Thanksgiving Day

Another year has passed & we celebrated Thanksgiving number five in Florida! I have been pregnant for three out of five but not nearly as pregnant looking as I did this year. Also, this time around, I got to eat for three, not two! That's a dream come true! 

We celebrated this year with the whole Valentine family, Bob & Jeannine were in town to spend the week with us, Steve, Jenny & the kiddos joined us for the feast along with our friends Dean & LouSena.  It was a relaxing day that started with some Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade viewing from the couch with sausage balls, biscuits & jelly dished up. My niece Karis spent a couple hours with us that morning & at one point I was on the couch with all three girls holding my plate when I noticed that every single sausage ball I attempted to eat had a bite taken out of it before it was returned to the plate. What the heck? It was funny, life is just a tad different now being a mama/auntie : ) I loved telling the girls about how I watched the parade when I was a little girl & I think they enjoyed it in spurts.  Charlotte was inspired to get out her tap shoes and perform for us on the back patio after watching a performance from "Annie" on Broadway.  If I had some that fit my feet, I would have joined right in! 

Once the girls were down for naps, we spent an hour outside with the Corn hole boards in competition with Bob & Jeannine.  Jeannine said she had never even heard of it before...she said this right before she kicked our tails ; ) We traded partners for another round and quickly noticed that I was the common denominator on the losing team. I am okay with that since I am slightly off balance due to the change in my center of gravity.  I have found that I can basically blame anything on "the boys."  It's great ; )  

As nap time came to a close, we got dressed in our Thanksgiving attire & welcomed our guests. Issac was the most loved on of everyone...as usual! 

Those Valentine Men in their plaid

Elo & her Grandpa Bob doing a little pre dinner dance.

To occupy the little hands, we made some turkeys. Charlotte was very into this but wanted little to no help as you will notice in the up close picture of the finished product. That's my independent 3 year old!

At Halloween I think the pumpkin was the size of my belly & now at Thanksgiving, I could be hiding a turkey that size under my shirt ; ) 

Love this couple for many reasons other than the delicious side dishes & desserts they willingly brought : ) 

Charlotte checked her Grandpa's blood pressure prior to the meal.....always important!

The meal was amazing....yes, I have 4 rolls on my plate. 2 for each baby ; ) I don't know if I had this dreamy idea of sitting & eating, savoring every bite but that was definitely not the case.  Noticing the half eaten sausage balls at breakfast should have clued me into how dinner might be.  I felt like I was throwing food at Eloise to keep her quiet during my meal ; ) We split up & ate inside & outside, our kids out, our niece & nephew in thinking we could lessen the amount of noise. Ha! My sweet mother-in-law told me that it would be a LONG time before I get to sit & thoroughly enjoy eating my Thanksgiving meal! That is unless we plan it for nap time  ; )

We attempted some outdoor family photos....

Busy, noisy, fun & full of thankfulness for all God has given us- Thanksgiving 2012.