I'm Thankful for . . . Thanksgiving

I must conclude the thankful season with one final post about our fabulous holiday. My family (with the exception of one brother and his wife who had to work) gathered at my parents' home for the Thanksgiving celebration.

One great grandma. Two grandparents. Six siblings. Six fabulous in-laws. Nineteen children under the age of ten. One bun in the oven. Thirteen dogs (my sister has Bullmastiff puppies for sale). Seven horses. Five cows. One cat.

The women (and a kid or two) prepared the meal. I quite enjoyed an abundance of girl-time hanging out in the kitchen with my awesome sisters, sisters-in-law, mom and grandma. Our menu was quite traditional but very delicious:

Turkey (My mom was in charge of the meat, potatoes and gravy.)

Glazed Ham

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Awesome Sausage, Apple and Cranberry Stuffing (My contribution which turned out even better than usual this year--I added extra butter--shhh.)

Yam Casserole (My other addition--no leftovers--must quadruple next year.)

Creamed Corn (I'm not a big corn fan but I tried my sister A's creamed corn this year and was converted)

Green Bean Casserole (since I hate green beans--ya, not a vegetable girl, Utah Dad insists that my sister-in-law M make this every Thanksgiving. He loves it.) 

Macaroni and Cheese (my sister-in-law A prepares this southern dish which is traditionally served at her own family Thanksgivings. We're so glad to have her and the macaroni and cheese in the family.)

Pom Pom's Raspberry Jell-o  (my sister K recreated our step-grandma's famous and delicious jell-o concoction. It's the only thing Neal ate.)

Rolls (my sister-in-law K went home to her house to bake the rolls. I'm pretty sure she also took a nap.)

While we cooked the men took care of the babies. Not a bad deal, obviously. The other kids were left to themselves which was not entirely good--imagine 15 kids left alone in the basement. I don't need to say more.

Notice that one brother is just tending a stuffed animal (albeit a precious stuffed animal) and there is another brother (just his jeans make it into the picture) that does not have a child on his lap. Where were his kids? Being naughty with some of mine one of mine--guess which one.

  

 Since it was so frigid outside, the kids had to bundle up warm to go out with Grandpa to feed the cows and horses. It was too cold for me, so there are no pictures of the kids outside. I have such cute nephews.

 Lilly didn't get to bring her piggy to Grandma's house. Fortunately, Grandma had a bull. Lilly believed it was a piggy even though Thomas repeatedly pointed out to her that it had horns and was actually a bull. Since Lilly was sick and especially whiny all weekend, I was thankful for the bull and for a patient Grandma who was willing to play with her.

Our holiday continued on Friday with our traditional "Pie Party" with my dad's brother and sister and their families. Instead of hosting the get-together at their home this year, my parents reserved their church building. We met there in the afternoon (the women barely made it back in time--who knew there were so many places to shop in my home town?) for bread bowls filled with a variety of delicious soups and every kind of pie you can imagine. I am talking about a lot of pie--cream pies, pumpkin pies, berry pies, chocolate pies, apple pies, pudding pies. Mmmm-mmmm.

One year my aunt had recently moved back to Utah with her family. Jokingly, I told her that we had a "pie-per-person policy" for the pie party. She took me seriously. I did feel a little guilty when each of her twelve children arrived that night carrying a pie.

The "pie-per-person policy" is a joke. But just barely.

I love that my family has this additional tradition. It was so much fun to visit with cousins and aunts and uncles that I usually only get to see on Facebook and their blogs, even if I had two whiny girls hanging on to me the entire time.

Do you have any other traditions besides the Thanksgiving meal? Did you make something especially yummy for your Thanksgiving meal? I hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

I'm Thankful For . . .

Lilly woke up last night with a croupy cough. It's never good for kids to be sick but fortunately I was still awake and could take care of her without stumbling around in a half asleep state. I took her into the bathroom and ran a steamy shower. It calmed her quickly and then she insisted on a bath. After her bath, she got dressed in her cozy, footy jammies and snuggled with me in my bed. I read her the entire stack of Little Critter, Berenstain Bears, Maisy and Spot books. Finally, with some Vicks Vapor Rub on her chest and the humidifier running in her bedroom, she went back to bed and slept the rest of the night.

