Happy Spanksgiving!

Thanksgiving this year was surprisingly less stressful than previous years. The Ybarras rented out Dan's apartment building's clubhouse this time and what a HUGE difference it made. There was so much space for everyone to eat and play and it really did make a big difference in my anxiety levels.  Not sure who provided the activities, but there were some fun things for the boys to do when we got there like making a turkey out of a pinecone and coloring pages. Such a cute idea! We brought the usual green bean casserole and some bubbly. All the food was amazing and I was a huge fan of the stuffing (stuffing is amazing). I brought a 1000 piece puzzle that Katie and Mom helped with, but apparently puzzles aren't a huge hit with the Ybarra family like it is with the Greer clan. But it was still a relaxing activity...at least for me. Lol! The kids ran around the clubhouse. They had some fun areas that the kids got to play in with their cousins. 

After dinner with the Ybarras, the five of us headed to Abby's house with 2 pies in tow. We ate pie and hung out for awhile until they were sick of us. I wish I would've gotten pictures.

The next day, we met the Wilsons at the Megaplex in Orem to see Coco. It was such a great movie and the kids loved it as well. It always feels good to see a kids movie that you don't instantly regret paying that much money for. 

That afternoon, we went home and decorated for Christmas! 

We got a couple of those light projectors for the front of the house which saved us both money and time. Not as pretty as house lights, but honestly, no one but the 5 houses next to us see our house so we just don't care. 

Spanksgiving

Okay, nobody got a spanking...I just call it that to put fear into the children. Ha ha ha ha!

Thanksgiving was good. We went to the Ybarra's this year and brought a ton of green bean casserole, some sparkling cider (because it's just not Thanksgiving without sparkling cider), and a pumpkin cheesecake from Costco (I couldn't resist). The kids ate first. Unfortunately, Mary's family didn't show for awhile, so we had to eat without them. But Grandpa talked to all the kids about their ancestors who came on the Mayflower. Cruise was pretty interested in that. After all the kids ate, the adults finally got to eat (I'm not gonna lie, I kept snitching pieces of turkey and eating off the kids' plates before it was my turn). All the food was fantastic! My eyes were bigger than my stomach, however, and I took a ton of everything but couldn't finish it all. I did manage to squeeze some dessert in there though. 

 Before leaving, all the grandkids were rounded up and were subjected to the ultimate form of childhood torture: organized pictures. Miles actually was excited to do it until he completely ate it on the front porch stairs and got a huge bruise on his forehead. I'm actually impressed and how many kids actually cooperated. Poor Liza was just not in the mood for pictures. It's one of those situations where you feel really bad but at the same time are thinking to yourself, "I'm so glad it's not my kid this time." Ha ha! (Sorry Dan & Sofia).

 We left around 4:30 with leftovers in tow. I had spent the previous two hours sitting uncomfortably and forcing my eyes to stay open. I was so ready for a nap! So of course as soon as we got home, I went straight to my room, put on my stretchy pants, and passed out. It was glorious.

We don't do Black Friday. While everyone is out fighting over useless crap, we are chilling in the house and setting up the Christmas stuff. First things first: clean the window! It was really bad. Jett and Dave did a great job.

 Dave had found this tree sitting on the curb one day while he was out knocking. It was one of those neighborhood cleanup days and people leave stuff they don't want on the curb to be picked up by someone and hauled to DI. So Dave grabbed it before it was gone. It is about a foot and a half taller than our other tree. (Dave was tired of hearing Camry come over and tell us how small our tree is every year, lol.) Anyway, we got it up, lighted, and decorated. Of course, it being bigger, we realized we needed more ornaments. So we ended up going to Target later in the evening to get more.

 

 Afterwards, we ate lunch at Cubby's and then headed to the Megaplex to see Moana! Oh man, it was so good! And the soundtrack was equally amazing. The boys loved it almost as much as I did.

And that was Thanksgiving break!

Thanksgiving

This year was...different. Abby and I decided to go out for Thanksgiving rather than make it ourselves. Dave and I thought on it at first and then decided it would be nice to not worry about making all the food, and Miles is so good at eating at restaurants, we figured, "No big deal!" So Abby reserved a place for us in the Tree Room at Sundance. We got the 11:00 spot, which meant brunch AND all the Thanksgiving stuff. So I was really looking forward to their amazing food. I have never had a bad meal at Sundance.

Well, we got there and immediately Miles started fussing and crying. He wouldn't touch ANY of the food. I had them even make him scrambled eggs and he still wouldn't eat. So Dave and I spent the entire time taking turns hanging out with him in the hall so as to not disturb the rest of the diners. Half the time we returned to a plate of cold food. Still delicious, but cold. Cruise and Jett actually did awesome. We brought their tablets because they always finish before we do, so they discreetly played their tablets while Dave and I ate until we were full. Unfortunately, we didn't get to have much conversations with Abby & Casey because we were so busy dealing with the two year old, who finally fell asleep the last ten minutes.

