This year, we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Peines in Clermont.
Matthew and Jonathan enjoyed a game of chess.
Finishing up the lunch preparations
The feast…at least part of it.
Rosemary loves dressing up at her cousin’s house
Potato rolls..perhaps my favorite part of the meal
A table full of pies
Pecan pie…Jonathan’s favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal
It was also Matthew’s birthday
I think Charlotte might have enjoyed her pie.
I know that Rosemary and Ben did.
The Bolins hosted a fun Thanksgiving party the week before Thanksgiving. Our kids had a blast making hats, hearing stories, doing a play, and eating delicious food.
Ben made a pilgrim hat.
Charlotte’s Indian hat
Rosemary’s Indian hat
The boys caught a lizard
The Pilgrim and Indian play…Rosemary’s favorite part of the day.
Skipping off with Julianna
We all had so much fun!
I didn’t take a single photo over the Thanksgiving holiday this year.
We spent the weekend with my mom and dad and helped them get settled into their new home. It was busy and Jonathan and I both had colds, but we still had a great time together as family.
Over the weekend we:
Hung 10 sets of curtains and curtain rods
Painted 2 nightstands
Reupholstered a headboard
Steam cleaned two area rugs
Hung pictures and mirrors
Painted a china shelf
What a full month November has been! Amidst all the hustle and bustle, it was so nice to spend a day with family. This year was the Peine Thanksgiving year so we headed down to Clermont for the day.
Charlotte was up and ready for her first Thanksgiving.
Tim and MIchelle hosted and Janice cooked the turkey. The sides were divided up among us so we just had to bring green bean casserole, Publix pumpkin pie, hot spiced cider, and cranberry bread.
We read Cranberry Thanksgiving this week as a part of school and at the end of the book there was the recipe for cranberry bread so Rosemary, Benjamin, and I made a couple of loaves. Despite how tart the cranberries themselves were, the bread turned out very good.
Rosemary loves to play dress up with her cousins.
It was gorgeous in Clermont that day so the kids…and dads too…enjoyed some time outside before it was time to eat.
Olivia set the table.
Lots of crock pots going
Both Rosemary and Ben enjoyed horse-y rides from Matthew.
Matthew snapped a few shots of everyone
I think my kids ate all of the olives and I’m pretty sure Ben at all but a few of the tomatoes.
Hanging out before the meal starts
These rolls are SO good. I look forward to them every Peine Thanksgiving. Those and the peanut butter pie are my favorite parts of the meal.
Ben looked through the snake book…after Matthew brought a snake INTO the house! It was little, but it was still a snake so I’m pretty sure my blood pressure rose a bit.
Charlotte’s first Thanksgiving meal consisted of potato rolls and some green bean casserole.
In true Peine form, when a discussion came up regarding whether midnight was 12:00am and noon was 12:00pm, Tim and Matthew pulled out reference books from the bookshelves behind them. And we learned that Jonathan was right, midnight and noon are neither am nor pm. (Check out this article on the Confusion at noon and midnight if you like).
After lunch, Tim, Jonathan, Zach, Matthew, and Olivia headed out in the canoe. While they were out the other kids played outside so Michelle and I played some Scrabble. Once everyone was back we played some Bananagrams.
Little Charlotte was so proud of herself for climbing into the lego basket.
At the end of the evening, the kids enjoyed watching Nim’s Island.
To wrap up the day, Joshua and Rosemary had some dinner. For Rosemary that consisted of only mashed potatoes and gravy.
We drove home that night and got the kids tucked in bed. What a full, wonderful day!
Last week, Ben celebrated his Thanksgiving Feast with his friends at his preschool. Richard and Janice were in town to help me get Ben to speech and watch Charlotte while Rosemary and I were at our homeschool co-op. I missed the feast, but from what Ben said, it sounded like it was fun. And he sure made a cute little Indian!
He was so proud of his vest, headband, and necklace.
Sweet boy.
And while Ben was dressed up as an Indian, I was too…just one from a different continent.
It was my turn to do the co-op lesson and I taught on India. I have really amazing friends and they let me borrow some clothes, tools, and other items from India that they had to use as a part of the lesson. I even made the kids eat curried chicken and rice with their hands. I think the biggest hit was the Darjeeling tea and sugar cubes. The kids literally ate the sugar cubes directly off the plate. I tried one and it was so gross! But it was so fun to put the lesson together and teach the class and I think the kids enjoyed it too.
We spent Thanksgiving weekend this year with my family in Longwood. It was everything that one can hope for from Thanksgiving, good food, good company, lots of rest, and some shopping too.
We never leave Gainesville on Wednesday night, we always wait until Thursday morning to avoid the mass exodus from town so we got to Longwood around 11 am. Mom had all the food ready to go and in the oven.
The table is all ready
Jonathan carved the turkey…
while Ben intently watched.
Mom got the casseroles ready and we all loaded up the table and ate at about 2 pm.
Everything was so good!
The next day, Mom and I hit a few stores. We didn’t go crazy and get up to be there at 4 am (or earlier!) so we managed to avoid most crowds and really got most everything we went out after.
The kids stayed home with Jonathan and Dad for the most part. Jonathan and my dad spent a good amount of time playing Wii and as a result, the kids got to play some too.
Ben was pretty funny to watch.
And what trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s is complete without a dip in the spa
Two super happy kids!