I sometimes have a hard time getting a chance to cuddle with just one child at a time. Someone else is always trying to push the other one off my lap as they battle for my attention. Last night, it was really very nice to just have some quiet time with Lilly. She's so darling and sweet.

Lilly loves to draw. She loves all farm animals but pigs are her favorite. She has such a funny way of talking and she regularly cracks us up. She knows that she's funny and she is always trying to make her siblings laugh.

For a long time she has referred to my parents as "Grampa and Grampa". We always assumed that she heard the difference but she couldn't say it (she can't pronounce her own name). But then at dinner the other night we were talking about going to my parents' house for Thanksgiving. Lilly has been counting down the days and she commmented, "I can't wait to see the Daddy Grampa and the Mommy Grampa."

I am so thankful for my silly Lilly -- my middle princess.

I'm Thankful For . . .

One of the panels in our vinyl fence blew out during that crazy wind storm on Saturday. Utah Dad has fixed panels before but this one was going to require some extra work and he hadn't gotten to it yet.

The door bell rang this morning and I ran downstairs to answer it. I was surprised to see Tom standing on my front porch. "Hi," he said, "I was driving by and noticed there was a panel missing in your fence. Would you like me to fix it for you?"

"That would be fabulous," I replied. Tom went to the backyard and had the fence nearly fixed before Utah Dad could put on his shoes and go out to help.

Tom is the owner of Zions Fence. We hired him to install our fence over three years ago. He did an amazing job and takes pride in his work. We have been very satisfied and happy with his work.

I'm so thankful for small business owners that go the second mile--especially for Tom.

I'm Thankful For . . .

Today was our Primary Program in Sacrament Meeting. The three older children were sitting on the stand, so Utah Dad and I chose a small side pew to sit on with the little girls. We had great views of Neal and Thomas so that we could see them sing and give them the occasional reminders to be quiet. Amberly was positioned right behind the organ so we could only see her when she stuck her head up and waved a few times.

There have been years when the Primary Program brought tears to my eyes and when I first sat down I realized my mistake in not preparing with a few tissues. You know there's nothing more precious than hearing your children sing about Jesus. Turns out, I didn't need tissues this year.

Thomas had the wiggles. The serious wiggles. He got out of his seat a dozen times. In fact, the only time he actually sat in his seat was when the rest of the children were standing and singing. Half way through the program, he knocked the girl behind him with his chair and was sent back into the audience to sit with us. He burst into tears and was removed to the hallway. His teacher, who is the most patient man on the planet, retrieved Thomas from the clutches of his angry father in time to say his part.

Neal had an unusual burst of dramatics during the song where all the darling children sang and did sign language. I don't know what Neal was doing--some form of demented miming. Just plain weird.

Amberly had been upset all morning because she hasn't had a speaking part in the program for three years in a row. We explained that if every child had a part, we would be sitting there for a week. But then, she had a part. I almost missed her. I glanced up from wrestling with Lilly and Amberly was standing at the podium saying a small line. I nudged Utah Dad who was glaring at Neal but he didn't look in time.

Meanwhile, Molly got her head stuck between the wall and the pew and started screaming. I got her out but she was still rather traumatized and Lilly was angry that she wasn't old enough to talk in the microphone.

Neal and Thomas got to spend an hour after church sitting on the couch while folding their arms and listening to Utah Dad read McConkie. Hopefully, they'll remember that next year.

I am thankful for the Primary leaders and teachers who put up with my crazy children each and every Sunday. You really are amazing. Here's to you!

I'm Thankful For . . .

It's been nine weeks since Thomas started preschool, which means that it was my turn to teach the little rascals at my house again. There are seven boys and one girl in our preschool. Each one is adorable and rowdy. 

Tuesday morning the children descended on my house. The front area was littered with muddy shoes, jackets and kids backpacks. They gathered on the couch and resisted the urge to jump. We were learning the letter "R" this week so we talked about rats (they're mostly boys, after all). We even made rats out of paper, googly eyes and pipe cleaners. We were also learning about triangles. For snacks we ate Ritz crackers, Red Vines and drank root beer.

Today we learned about rhyming words and the colors of the rainbow. We mixed colors using water and food coloring so that the kids could see how red and yellow make orange.

I'm thankful that Thomas can participate in this preschool. Thomas LOVES it. I'm grateful that he has good friends. And I'm very thankful that I only have to teach the kids every nine weeks.

I'm especially thankful for Thomas, who is sweet and cuddly. He makes me laugh all the time. Sunday morning while I was combing his hair, he watched himself in the mirror and said: "I look like I did when I was a kid."

I'm Thankful For . . .

Utah Dad and I are always trying to think of ways to save money. A few weeks ago, we had this crazy thought that maybe we should try margarine. It costs way less than butter and it seems like butter just keeps getting more and more expensive. So, we bought some margarine as a test.

Tonight, I went to the store and bought seven pounds of butter.

We'll have to figure out another way to save money.

I'm thankful for butter.

I'm thankful for a grocery store. I'm thankful for a funny little car that smells like a rotten strawberry milk shake from a daddy/daughter date a few weeks ago because it got me to the store and back tonight.

I'm Thankful For . . .

Saturday afternoon we deep-cleaned the kids' bedrooms. We pulled out all the junk under the beds. We put every book back on the shelf. We made sure every puzzle had all its pieces and every game had all its parts. We lifted the couch in the boys' room and put all the Lego's in the Lego bin. We voted on whether or not to keep every stuffed animal. We are a sentimental bunch and most of the fluffy friends made the cut (Aunt K gave them animals for Valentines Day, Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, just because she visited . . .). We also pulled out any remaining baby toys for donation and broken toys to just throw away.

I was in the girls' closet going through things and I found a bunch of doll clothes that belonged to a doll that Amberly had donated several months ago to the nursery toy drive. "Amberly, since you no longer have the doll, should we donate these clothes too?" I asked yesterday.

"What!?" she cried in her very high-pitched shrieky voice. "Those clothes belong to Too Big."

"Too Big" is/was the name of the doll that had previously been donated. Amberly got her for Christmas when she was 18 months old but the baby doll was too big (thus the name) for her to carry. Occasionally, Amberly would drag the doll to me so that I could put the clothes back on it but usually she preferred to play with her much smaller and more manageable baby doll--Babya (who still sleeps on her bed each night).

"You decided to donate Too Big to the nursery this summer. Don't you remember?" I reminded her. (The doll had a soft body so the nursery couldn't keep it and it then got sent on to DI. I didn't tell Amberly this part.)

"What!?" The shriek was even louder and more high-pitched. Then, Amberly burst into tears. "I loved her. I miss her. I would never donate Too Big."

"But you did." I replied matter-of-factly. It's not as if she's missed the doll for the past six months. She didn't even remember she was gone. Utah Dad poured on the sweetness. I was unsympathetic after she'd been sobbing hysterically in her bed for over an hour while clinging to the doll clothes (which she took to bed last night and hugged while she was asleep).

**Note: While I do encourage my children to go through their toys and occasionally throw some away or donate them, I never pressure them to give anything away. If they express even the slight bit of sentimentality, they can keep it. I'm not cruel. But really, Amberly decided on her own to give Too Big away. Even if she doesn't remember it now.

You might wonder how this story is ending up in a "I'm Thankful" post. I know. It's seems a stretch. I am thankful that the kids' bedrooms are finally clean for one day. Utah Dad has been threatening them all day that they better not mess them up. I'm realistic to know that by tomorrow they will be a mess again.

I really am thankful for my beautiful daughter. Yes, she's dramatic. Yes, she's overly emotional. But she's also extremely sweet and thoughtful. She'll play with her younger siblings for hours--creating fanciful pretend worlds (they miss her desperately when she goes to school). This afternoon she had them all pull on a pair of underwear over their clothes (the called them "outerwear") and they instantly became super heroes or super villains. Amberly carried a vacuum attachment tool and called herself "Super Clean Girl". I convinced Super Clean Girl to clean off the kitchen table.

Last week, (I can't believe I haven't mentioned this already) Amberly's painting won in the school PTA Reflections Contest. She won a trophy, a new box of crayons, some candy and an envelope full of free coupons to local restaurants. Amberly's painting will now go on to be judged at the district level. I stuck my camera in my purse without my usual camera case to go to the award ceremony and forgot the memory card stuck in my computer. D'oh! Even so, we're very pleased that Amberly is such a fabulous artist (she creates art at such a pace that I'm afraid we'll need to rent a storage unit to store it all--heaven forbid I throw it away).

Today, I'm thankful for my beautiful, smarty-pants, overly dramatic, artistic, Baby Doll-Girl.

.

Amberly and Too Big - Christmas 2004

I'm Thankful For . . .

I was thankful yesterday.

 I just had such a busy **great** day--involving a heavenly massage, an evening with wonderful friends, chocolate and caramel--that I didn't get a chance to blog last night.

 I am thankful for days like yesterday, for good friends and I'm especially thankful for Utah Dad who watched the kids and ultimately made yesterday possible.

I'm Thankful For . . .

On this Veteran's Day, I too, like so many others, am thankful for those brave and honorable men and women who serve and have served in the United States armed forces to protect this great land. I'm grateful for their families too who sacrifice so much while their loved ones are away.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

I'm Thankful For . . .

One month I forgot my visiting teachers were coming and I was still in my robe when they arrived (it was before noon, so it's likely to happen here). They didn't care. We sat together and had a great discussion and a lesson.

I actually remembered that my visiting teachers were coming today. I glanced at the clock in my boys' room and saw that it was ten minutes to eleven. They would be here any minute. I was already dressed. I told Utah Dad they were coming at eleven and he reminded me that I hadn't changed the boys' clock yet--it was just ten. I still had an hour. Then, right at ten the doorbell rang. One of my visiting teachers "M" and her two darling children were on my doorstep. I welcomed her inside, we laughed that we had messed up the time. I was sure that "J" had emailed me that they would be coming at eleven.

M and I sat upstairs in the loft (it's too cold downstairs now) to visit while our children played and waited for "J" to come in an hour. We always have plenty to talk about. We talked and talked and then when my children started complaining about being hungry, I discovered that it was now noon. I knew "J" wouldn't have forgotten. She's very reliable and she set up the appointment. "M" gathered up her own hungry/tired children and she got ready to go home. While I was saying goodbye to "M" we saw "J" crossing the street with her children. Hadn't I read her email (I had responded after all) that changed the time to 12:30? I know I read the email but apparently my brain didn't actually process the time change. "J"'s children ran upstairs to play with my kids who were delighted to have more friends to play with and then "J" and I sat upstairs in the loft (it really is way too cold downstairs) and visited. We always have plenty to talk about.

I adore my visiting teachers. They come every month. They watch my kids if I'm in a pinch. They bring me dinner on Mother's Day. They plan and share thoughtful lessons. They are genuinely concerned about me and my family. They are also my very good friends. I don't really deserve them since I am no where near as good at visiting teaching--although I am trying to improve.

Today, I am very grateful for two fabulous visiting teachers.

They're both cute too and (haha!) I have pictures of them to share because I've had the privilege to photograph them too. :)

I'm Thankful For . . .

My in-laws came by this afternoon with take-out. I say "came by" so casually, but it really takes them an hour in good traffic to get to my house. The fish and chips were delicious but it was especially nice not to have to cook tonight. (All moms know the value of this. Am I right?) They also brought Utah Dad Volumes Four and Five of The Children of Promise series so I don't have to listen to him whine about having to wait.

I have fabulous in-laws. They're always doing such sweet and thoughtful things for us. My children ADORE them. I've known that I was especially blessed ever since I first started dating Utah Dad and met them. Next year they will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. They are examples to me of overcoming difficulties and focusing on the positive to succeed. I also value their friendship.

I love them both and I am so very grateful for my mother and father-in-law.

I'm Thankful For . . .

This cold has got me tight in it's grip today. We woke early this morning thanks to the time change and I thought maybe if I took some DayQuil I might actually be able to function today--maybe even make it to church. So I took it, but instead of feeling better, I crashed. My legs felt like jelly and I could barely open my eyes. At noon, Utah Dad practically pushed me out of bed so I made my way downstairs where I curled into a ball on the couch and went back to sleep. The kids and Utah Dad watched The Sound of Music and the video-biography of President Monson so I think I was out for quite awhile. Clearly, the non-drowsy formula doesn't work for me.

