Happy Thanksgiving 2015

Heather and Corey decided to come up to Seattle to root on their favorite teams --the Steelers and the Seahawks.  They play on Sunday the 29th.  They brought their mom's and Baby Cheyanne.  Perfect time to get together and celebrate all that we are thankful for!  So glad they came.

It has been a few years since I was in charge of roasting a turkey so I decided to ask Jen Schmalle how she does hers...I've heard her rave about her turkey before.  I got an orange Home Depot bucket and brined it in salt, vegetable stock, and brown sugar.  Then I got up at 6:30 and started getting it ready...put butter all over it with poultry seasonings and then put the aromatics in the cavity.  Called for cinnamon sticks, apple, onion, rosemary and sage.  I didn't have any apples, so I put in some applesauce.  LOL  I had it in by 7:30 and with our 23 pound turkey, it said it should take 4 1/2 - 5 hours to cook.  I made homemade rolls from Tammee Fulghams recipe, Sweet Potato casserole from Amber's recipe last year,veggie platter with ranch dressing, ambrosia salad and Deviled eggs. Grandma brought over her yummy Sausage/corn meal stuffing, a salad and mashed potatoes.  The turkey came out of the oven at 192 degrees and it tasted wonderful. Mike also smoked a turkey which finished soon after the oven turkey was done.  Yes, 2 turkeys, one was 21 pounds and the other 23 pounds.  We have lots of leftovers, we just freezed them for later.

It was such a sunny day in Seattle.  The sun came pouring in the back porch doors.  Decker and Cody made these paper snowflakes as name place settings.  He would tell you which one was yours and you had to remember it since no names were written down.  :)  Corey's was just a sheet of paper folded in half.  LOL

 We had company for the holiday.  Grandma Nickie, Aunt Freddi, Heather, Corey, Cheyanne and Corey's mom, Melina.

 Cheyanne sat at the table like a pro.  She tried the mashed potatoes and seemed to like them.  She ended up getting it in her hair and Heather's hair.

 Decker decided to eat a leg and his own leg...reminds me of the time Adam picked out the Turkey leg for dinner.

 Grandma rocked Kaylie to sleep during dinner.  She didn't try any of the fantastic food!

 Cheyanne really needed a nap, so it was Heather's turn to rock her asleep.  I think they both got a few ZZZZZs.

 The moms and their baby girls...

 
 

  Here's the group...Mike is doing MOVEMEBER again this year.  ;)

 

 
 One of them both looking

 One of Kaylie smiling...

 and One of Cheyanne smiling...

 

 We were so glad they could come and share our Thanksgiving feast with us.  So much fun to be with FAMILY.  We love you guys!

  Breakfast the next morning...Sweet potato casserole, Sausage stuffing, ambrosia salad and deviled eggs... YUM!  Love Leftovers!

 Here's some sweet BABY SKIN.   It's tickle time!  Whenever dad tickles her, Kaylie throws her hands up over her head.

For one of our family home evenings in November, we started talking about being grateful.  We made some leaves and wrote on them what we were thankful for. Here's part of the list.

Cody said he was thankful for Kaylie, Video games, mom, Dad

Decker said he was thankful for love, milk shakes, fast objects (obgickts), that he can "bild" LEGOS, and that "famoles are forever"

Dad said FREEDOM

Mom said family

We taped them to our fridge to help us remember all month long for our blessings.

Happy Birthday Dad! You're 42!

 We got him a Seahawks sweatshirt!  I dressed the boys up in it with bows on their heads...

 Go Seahawks!!

 We made a Pineapple Upside Down cake

 The boys weren't too interested in the cake, but they love the ice cream.

And for his birthday, I took him INDOOR SKYDIVING.  It was awesome!  look how excited we are.  lol!

 We got all suited up and then got to "fly" 4 times for a minute each.  On the last one we flew together.  Awwww....

 On Saturday, Grandma took us all to see Hotel Transylvania 2 and then to Red Robin.  Mike even got sung to, to celebrate with a free Sundae.

 Grandpa Bob was here for the celebration too.  He likes to feed Kaylie new and exciting foods.  ;)

 And here's the cute girl holding up her head!  So strong! (October 18)

  I thought I would take a pic of Kaylie, mimicking a picture that we took of Cody at 2 1/2 months in the Bumbo seat.  This is October 22nd...she is about 3 1/2 months old.

 Cody's pic...His red hair is really shining through. He was about 2 1/2 months old.