Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving came and went so fast. It just slipped right though my fingers.

The general plan was pretty much the same as last year. Spend Wednesday night and Thursday at Cory's grandparent's house on the St. John's River; Friday and Saturday with my parents in Marianna.

The river house is one of my favorite places. I snuck out early Thursday morning to take some pictures of the pretty citrus grove in the lot between their house and the neighbor's.

This tiny little tree loaded down with fruit reminded me of that Little Christmas tree story. You know?

 Grandpa Allen always walks us around it and tells us what each type is. Naval, Fallglo, Satsuma, Grapefruit...and probably others. He and Cory picked a great big bag of them. They are delish.

I wasn't the only one sneaking out. I caught the boys headed down to the dock for their Thanksgiving fishing bonding time.

Grandpa Allen is a master fisherman. That little grass shrimp didn't stand a chance.

I love this picture. Three generations of Allen first borns. When I showed Cory and told him how cool it was
that they're all the oldest men, he says, "You would be the Queen!" Just call me Your Highness.

They caught about nine fish that morning, but the biggest one of all jumped right out of the cooler as they were putting them all on ice. It will forever be the one that got away.

Per tradition, Grandpa Allen smokes the turkeys, and Grandma Allen makes tons and pie and casserole. I love tradition.

There were close to 22 people there for dinner! It was so fun, and we ate until our bellies hurt.

Cory and I came back Thursday night. I headed out early Friday morning to do some shopping. My mom couldn't make it this year, and she was sorely missed. I went to Lowes first (last year the first store we hit up was Michaels. I don't think I'm the average Black Friday shopper). Hello $0.98 poinsettias, and $5.00  live pine wreaths.

I was able to get all the poinsettias we need for the Ward Christmas Party centerpieces for less than $16.00! You're welcome, budget. Now if only I can keep them alive for two weeks...

Also, a really easy way to make your house just scream "It's Christmas!!" is to put 15 poinsettia plants in it.

There's nothing like  catching the sunrise over the Walmart roof  top. Ahh, black Friday.

Thanksgiving with my parents was fun too. My dad grilled us steak the size of our head. And Cory ate every bit, just like we knew he would.

 I didn't take too many pictures there, because we got really caught up in a little project for Christmas.

This might explain my obsession with my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. 

We dug deep into the recesses of the attic to find all of the toys that survived 5 kids. I had way too much fun going through them. I can't wait to play with Jefferson and Jane this Christmas! I'll show you some of the other awesome toys we had, after the big reveal at Christmas time. They really do deserve their own post, I think.