Turkey Times Two.

We had an abundance of bird this year, with three thanksgiving dinners in three days...we have been accommodating my parents separately since they divorced and I'm beginning to think that since I have a two story house, we are going to start having two-fer holidays.  Dad's holiday will be upstairs and mom's in the basement.  The kids can go up and down the stairs between the two parties and it will be awesome.  

Got it all worked out in my head.

{Haylee loves Nonna to dance with her}

Anyway, we had our first turkey feast on Thursday at my in-laws.  They slaved over the bird and all the trimmings and even had the table all set up with a lace tablecloth and crystal wine glasses!  She had sparkling grape juice for the little ones and Ryan turned up his nose without even trying...give that boy his Spider-man cup with some iced water, dang it!

After looking at the photo of the table, I think it's funny that everyone has a wine glass and I'm rocking a 32 oz. iced tea from Speedway.  I am one classy chick, I tell ya...got it from my mama!  She never served a nice meal without a good old fashioned spartan brand tub of butter on the table.

I was threatened that if I put a picture of the mystery side dish on the internet, I wouldn't be getting another nice meal from their house but I couldn't resist!  Anyone have a clue?

{My brother-in-law said it tasted like baby food}

After dinner we hung out and visited, I haven't seen my sister-in-law all summer it seems.  Jon's mom showed the kids a few more dance moves..it's like their past time.  If they're going to Nonna's, they're gonna shake a tail feather.

Ryan got so hot he had to strip some of his clothing and show off his tattoo!

{I love her little pig tails}

Aunt Heather bought Ryan a book that stores coins so she taught him his pennies, nickles, dimes and quarters and when he got that down he was pretty excited!

We had a great dinner, awesome dessert and a nice visit while the kids played.  Everyone took baths and got in their jammies so we could take them home and put them straight to bed.  I sat and looked through all the black Friday ads so I could see if I had to send Jon out in the morning.

We did NOT go out with the crazy shoppers and I heard later there were 7,000 people lined up at Target...no freaking thank you.

On Friday afternoon we headed over to my sisters house for a turkey bird lunch which she totally prepared (and all I had to bring was buns and Cool Whip).  I will try to do half of what she did when it's my turn at Christmas.

 {If you don't want it on my arm, I will put the plate in my face}

We had some serious belly laughs when we saw the dog chasing the kids outside, Ryan was screaming "mom Jake won't stop licking us!" so they tricked him into his kennel and when Ryan tried to shut the gate, Jake barreled through it and nearly pushed him over and began licking him to death. 

We all took to the back yard and let the kids play on the swings, they were working their grandpa pretty hard by begging for him to push them higher and higher.  

When my dad tried his hand at a little kids swing, Ryan totally covered his eyes and said "Oh, I can't watch this!"  Even at four years old he's already quite the comedian.

For being Thanksgiving time in Michigan, it was an absolutely beautiful day!  Most years we have low temps and snow but on this day?  Sunshine on our shoulders.

I have memories of walking down these quiet country roads with both my mom and dad, and it was really nice for me to take a "walk" down memory lane with my dad again all these years later.

At one point the kids were running way ahead of us and Haylee fell down.  I yelled her name but she didn't move, so when I yelled a second time and she didn't budge I heard my sister say "is she unconscious?" so I took off running as fast as I could (in high heels) and when I finally got to her she had her face down in the dirt and she was sobbing "I'm dirty, I'm all dirty..."  Little drama queen diva had be scared to death!

We had a really nice walk in the sunshine and the kids got to burn off some energy, we can't possibly have many more days like this before the long cold winter sets in!  I am so thankful for all the times I get to spend with my families, during the holidays and all year long.  Every day visit where everyone is in attendance is a gift.

I hope everyone had someplace special to go, or somebody they had the chance to see this Thanksgiving.