Our Thanksgiving Day

Nora has seen these "handmade turkey cookies" on Nick Jr. for the past couple of weeks and has wanted to make them...BEGGED to make them - so bad. Really bad! As in = usually at the worst possible moments :/ you know how 5 year olds are... oblivious to the world around them.

I don't remember how many days ago she traced and cut out her paper hand template... It was so long ago, I'm surprised she didn't loose it already. Oh wait, I forgot - she's 5 and hangs on to everything! :P

Since I had already premade my Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes earlier this week.. around 9am this morning we headed off to Kroger to go buy some candy corn to use as the beaks. Yep, me out and about on Thanksgiving! The grocery no less....crazy I know. :P

Nora was thrilled that we were finally going to be making her "handmade cookies" !!! ;) I regret that I didn't get any photos of either of us in the process but our hands were sorta sticky. Plus I didn't have my make up on yet - oh wait, I never got around to putting any on at all today! YIKES!!

I took these few photos inbetween batches goin into the oven and after decorating - just before having to rush to get everyone ready to go to the Khole Family's dinner this afternoon. Clothes on PT, CHECK - shoes for everyone, CHECK - Nora's hair fixed, sippy cups, booster seats, make sure the diaper bag actually has at least 2 diapers in it - CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, oh and don't forget to load the "Kentucky Green Beans & Mash-ya 'tadas" that I made into the van.... CHECK, CHECK!

Hey David, can you load the twins into their car seats, I'm busy!!!! :P thankfully Nora can do herself and I need not remind her not to forget her handmade turkeys... she had them in a basket in her lap the whole way there and asked at least 3 times in 10 minuites "how much longer until we are there yet?" :/ It was just a 15 minute drive... LOL

I'm so glad we made these together today - She la,la,loved the decorating part!!! She's going to grow up to be an artist ya know :) Didn't they turn out cute? I'm so thankful to be a mom! Nora loved our "us" time and her being little chef and me being big chef. She loved it. I did too.

and something else I loved today... joining my close friend Heidi and all of her family for Thanksgiving dinner this afternoon :) I love her so very much! She is the kind of person everyone should be so lucky to have as a friend! I'm so very grateful that I found her after I moved to Texas 4 years ago.

Here's what was sitting in front of me today...

and this too... :P my wonderful husband. So thankful for him and all he does for us. I'm especially thankful that he has put up with me for so long. I love you David if you are reading this!

Now, getting back to Heidi's family... Nora even calls her mother Grammie Khole ;) they are like family to us. And speaking of family... one of Heidi's sisters, Tish, was in from Utah for Thanksgiving and I got to meet her and her husband Paul and their 4 kids. We had lots of fun chit chatting :) but not as much fun as her son Spence and Nora....

It was an instant bond for those two - right from the beginning! Spence is a year older than Nora and they had a lot of fun together today. Playing, drawing on a chalk board together, eating together at one of the small tables, Spence was the honorary person to received the FIRST "handmade turkey cookie" today!!!

They made "notes" to give to each other...Nora had at least 3 folded up papers in her hip pocket that were too secret to let me have a peek... LOL - and are you ready for this... are you sitting down?

They even left tonight yelling "I love you!" to one another.... awlll! If that doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will. All the way home she kept talking about her "new best friend Spence this, and her new best friend Spence that..." ;)

I didn't even think to take their photo until just as we were leaving :( and these 4 or 5 are all I got. Don't even ask about the background... I knew the mop and brooms were there and purposely asked them to stand along the wall so all that wouldn't show... and guess who's feet were super glued to the floor and rebelled against moving 24 inches to her immediate right! #@%#@&! *urgh* :/

So after I saw that she wasn't going to budge despite David's suggestion that we just not take any at all if Nora can't cooperate, I went ahead and got a few pics, mops, brooms and all. :P

I love how Spence is just standing there admiring Nora in these two photos above before I was really ready to ask them to say cheese... if I didn't know better, I'd say he was giving her the "heart eyes" like you see in cartoons! :P wouldn't you? Awlllll...