Thanksgiving 2013

The food was plentiful, the company top notch, it was another great Holiday spent with family!  Lucky doesn't even begin to describe it!

Yummy appetizers, I never did end up snagging a deviled egg.  There is always next year!

The menu included Turkey, Ham, mashed potatoes, 3 kinds of stuffing (including my homemade version of a recipe given to me by a friend), candied sweet potatoes, squash, oven roasted brussel sprouts, lemony green beans and a kale casserole.  YUM!

The Alton Brown special - with an herb butter rub!

Dr. Pepper & Brown Sugar glazed Ham!

King of the Mashed Potatoes!

My Sous Chef!

Who let this guy be in charge of carving?!

Dad has passed down the Turkey Carving to his eldest son, who passed it down to his younger brother.  I don't care who carves it as long as it isn't me!

The Kids Table

Everyone is enjoying the delicious food!  I am getting better (and more efficient!) at this hosting gig!  I thrive with the hustle and bustle of a crowd!

My Mom and Dad

Of course it wouldn't be a holiday at my house without some family portraits!  Everyone humored me, and braved the cold and wind to get the whole crew, which is posted here on my photography blog!

Thanksgiving 2013

And who could forget the desserts!  I made an apple pie and pumpkin pie (both from scratch!) my sister made pilgrim hats, my mom made a mince meat pie (that only my dad would eat!) and my cousin made a cookie crusted pudding pie!  Mmmmm pie!

OK...now that Thanksgiving is done, it's time to shift gears and get those Christmas decorations and start planning the next feast!  I hope you all had as wonderful a day as we did!

365 ~ 2013: Day 332

Thankful!

365 ~ 2013: Day 331

Thankful for Chocolate Chip pancakes for make running last minute errands the day before Thanksgiving (when your children have no school) that much easier!

365 ~ 2013: Day 330

Thankful for celebrations with friends!  Shaun, Evan and I were able to join David's second grade class for their harvest festival today.

365 ~ 2013: Day 329

Thankful for exciting football games, and even more thankful when it is your team that comes out on top!

365 ~ 2013: Day 328

Thankful that I live close to my family and that the boys get to grow up near their cousins!

365 ~ 2013: Day 327

Thankful for amazing days!  My sister took the kids for a sleepover so that I could go see Catching Fire this afternoon with my cousin Pattie and then go out for a dinner date tonight with Charlie!  And the icing on the cake was leaving the restaurant and seeing the first snow of the season!  

365 ~ 2013: Day 326

Thankful for Miss Tyler who is helping Evan learn to swim all by himself!

365 ~ 2013: Day 325

Thankful for the wonderful teachers at my boys school!

365 ~ 2013: Day 324

Thankful for my upgraded camera body and my friends at SOPHA who continue to help me learn and improve my skills!

365 ~ 2013: Day 323

Thankful for friends who love to cook as much as I do and who share their delicious recipes!  Thankful that I'm able to make those recipes and not have to worry where that food is going to come from.  And right about this time of year, I'm also thankful for the double oven.

365 ~ 2013: Day 322

Thankful and fortunate that I'm able to be an at home parent, especially on days where my boys are home sick from school.

365 ~ 2013: Day 321

Thankful for family time!

365 ~ 2013: Day 320

Thankful for unseasonably warm weather!

365 ~ 2013: Day 319

Thankful for the Concord Community Music School!  I wish I knew this place existed when I was in high school!  I love that David gets to participate in monthly recitals!

365 ~ 2013: Day 318

Thankful for my Bestie and that even though we live far away from each other, she is always just a text message away!  Oh and that we both dressed up and it wasn't even planned out ahead of time!

365 ~ 2013: Day 317

Thankful for quiet time!

365 ~ 2013: Day 316

Thankful for Family Center!  It's great to have a place to go on non-preschool days where we get to make crafts, sing songs, play with games and puzzles, hang with friends and even take a couple field trips!

365 ~ 2013: Day 315

Thankful for other peoples babies!  All the snuggles without all the fuss!

365 ~ 2013: Day 314

Thankful for friendships that pass the test of time!

365 ~ 2013: Day 313

Thankful for my firstborn, Dave!  Even though he may act like a surly teenager (more often lately than I would like!) at home, he is thoughtful and polite out in public!  He's a great big brother and friend who is always willing to lend a hand!

365 ~ 2013: Day 312

Thankful for playrooms at dealerships to make waiting for your new wheels that much less painful!

365 ~ 2013: Day 311

Thankful for my boys relationship with each other!  I love sneaking up on them and watching them play!

365 ~ 2013: Day 310

Thankful for our Shaun-E (his spelling!)!  He is a ray of sunshine, with a constant case of the sillies, but will melt your heart with his smile and his "I wuv yous".

365 ~ 2013: Day 309

Thankful for having the right to vote because even in small local elections, it matters!

365 ~ 2013: Day 308

Thankful for this guy!  He's like, wicked awesome and stuff!

365 ~ 2013: Day 307

Thankful for places like Krazy Kids to take my Crazy Kids when they need to blow off some steam!

365 ~ 2013: Day 306

Thankful for this stinky nugget!  He's a firecracker; full of personality, a kid who is simultaneously frustrating and adorable and best of all he's ours!  He's Evan Micheal Wicks and he wants to whole world to know it!

365 ~ 2013: Day 305

Thankful for resilient children!  David had his first filling today at the dentist and he was a champ!  No Novocaine this time, but for the next one he will.  At least he has some idea of what to expect.  Poor kid has Mom and Dad's genetics.  I'm sure braces will be in his future too.

Happy Halloween!

It rained last night, but that didn't stop us from costuming up and trekking the neighborhood.  It was definitely quieter than last year, but we still had fun and if it was going to be a dreary night, at least it wasn't cold!

Before we headed out for Trick or Treating, I set up my black backdrop and took some Halloween portraits of the boys!  I was happy to finally convince the Doc to dress up this year, although it wasn't too hard to get him to put on a black suit, he already had it in his closet!

M.I.B Agent D

Spyro (from Skylanders)

Captain Hook

Here come the Men in Black...Galaxy defenders...

The Wicked Witch of the West

Now that we got our portraits out of the way, it was time to head on out.  Since we were all going to be going out, I asked my neighbors to pass out our candy for us because last year when leaving a sign didn't work out so well.  My neighbors go all out and set up tables with candy and they even give out hot dogs to hungry Trick or Treaters!  So fun!

Thankfully the rain stopped and it was just a slight drizzle for most of the night!

Heading to the neighbors!

Evan like dour neighbors Halloween decorations

I LOVE dressing up!

Ready to go!

Shaun opted not to wear his mask, I don't blame him.  It wasn't a good design, and reminded me of the old school costumes we wore when we were kids!

Time to hit the neigbhorhood!

Evan was ALL about Trick or Treating this year!

Evan told everyone he was "Bad Captain Hook" and this lady gave him an extra candy because she loved his costume so much!

David knows to only go to houses with porch lights on!

The scary house!  The spider jumps out at you when you walk by!

We finished up and headed home.  The boys got a hot dog from the neighbors and we picked up our candy bowl (still half full of candy) and headed home.  It was time to check out the loot!

Ready to pick out some candy!

We had a great night and of course they are already talking about what they are going to be next year!  I'm still holding out hope for a Harry Potter theme!