Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving!

Ours was great fun. It started with more daddy - daughter time, which was fantastic. It's so nice to have Tom around.

Look at her holding dad's finger! I can't stand how cute that is.

We spent the evening with Jason and Elizabeth and Seth and Jane.

The boys.

It was the first time I've ever spent Thanksgiving with friends and it was a blast.

Tom the proud dad.

Seth the proud dad.

Not only is it fun to have friends over, it was also cool to have everyone contribute their family traditions.

Here's our menu:

• Turkey (Tom found a great recipe with lemon, garlic, and herbs - we've adopted it as our new family turkey recipe)
• Stuffing (my grandma Garner's style)
  
• Mashed potatoes
• Corn (I always mix it into the potatoes...yum!)
  
• Gravy
  
• Orange rolls (Elizabeth's family tradition)
• Cranberry salad and sauce (the Seguine family tradition)
• Green bean casserole (Seth's family tradition)
• Cranberry juice mixed with Sprite to drink (my family tradition)
• Pumpkin pie (three, actually...Tom makes a fantastic pumpkin pie!)
• Apple tarts (made by Elizabeth, baker extraordinaire)

I do love a good feast! We enjoyed eating, playing games, and taking care of the little ones.

Carving the turkey! Yum, yum.

Elizabeth got tough with the icky turkey carcass. Don't mess with that look!

Shelby and Ryan didn't interact much! We'll have to give it a few months.

Shelby was so well behaved; she napped while I cooked and sat at the table with us for dinner and games. I think she had a good first Thanksgiving.

The aftermath. We wore this poor girl out.

We had an exciting Black Friday, too - we picked up our new car!


Meet Erwin, our new Toyota Matrix. Why the name Erwin? That's the name of the guy who sold it to us. No offense to anyone with that name, but Tom and I thought it sounded funny. After some jokes back and forth about it, Erwin the Matrix was born.

The newest member of the family - aww!