sick we were extra glad we didn't have to leave anyone hanging, and that we already had all our food and didn't have to miss out on the traditional Thanksgiving meal!

It was really fun coming up with a menu together and cooking some new things from scratch! When trying to decide what to make for dessert we had a handful of pies that we wanted to make. We decided we better dial it back since we would already have tons of leftovers and we didn't want a TON of pies leftover too! We finally chose pecan pie and dark chocolate banana cream pie. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to make pecan pie and the dark chocolate was delicious!! It didn't set up quite right but we didn't care!

first time making cranberry sauce

finished product

a little snack to tide her over

Our fist time making a turkey!

The highlight of our day was getting to talk with Grammy and Grampy in Madagascar! 

Hearing of how they are helping the people there and the things that the people there have to worry about really makes us reflect on what we truly need to be happy and realize that we do have SO so much to be grateful for. This year we are specifically grateful for clean water, our house that gives us shelter, warm cozy beds, good people and good friends in many different places, good food, and of course wonderful family, in particular two very sweet girls.