Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving in our new house, and we were very excited to host our first Thanksgiving here!  James and I had hosted Thanksgiving the past two years in our apartment in Des Moines, but this was definitely a larger scale than we've ever hosted before.  It was a great weekend!

Jack helped with the shopping the weekend before... he wanted his friend Tom to ride in the front of the cart with him.

Wednesday night before Thanksgiving, our family started to arrive.  First Sandy and then Colleen drove in from Barrington, then Amy and Brendan arrived from Bloomington, IL, and in the early hours of the morning my cousin Maggie and her husband Brett arrived from Milwaukee.  Maggie is the assistant director for the production of a Christmas Carol in Milwaukee (such a big deal, so proud of her!) and had rehearsal till 11pm.

Thanksgiving morning, the crazy runners woke up early and went to run in the Appleton Turkey Trot!

Amy, Brendan, Maggie, Brett, and James ready to Turkey Trot! 

They all had a great time and had great race times too!

Meanwhile, Sandy and I got up to prepare the turkey and start cooking dinner.  It was my 3rd year making a turkey, so while I still needed the occasional tip from Sandy I think I had the hang of it this year!  She made her delicious stuffing again and we got the 21.75lb bird into the oven!

After the trotters got back from their race, my parents arrived from Barrington and shortly afterwards my brother Scott and his kids Annette and John arrived from Barrington too.  The house was full, and it was so fun to have everyone here!

The weather was gorgeous, it was 60 degrees here and sunny.  Unheard of in Northeast Wisconsin!  The weatherman said it was almost the warmest Thanksgiving on record-- the warmest Thanksgiving on record previously was 61 degrees.  We were able to hang out outside on our patio set for one last time before putting it away for winter and enjoyed the weather.  And then before dinner was served we took family pictures in the backyard.

Jack and his cousins Annette and John

Scott and his kids

The Doherty Family

Cousins playing in the leaves! 

An older generation of cousins

Jack loves the leaves!

The Kane Family

The Kane Family with Baby #2 at 24 weeks 

Grandma Lynn is reading Annette "Little House in the Big Woods"-- set in Wisconsin :) 

3 generations around the fire pit (waiting to be used later that night)

After pictures, it was time for dinner!  We had turkey, stuffing, corn casserole, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, a whole grain salad (brought by Amy), and cranberry sauce.  A successful Thanksgiving dinner!  And dont' forget dessert-- apple pie, cocoa pie, pumpkin pie, and cute little Rice Krispie treat pumpkins made by Sandy.

My apple pies before they were baked

That night it was time for football, naps, a fire in the firepit, and hanging out with family.  With two grandmas and a grandpa, 2 aunts, an uncle, and cousins in the house, Jack had plenty of people to play with!  I told James later that I don't think I changed a diaper all weekend, we had so much help with Jack!

Friday after Thanksgiving I had to work, but the rest of the family had a relaxing day.  On Saturday, the family that was left headed up to Door County for a day trip.  We always go to Door County during the summer, we thought it would be fun to see what it was like during the holidays.

We started off the day with brunch at our favorite-- Al Johnnson's.  It was Sandy's first time going to Door County, so of course we had to take her there!

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Jack loved his pancakes again! 

After stuffing ourselves, we did a little shopping.  We went to the Christmas shop in Sister Bay actually during Christmas season.  Then we did some shopping in Fish Creek.  We also drove through Ephraim and Egg Harbor to show Sandy more of Door County.  All the towns were cutely decorated for the holidays.  By late afternoon, the kids were ready to go home so we headed back.  Good thing it's less than a 2 hour drive away!

It was a great weekend with family.  We have so much to be thankful for this year-- new house, new job, a healthy and happy sweet boy, and one more baby on the way!