Thanksgiving and Grandma visit (November 2013)

A little over a week after our new baby joined our family, Thanksgiving occurred. This is my favorite holiday and usually I am planning, shopping and cooking for several days. This year I knew I would just be enjoying the food and company of friends. One of my dear friends here invited us to join them at their home.

Okay I did make my favorite Fudge Pecan Pie. And it took all of my energy.

Car ride!

Let's go eat!

Sweet kids table. Trainboy was ticked to have to sit there while Dinoguy was at the "big" table.

Some of the food.

Fixitman did brine and roast a turkey, while my friends' husband smoked a cajun turkey. The cajun turkey was spicy but delicious! They also made a new version of green bean casserole that was actually delicious (it involved making the fried onions and cream sauce from scratch.) We also introduced them to Fixitman's famous macaroni salad. There was plenty of food and lots of good conversation.

My mom came to help me after baby's birth and while she was here we took some pictures, my goal being to have a decent family photo for Christmas cards. Mom had a new camera she was playing with so it was fun for her too I think.

My mom & I. People tell me now that we look alike.

My 5 boys

Family Photo, pretty good!

Silly family photo

Another fun one

Mom also had fun playing grandma and doing fun things with the kids. One of the things my mom loves is nature. She has become a master naturalist in South Carolina and loves to photograph wildlife. While she was here she took the kids on a couple of nature walks and installed a bird feeder for the kids to be able to watch birds and taught them the names of several kinds of birds.

She also let Princess paint her nails and surprised Grandpa when she got home. This is a picture of Princess peeking through s door knob hole at her.

It was wonderful how much support I had from friends and family after baby's birth. I was able to rest and recover for weeks without having to go anywhere, it was fabulous.