Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year felt anti-climatic. We had no plans, no family, and no motivation. Neither Jake nor I are into Thanksgiving, so without anyone driving it there was danger that it wouldn't happen at all. Finally we decided that wasn't fair to our girls, and we needed to make an effort - even if it was weak. So I bought a lot of premade things. Scarlett went to the store with me to get the food earlier that week. While we were there, she picked out a new beta fish. Her [his] name is Twilight Sparkle. Yes, we're continuing with our My Little Pony theme.

On Thanksgiving morning I put these boneless, skinless turkey breast pieces I found at the store into the crockpot. Easy! The only thing we really spent time putting together were homemade mashed potatoes (because, yum). The dinner was actually delicious and the girls ate a almost everything! During dinner we asked the girls what they were thankful for. The twirls replied in a long string of twirlese (ugh!) but Scarlett told us "I'm thankful for my fish." Me: "Ok, what else are you thankful for?" "Nothing, just my fish." Nice.

We thought about inviting other family-less friends over for dinner but I really didn't want to cook for everyone. Laura came up with the idea of just getting together for pie. So we asked our friends - the Heatons - and they invited us to their home for pie that evening. Yum! Marie Calendars for the win! I wanted to try all the pies! So tasty! The girls enjoyed playing with their kids while the adults chatted and ate. Great evening. They even sent me home with a sample pack of more zofran (they owned a clinic). That medicine is like gold to me these days. The only less-than-perfect moments were when Jake found the twirls in the kids' bathroom, using their toothbrushes. Oh and Jenni (my friend) found Siena in their half bath scooping water out of the toilet with her hand and drinking it!?!?!? What?!? That's new. Luckily the Heatons have 7 yr old twin boys and a 4 yr old girl, so they weren't phased. Oh and by the time we left they were all covered in marker. So besides our kids, we had a relaxing holiday evening. Scarlett drew a picture at their house (below). She told me "This is Aunt Jami with no legs.? I asked her why she didn't have legs "cause she's in a swimming pool." Oh! Not what I thought she meant haha!

A week before Thanksgiving we were surprised with a big snow storm (like 6 inches). It's weird looking at these photos as I type this (on Dec 10) cause it was almost 60degF today and all the snow's gone. Michigan is so moody! Back to the snow: the girls absolutely loved playing outside - for like 20 min before they were too cold. I think I spent more time digging out snow coats and gloves than we actually spent in the snow!

The girls loved coming inside and having hot chocolate and popcorn by the fire. When the twirls were napping Scarlett convinced Jake to build a snowman with her. She's an animal. She didn't mind the cold and just wanted to be out there forever! I love this picture of Jake watching her from inside the house after he was out there for an hour with her. Silly girl!

Here's a video of the girls enjoying the snow:

My SIL, Christy, asked if we could help out one of her friends. Their little boy has cancer and they were trying to get a photo of people giving "Thumbs up for Lucas" in all 50 states. Well we couldn't just do a normal thumbs up to represent MI - so Jake and Scarlett built a snow thumbs up. Go Lucas!!! #thumbsupforLucas

I had a few tomatoes on the counter and one day I came in and the twirls were holding one and saying "stinky apple!" haha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They tried to get a little snack but were quite surprised when they bit into them. So later that night I had Jake take this video so I could get their "stinky apple" on film: