Thanksgiving 2013

I have been meaning to publish this Thanksgiving post for a few weeks now, but just never seemed to find the time.  The pictures have been loaded, I just needed to add my narration.

On December 13, 2013, a student entered the building where I have taught for 13 years and opened fire. The details surrounding the day are not something I want to write about here.  Just know that in many ways, it was the worst work week I've ever had.  Sad, scary, and emotionally exhausting.  And yet, through the amazing outpouring of love and support from my family, my friends, and the entire community, a lot of good has surfaced as well.

I guess my point is that I will still add the basic details of Thanksgiving below, but I will now write about them with a deeper understanding of just how blessed I really am.  

We were able to host Thanksgiving dinner for the third year in a row (I think).  It's great to be able to use our kitchen and dining room for their intended purpose, but it's not really all that stressful because my parents still cook the turkey down the street and everyone pitches in to bring a dish or two.  We are always responsible for pies.

So, on Thanksgiving morning, the kids woke up early to start helping us out.  Payton loves to make little dough cup pastries.  This year, she added peanut butter to them, they were actually quite good.

This year, we made cherry and blueberry.  We had high hopes for the blueberry, but using frozen blueberries didn't really work out very well.  We will have to try again this summer.  At least they looked good!

Tammy brought this amazing spread as an appetizer.  Yum.

This is Wes's new toy.  His friend from work owns one just like it, and they have gone a couple of times.  We are hoping to be able to use it camping next summer!  Everyone had fun taking and giving rides.

Our cousin Peter from Austin, TX came for a visit.  We hadn't seen him in almost ten years, so it was awesome to reconnect.  We went out to dinner with him the night before Thanksgiving, and then to see Catching Fire on Thanksgiving Night.  

My kids LOVED "Uncle" Pete, he spent a lot of time just playing and connecting with them.  Thanks so much!

Auntie Jayne and Cohen.

Little Rascal Arie.

P-Dog.

A little brotherly love and a ride for Heath.

Grandma Tammy.

Nolan's Turn!

Silly Uncle Marky.  

And finally it was dinner time!  We had a HUGE crew.  Oma, Opa, the Syers 5, the Jansen 5, Abby's mom Pam, the other Jansen 4, Peter, Sue, and Dave.  20 in all, our largest yet!

I didn't take any pictures after dinner, because we were cleaning up, eating dessert, and hanging out.  Abby had just had her surgery at the beginning of the week, so it was so great that she could join us.  We put her seat right be the couch in case she needed to lay down :).  

Abby said something very similar in her blog, but we have all been through a lot in the past few months, so lately, it has been really special just to be together.  Happy Thanksgiving.