Thanksgiving Weekend

For our first year hosting, I'd say Thanksgiving was a giant success!

Uncle Tony and Kate stayed with us Tuesday and Wednesday to help prep.  They were also nice enough to watch Rudy for us on Wednesday while John and I worked.  I couldn't have pulled it off without their help...and the help of my mom who brought things over without even asking that I would have forgot about (she's a pro at this hosting thing).  And not to mention, she helped majorly in the cleaning of our house the nights before, too!  I made lots of lists, a schedule for the oven, and did as much work as possible in the days and night before as I possibly could.  But I am proud to say, I'm happy I did because as much grief as I got about my approach, the day was stress-free and we actually ate at the time we set out for!  I'm guessing not many people can say that!

In early planning, I decided that since it was our house, John should make the turkey (as opposed to having one of our parents bring it). It would be like inviting someone to a pizza party and asking them to bring the pizza.  It just didn't seem right.  John was up for the challenge...until we realized he worked the night before which meant he wouldn't be able to do any of the prep work.  The task fell in my lap.  Talk about pressure.  Luckily, Kurt helped me get all the gross stuff out of it the night before (I wish we had video, or at least audio, of that!) and Tony and Kate were there to help me lift it the several times it needed moved to do the preparation.  I did lots of googling and not only brined it, but also injected it with some juice stuff -- all in the 12 hours before cook-time!  John came home just in time on Thursday morning to carry it into the oven and slide it in.  All 26 pounds of it!  

Unthawing for days

Refrigerator stocked after all the prepping

Awesome contributors!!

Pantry door designed by Kate, Tony, and I
(which may or may not have involved a rough sketch and a tape measure...)

The scene of the feast - late Wednesday night

Close-up of mine, Rudy's, and John's place cards..compliments of my mom and I

We started out the day with the 5th Annual Turkey Trot at Gran and Pa-Pa's.  

Rudy was a shoe-in for "The Biggest Turkey" award...

 When I was shopping for his Halloween costume and came across this, I couldn't resist.  He was the cutest ever, especially with his little waddle walk.

Other winners included Frank with "1st Place Men's" Division;

Kurt won the "Men over 50" Division;

Erin Fly won "1st Place Women's" Division;

Karen Fly won "Women over 50" Division;

And Gran won "Most Beautiful Person Born on November 1" Division.

The whole group

Everyone showered, changed, etc and came to our house where we had some delicious appetizers ready and football on the TV

John carving the turkey

The dinner spread...yumm!!

The food was all so delicious and I'm so thankful Mom, Dad, Ray, and LeeAnn shared in the making!  But, if I do say so myself, the turkey might just have been the best turkey I have ever tasted in my life :)

A couple of my favorite people

Playing with Pa-Pa's glasses

After dinner we all hung around and the inevitable happened...

Rudy's turkey hat was modeled by all...

Thanks to the Dloughy's we had some hilariously fun "Minute-to-Win-it" games to play.  I collected a few action shots... seriously laughed so hard my body hurt!

The par-tay went on until about 11:00 pm -- we were exhausted but it was well-worth it.  We all had a blast and a very memorable Thanksgiving!  Rudy had a great day, too.  For the first time ever, he didn't nap.  He was loving the company and the excitement so much that he never even got cranky or whiny -- I have no idea how he managed!  And believe it or not, he even slept through the night, too (which is pretty remarkable considering how loud the cheers got at times)!  Kid definitely knows how to party.

The fun didn't stop then, either.  Friday we went to Ray and LeeAnn's -- the Keough's made a last minute decision to come to Springfield late Thursday night.  Rudy is so entertained by his cousins.  Unfortunately, he couldn't hang two days in a row so Rudy and I went home for a much needed nap.  That afternoon we went to the mall with Isabela, Kevin, Jennifer, Mark, Nicolette, Sarah, and Katherine to ride the train and carousel.  Rudy LOVED it!  The train was way cool in his book -- not only did it drive us all around the mall, it played Choo-Choo Soul music during the ride.    

That evening we all had dinner at Vinegar Hill and the Keough's came back to our house to hang out and play cards.  

On Saturday, John and I went to Bridget and Travis Shea's wedding and Rudy stayed with Ray and LeeAnn.  Maria and Andre were still there and they were all happy to have some extra time with Rudy.  We invited all our friends over to our house between the ceremony and reception...we have been taking full advantage of having our own house!

John and I at the reception

And while we were there we received some pictures of Rudy and Maddie (Maria and Andre's dog).  It was nice to see him happy and having fun because we missed him!

And on Sunday, we relaxed!

Rudy had a great weekend and was sad everyone was gone.  While at Gran's on Sunday, Rudy kept pointing at Uncle Tony's picture and putting his arms up in his motion for "where is he??"  We kept telling him he had to go home... and then 10 minutes later he would be asking for him again.  Hopefully Baby Girl comes before Christmas so we get to see him again before then!