Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays--I love the focus on gratitude and being thankful. I also love making and eating pie and how relaxed the holiday can be.
Wednesday was our Thanksgiving prep day. I've officially moved from "keep the kids occupied while I make pies and rolls all day" to "kids in the kitchen with me while we all make pies and rolls together" and I love it.
Rylee made one of the pie crusts for apple pie and then she made an Oreo crust and chocolate filling pie.
Ashtyn made a batch of rolls from beginning to end (including getting them out of the oven even though that part was past her bedtime).
Oliver helped Ashtyn with her pie crust and then he made a graham cracker crust. I haven't made graham cracker crust in so long, I couldn't remember what I was doing and we made way too much, so he ended up making two pies. He did chocolate pie filling in one pie and then made a banana cream pie with the other crust. His favorite part was that he got to cut up the bananas all by himself.
This is what the entire kitchen looks like when your four year old insists on doing the graham cracker crusts all by himself 🙃
Parker made a pie crust and then made it into a pumpkin pie.
Ashtyn also made a crust and made it into a pumpkin pie. She did it all herself, including the oven as well, just following the recipe (without me). Both pumpkin pies turned out really yummy.
Oliver's favorite part of pie making was that he got to cut the bananas all himself.
Leah was very grumpy on Tuesday and then on Wednesday morning, she seemed to be doing better. Wednesday afternoon, she was super grumpy. I didn't know what I was going to do, because I spent all morning in the kitchen and getting a package ready for the post office and at the post office with the package (we really wanted to get it sent before Thanksgiving because it was going to Norway). Ben was going to play pickleball and I still had so much to do. We put Leah in a carrier and even that wasn't helping, so I was at a loss. Then I decided to change her diaper and found a messy diaper (Ben and I had both smelled earlier and didn't smell anything) with a little rash. The poor girl! As soon as I changed her and put cream on, she was happy as can be. I was able to get all the pies and rolls finished with the kids and she played happily in her exercauser or on the floor while we did it.
Pies all ready (except the whipped cream and we made the banana cream on Thursday).
Thursday morning, we let the kids come down early to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade. They loved it. Oliver kept making sure I knew that they were just people dressed up, not real. The kids all got super excited when the baby Elf on the Shelf float came by.
After the parade, we all went to the table to draw handprint turkeys (and Leah got a little snack). Parker got frustrated with tracing her hand, so she decided to draw something different. Oliver had a lot of fun and drew two.
Thanksgiving dinner! All the food was delicious. Because we hosted, we were able to put Leah down for her nap at the regular time and she miraculously slept through the noise of all the kids running around wild. It was a good time and a good meal.
And pie for dessert! We ended up having more desserts than food, which was perfect for sampling. Oliver loved eating his pie. He got some of both, the chocolate and the banana cream. He kept asking if he was eating the pie he made. Then he told me, "I made good pies."
After dinner, some of Ben's cousins came over and everyone visited while the kids ran around (mostly outside, despite the cold). Around 5:30, we kicked everyone out and cleaned up a little and watched Miracle on 34th Street.
Saturday morning, we started the day with pie for breakfast, the best Thanksgiving tradition.
I also switched out our books for Christmas and the kids were very excited. Ashtyn spent most of the morning reading different Christmas picture books out loud to her siblings.
In the afternoon, we left Leah with Ben and went to Holly Days.
This was our attempt at a selfie, but Parker didn't like the sun in her eyes.
This is the picture someone took for us when they saw us taking a selfie.
The kids had so much fun! We met Ben's cousin and her kids. The day was super warm, which was really nice. We love Holly Days. We finished off the trip by going to Santa's Workshop (which was not my favorite part of the day, we'll just say that) and then breakfast for dinner while watching Ice Princess for movie night. While the kids watched, I started working on the Christmas decorations in their room.
We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving together and have so much to be grateful for 🩷
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