happy thanksgiving

well now that thanksgiving is over. i have some time to breathe. i hosted thanksgiving this year. we had about 14 people. i made the turkey, stuffing, broccoli casserole, rice pilaf, squash gratan, corn, cranberry pineapple sauce, gravy and deviled eggs. i was very proud of myself. i think i did a pretty nice job. the things i am most proud of are the pies. i made an apple pie from scratch and three pumpkin pies from scratch. when i mean from scratch, i mean really from scratch. i used the halloween pumpkins that i forgot to carve and made pumpkin puree. froze it and thawed in time to made fresh pumpkin pies. i tried to do that last thanksgiving and it totally backfired on me. i had a horrid recipe for pumpkin pie and when i took a bite, it was gross. i tried to convince myself it wasnt that bad, but when jesse took a bite, he brought me back to reality. i was nervous this year, but i found a good recipe online and did a practice pie a couple weeks earlier. overall, we had a great day. good times with family and friends. i love thanksgiving. it really makes me think and be grateful for all the blessings that God has given to us. i had jj make a "i am thankful for..." project. he wrote, "my gramus", "my granpas", "my frens", "my teechr", "my bed", "my pet", "food", and "my famule". he is sooo cute. we also took some potential christmas card family pictures. i cant show you them now, you'll have to wait a couple more weeks until you get them in the mail. today, we put up most of the christmas decorations. we just have the outside lights to do. i think the train was the biggest hit. also today, my mom and i did some holiday shopping at toysrus and target. the crowds werent too bad and we got everything that we came for. my christmas present from both jesse and my parents was a sewing machine. i am really excited about it. i know i am weird, but i cant wait to use it. i have some great ideas for projects. i am using jj and ellie's old clothes and making strips of them and sewing them together. i am going to make stuffed animals with the whole pieces. the kids already have quilts from right after they were born. i hope everyone had a wonderful day yesterday and i wish everyone a relaxing weekend. we are truly thankful you are in our lives.