But let me touch on the food for a minute. The food was incredible. My favorites were the sweet potatoes, the garlic mashed potatoes, the salmon, and the prime rib. Oh my gosh, I ate so much prime rib! Prime rib is so expensive, so if you are going to pay a bunch of money to eat at a buffet, you must eat a lot of the most expensive thing. So I kept going back for their prime rib. Their dessert table was awesome. My favorites were the chocolate toffee pie and the berry crisp with fresh whipped cream. It was all amazing.

Okay, so we got out of there and headed home, a little put out that Miles was not cooperative. Once we got home, we noticed he felt a little hot. Well, as it turned out, the poor kid had a fever of 102 degrees. So that would explain the fussing and not wanting to eat part.

That evening, we decorated for Christmas! Cruise became very dedicated and made sure ALL the decorations were put on the tree. Jett started out decorating, but then found the Santa hats and decided to get into character. And Miles had fun walking behind Cruise and taking off the ornaments he put on, much to Cruise's annoyance and frustration.

 

The next day, Miles was still sick. His only symptoms were the fever and diarrhea, but nothing else. It was really odd. But I put off taking him to the doctor since his fever didn't get any higher and he was still at least drinking a bottle. Earlier in the day, I took Cruise & Jett to go see Disney's new movie, Good Dinosaur, which was really cute! We all really enjoyed it.

I got home and Dave was just starting on a green bean casserole for his family's Thanksgiving dinner that was happening that evening at the Ybarras. Miles had napped the whole time I was gone, so he woke up just as I got home. And stayed awake the entire time Dave was gone with the other boys. We watched a mind-numbing 2 1/2 hours of Little Einsteins.

By Saturday, Miles was all better! Miraculously he no longer had a fever or the diarrhea and no one else was sick. It was weird, but I was glad I didn't have to take him to the doctor or the ER. That's always good news.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving break wasn't too painful this year. Although, towards the end of the week, Cruise was ready to go back to school. The day before school got out, Cruise's class did their monthly sing for parents thing. It was pretty cute, especially the awesome turkey drumstick hats they made.

During the break, I tried to plan a few fun things to do with the kids. We made pumpkin bread for our new neighbors across the street, drew turkeys, and made pumpkin pie playdoh! It actually turned out awesome and it smells so good! And surprisingly, Cruise didn't eat it! So that's a bonus. He actually surprised us with his sculpting skills when he sculpted a turkey out of the playdoh. I was pretty impressed. Jett also got into the sculpting action and made a pumpkin pie man. 

Thanksgiving this year was pretty similar to last year: just Abby & I. But since my parents rented out their house in Orem, we did it at my house. I was in charge of the turkey this year, and I'm embarrassed to say that I have somehow gotten away with not having to make a turkey ever. So it was a new experience for me. Abby & I did our shopping a couple days before and got our turkey at Sprouts. I put it in my fridge to thaw for two days and pulled it out Thanksgiving morning to find that it was still pretty frozen. I also quickly learned that I didn't have any foil. I did, however, have some turkey bags. I called up my poor parents at 6:45am their time and had to ask them how on earth I was to make this turkey! My mom told me each step and soon I wasn't freaking out as much. So I filled up our big cooler with cold water and threw my turkey in there for a couple of hours while it thawed. I was able to get it thawed enough to cook; I rubbed it with a bunch of butter, oil and herbs, put it in the bag, and threw it in the oven with a prayer. It actually turned out pretty good and not dry! I also prepared the garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, and loaded sweet potatoes. Abby was in charge of the stuffing, green bean casserole, and cranberry sauce. We also had sparkling cider to drink. One day I'm going to make pies from scratch, but it just wasn't going to happen this year. We bought a pumpkin and an apple pie from Costco and that was pretty de-lish.

Cruise was adamant about breaking the wishbone. I don't know where he learned about the wishbone because I had completely forgotten about its existence at least 15 years ago. He and Jett broke it and Cruise won, which of course led to many a tear from Jett. I knew from the beginning someone was going to end up crying. 

After stuffing our faces, we all sat down on the couch, had pie, and watched Elf with the kids. Later I took Cruise & Jett to the movies to see the new Penguins of Madagascar movie that they had been begging to see for a few weeks. It was pretty stupid, but the kids liked it.

On Friday, Dave spent the morning fly fishing in Provo River. When he got home, we pulled out the Christmas stuff and got to work on putting up the tree and the limited decorations we own. Not that I want any more, I have no place to put it all and the kids just end up breaking most of it. Which is why all my ornaments are plastic. 

I really didn't think putting up the Christmas stuff was going to be a whole ordeal. Before we put the tree up, Dave wanted to fix our couch that has two reclining seats in it. The things wouldn't stay down, so he wanted to weld them shut, so that required us to take the couch outside for him to do that. As we pulled the couch away from the wall, I found that Jett had practiced writing his name all over the wall. With permanent marker. So I made him scrub it knowing it wouldn't come off just to get the point across that permanent markers are not for writing on walls. Then I had to paint over it all. Once that was done, and the couch was back in the house, I started on the tree. We got this tree last Black Friday for a really good price. It is pre-lit, which was a big selling point. So I set it up and the middle lights no longer worked. So I had to drive to Target in American Fork to get some lights. An hour later I made it home with the lights and a box of candy canes and we continued to put up the Christmas stuff. I was happy to have it finished. 

And that was Thanksgiving break.