When I have a cold the thing I love most, other than the excuse to sit and read when I'm awake, is my mom's concoction of honey, vinegar and hot water. I think she started giving it to me in my bottle when I was a baby (in the days when they didn't know not to give babies honey). My cousins like it too, so I assume that my grandmother gave it to my mom when she was sick as a child too.

Utah Dad and my kids can't stand honey and vinegar. Utah Dad forbids me to come near him while I'm drinking it. But it just makes me feel better. And it makes me think of my mom, who is really very fantastic. She amazes me. 

So today I'm just very very thankful for my mom.

And I'm thankful for my grandma too. Isn't she so cute?!

I'm Thankful For . . .

Not long after we moved into our home, my parents bought themselves a baby grand piano and they had their old piano shipped to us. We were delighted and very grateful. Even though it's old and a bit out of tune, it's the piano I played on as a child and the keys are so familiar to me. We bought some beginnger piano books for Neal with the idea that I would teach him how to play. That didn't really work very well but armed with the books, Neal taught himself the basics. He played all the time and was making pretty good progress. He'd make up his own songs or play from some of the more simplified piano books I had. And then he just stopped. He wouldn't play the piano for a few years. Absolutely refused to touch it.

Utah Dad and I were distressed because we really wanted him to continue with his talent and Amberly was getting to the age where we really wanted her to be able to learn too. We discussed it this summer and reworked our budget (we had to tighten our belts a little, but heaven knows we could use some of that) to include money for piano lessons for both Neal and Amberly. Neal threw a fit. He did not want to take piano lessons. Amberly wanted to learn to play the violin or the guitar. We insisted and since we're the parents we won.

They started taking lessons from a woman in our neighborhood when school started. We've created a piano-playing monster in Neal. We love to hear him play and we are so thrilled but there are times when we almost have to beg him to stop just so we can hear ourselves think. He plays for several hours a day and is improving rapidly. Amberly, starting from scratch, is progressing slowly. I have to fight to get her to sit down and practice.

This morning they both performed in their first piano recital. I'm posting the video mostly for the sake of their grandparents who couldn't come. The kids enjoyed themselves and I think they were both inspired by some of the other performers to continue to work and practice (I hope).

There wasn't really an earthquake during Neal's performance--Lilly and Molly were both climbing on me while I was trying to film. You can hear them giggling.

I'm so thankful for music and how it touches and blesses our lives. I'm thankful that my parents gave me years of piano lessons (I never did get very good) and voice lessons. I even pretended to play the flute for several years in middle school and junior high. I'm thankful that Neal and Amberly have the opportunity to learn the piano and I'm thankful for their dedicated and very cool teacher.

I'm Thankful For . . .

I had a photo shoot this afternoon and I took Neal with me. The shoot involved a family of four--the parents and one-year-old twin boys. When I told Neal that I would need him to help to get the babies to look at me. He surprised me by responding, "I love to help little kids." I suppose I hadn't really noticed this about him but then I started to think about how sweet he is with Molly and even Lilly. He regularly invites them to snuggle with him on the couch while they watch a movie and he talks to them in a sweet little voice. He often reads books to them. They both adore him.

After the photo shoot, Neal and I went to see Toy Story 3 at the theater. Sadly, this is only the second movie Neal has seen in a theater. We took him to Madagascar when he was just three. He remembers the experience as "the longest movie ever". We enjoyed this movie. He ate popcorn. I sucked on cough drops. He's finally at an age to really just sit and watch the movie without making comments and he only wiggled a little at the end when he clearly needed a bathroom break. I imagine we'll have to start going to the movies more often.

When the movie was over and we'd stopped at the restroom, we went to the new frozen yogurt place in Provo--EarthFruits Frozen Yogurt. I won a few gift certificates the other day from The Mom Nerd Blog and so we enjoyed it tonight. Neal loaded his chocolate yogurt up with sprinkles and crushed Butterfinger. I opted for a smaller portion of the blueberry acai yogurt sans toppings. They were both really good.

