Happy Thanksgiving!

Dad opening his Christmas presents!

Lynday likes Curt's present - she wasn't afraid of it, she would chase it around!

I love my gift - right from the heart of Teresa who has worked on this quilt for our bed for over a year?! It is wonderful, beautiful and very very warm! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Chelsea and Phil, waiting patiently!

Isaac and his gift!

We got together last weekend for our Christmas with my Dad and Teresa because they are soon leaving for Floriday and this is the last weekend all of the kids would be home (except Amber) to do it. We had pizza, salad and lots of fun and laughs! Teresa made us a beautiful quilt and Lyndsay as well (all of the other kids got one 2 years ago and love them still). It was a great night!

Well, the day is almost done. Our house seems eerily quiet and empty after having 43 people here earlier for dinner! It was great, only not enough time to visit each person for very long, of course! Everything went smoothly! We weren't sure on how long to cook a 40 lb turkey, but Jeremy's mom researched a little and thought about 10 hours so last night I stayed up til 1:30am cleaning, etc. and we had said we'd put the turkey in at 1am. So, at 1am, I took a quick shower, then woke up Jeremy and told him we had to put the turkey in the oven. He rolled over, looked at me and said "it is in the oven" and rolled back over! No, no, no, get up, we have to put it in the oven! So, he finally got up and we got him into the oven (not Jeremy, the turkey!). We thought the turkey would be done around 10:30am. Wrong, Jeremy stuck the digital thermometer in at 8am and it was done at 8:30am!! So, we made some calls and people started arriving around noon. By the time we got everything else ready, we still didn't eat until 2pm! But it was delicious! All of the food everyone brought from the green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, the 20lbs of potatoes that Mom and Aunt Karen peeled and cut and mashed!, the whipped cream dish Grandma Reid makes, the rolls, the bean dish from Teresa, the stuffing, wow, I think I'm hungry again:) And we won't even talk about the desserts! Thank you everyone for all of your help in cooking dishes and cleaning up! My house looks almost as if no one had ever been here believe it or not! Mostly, thank you for the sweet fellowship - we always have a great time and don't get together often enough! I thank God for such a great family - I couldn't ask for a better family to have married into either!

So, the front porch is complete but I didn't take a finished picture - I'll see if I can get one in the dark to post tonight. The only thing left to tackle yet this winter is cutting firewood and redoing the front bathroom. We are going to have 3 weeks off at Christmas (2 holiday and 1 layoff) and one week at the end of January so we'll have plenty of time to get that project done! I am enjoying all of the other things we've accomplished - it all looks so nice! We really enjoyed the extra room in the garage which is bright and cheerful and warm! We borrowed tables from the church and set up 5 of them. After everyone was done eating and some had left, we took 4 down and the boys played out there with guns, swords and we also set up a TV and video game system for them out there! We bought some indoor/outdoor carpet and rolled it out on the floor out there - Lyndsay enjoyed that, although she got held a lot today (it was too dangerous for her to be on the floor!) She was a very good girl all day!

Erin was so tired and emotional by 7:30pm she asked if she could watch Dora in my room, so I turned it on for her and 15 minutes later she was sleeping - out cold! Isaac played with his cousins all day and is tired now as well. I have to admit I am a bit tired as well and look forward to collapsing into bed in a few minutes!

Amber got home Tuesday night about 8pm and is having a great time visiting everyone! Brooke and Curt had to go to their dad's for the rest of the week:( But, they get to visit some relatives from out of town over there as well. Everyone missed them today, though!

A little funny - Isaac - my constant worrier had been complaining about a belly ache every night at bedtime! I was sending him to bed with a rice sock, a snack and telling him it was because he wasn't finishing his dinner and was probably hungry, he needed to eat or he would starve to death (you know, typical mom lecture, there are kids starving in Africa...). A few nights later, probably also thanks to older brother Curt torturing him, he came running out of his room, crying - mom I'm going to die. No, you're not, what's wrong? How many days to you have to go without eating before you die? I said, weeks probably, don't worry and go to bed! He also cried yesterday after I threw away one of many sticks I've found in my house while cleaning that boys had been playing with outside and didn't want to take the chance of losing...

Well, I could say more, but I will try and post some pictures and be off to bed. Have a great rest of the weekend and enjoy those leftovers! Christine