Thanksgiving Photos

Ryan has long declared Thanksgiving to be his favorite holiday. Why? There's no hassle, no stress (usually)-- it's all about food, friends and family. We usually go out to his parents' house in Minnesota. His siblings, with the exception of us on the East coast and Taylor & Lisa out in California, are scattered around the midwest so it's pretty easy for most of the kids to get home for Thanksgiving. This year the midwestern contingent gathered at Kim & Clark's new digs in Bartlesville, Oklahoma but we decided to stay home. It was the first time in the entire time Ryan and I have known each other that we did not travel or host family and it worked out great. I missed hanging out with Ryan's family; playing ultra-competitive matches of Settlers and Ticket to Ride; going running with Kirsten, Kim and Lisa; eating Ryan's mom's famous jello "salad" (no kidding, it is a pièce de résistance--Ryan loves it so much that has lost its original name and is known by the family simply as "Ryan Jello" ); and witnessing Blake's obsessive insistence that the Christmas decorations go up the minute Thanksgiving is over.

This year we got together with our good friends Ali & Mitch and Kim & Jason for a really low key Thanksgiving fiesta. Ali hosted and provided scrumptious side dishes, I made the turkey (see Cackalacky Kitchen for more details), and Kim made two outstanding pies. I was in charge of photo-documenting the event and sadly, I was a dork and didn't take any pictures of the food! Let me assure you, it was a pretty amazing spread. I was too distracted by all the cute kids and took lots of pictures of them instead. So here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving celebration.

Ali has such great style. The table was beautifully set with fresh flowers and pewter goblets.

These guys are in HEAVEN playing with cars and trains.

The kids' table. But where's Oliver?? He had about three bites of a roll and went back up to play with cars in the playroom.

The ladies took the kiddos on a walk/Big Wheel ride throught the neighborhood between dinner and dessert. Oliver had a major freak out (see post below) because we were riding bikes in the street. He made me hold his hand the whole time. He steered his ride-on car with one hand and held mine tightly with his other. In truth, I'm glad that he is fearful about going into the street because unlike some of his other fears, this one has merit.

The boys watch in anticipation as the pie is served

This little guy was definitely a big fan of the chocolate cream pie. Who can blame him for digging in? That was some seriously delicious pie!