All the way home, Neal told me the story of the third Percy Jackson book in detail. In fact, he laughed at himself and replied, "you don't need to read that book now." He pretty much talked non-stop about school, this year's Knowledge Bowl, his friends, the books he's reading, future vacations we need to take, the dog, and the family. It's not often that I get a lot of one-on-one time with Neal so I really enjoyed listening to him tonight.

Tonight, I'm thankful for my oldest son.

He's growing up to be a really sweet, sometimes mischevious, piano-playing, whiz kid.

I'm Thankful For . . .

The clock on the microwave said 1:23 this morning when I busted through the front door (the door knob is broken so you really have to push hard with your knee to get the door to open). Surprisingly, I didn't wake anyone up. After checking my email, Facebook and taking out my contacts, I climbed into bed next to snoring Utah Dad, who rolled over and mumbled, "Good grief. What time is it?" before immediately falling back asleep. He is used to it, after all.

As soon as I laid down, my head filled up with this lovely head cold and I spent the night coughing, sniffling and not sleeping. I couldn't stop thinking about the really great women that I get to visit with each month at Book Club. I've known and loved some of them for a few years now but others have just started coming or recently moved into our neighborhood and I'm enjoying getting to know them better too. (Every woman in our neighborhood is welcome, by the way. The more the merrier.)

It's a great place. Book Club. I really feel like it's a judgement free place. The women don't care if I refuse to iron my husband's shirts. They really don't. We can open up and be ourselves, which I believe is a very rare situation regarding groups of women. Sometimes we share more personal information and that's safe too. We respect each other. We're opinionated but certainly don't mean to offend. We discuss our worries about motherhood, extended families and the world. Together we've analyzed every aspect of our local school/principal/teachers/classmates/activities. We're strangely intrigued/disgusted by polygamists. I usually have at least one political tantrum. They smile at me and nod their heads to placate me and wait for it to pass. They know me, after all. 

We might not actually talk about the book we've read that month. But we will talk about books. We all read for different reasons and we like various types of books. We do all love books.

We eat. Every woman there can make a wicked good cookie.

And we just talk and talk. One night at midnight we got up to leave and go to our homes. We stood for another hour at the door as we continued the conversation. In the morning, I usually have a serious head ache that we've lovingly begun to refer to as our "Book Club Hangover". But it's worth it. I'm already looking forward to next month.

Today, even though I'm sleep-deprived and stuffy headed, I am thankful for Book Club. 

I'm Thankful for . . .

Sunday morning while I was getting ready for church a thought popped into my head: "The entire family is healthy. It's been awhile since we've been sick." Amberly complained of a sore throat and an ear ache two weeks ago and Utah Dad stayed home from church with her. She rallied quickly and went back to school the next morning. Other than that, it's been quite awhile since we've had sickness in our home.

Knock on wood.

By the time we sat down on a pew at church, Lilly was complaining that her "nose was bugging her". By the time we got home from church she had a runny nose and has been stuffy and yucky and extremely whiney since. I woke up with a sore throat this morning.

I do hate the common cold. They're just plain miserable. However, it could be a lot worse. Today, that scratching feeling in the back of my throat is reminding me that I am basically healthy. We are a generally healthy family. And I'm very grateful.

Today, I'm thankful for my health.

I'm Thankful For . . .

Now that Halloween is out of the way, we can focus on my favorite holiday of the year. I love Thanksgiving.  I love the food. I love hanging out with my family. I love the chill in the air. And I really do love the reminder to be grateful.

President Gordon B. Hinckley's writes in his book Way to Be!:

Your very attitude toward life can be evidence of whether or not you are truly grateful for life, for the blessings you have, for the comforts and privileges and opportunities you enjoy, for the talents you have been given, for everything.

Let a spirit of thanksgiving guide and bless your days and nights. Work at it. You will find that it will yield wonderful results (p.21).

So, this month, I'm going to make an extra effort to be thankful--for the usual and maybe even the not so obvious. I had intended to do a daily post during the month of November highlighting something that I am truly thankful for. I missed a day but I'll start it today anyway.

Today I am especially thankful for the freedoms and blessings of being a citizen of and living in the United States of America and I am grateful that I could exercise my right to vote today. I hope you did too.