Holiday Blur

The past two weeks have a blur of seemingly constant motion. We had family Thanksgiving on the 17th so that everyone could celebrate together before we headed out to visit my dad in Indiana.

I made the turkey, ham, cornbread and wild rice dressing, sweet potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and deviled eggs. Billy's mom brought baked beans and made mashed potatoes. Mom put together a big spinach and fruit salad and Ashley made my signature Asian green beans. We also had rolls, cobbler, cheesecake, apple pie, and two types of Edy's ice cream: apple pie and pumpkin varieties. Yes - there was a LOT of food.

But we also had some great company to share it with. Of course my family (Mom, Erin, Ashley, Matthew and Ethan) and Billy's family (his mom and stepdad) were there, but we also had Aaron Berry and Stephanie Bright, Tony and Billy's step grandad Bobby.

Everyone ate until we were stuffed and then we sat around reminiscing about the good ol' days growing up. It was so nostalgic because Ashley, Aaron, Stephanie and I spent so many years together back when our families were tight. We all just laughed so much that this might have been my favorite Thanksgiving.

Then on Wednesday we packed up and headed to Indiana. It was touch and go, though, because Javier came home sick from school on Tuesday and couldn't keep food down all day. We left for our trip with him snuggled in the back with a throw-up bowl (his favorite one!) and an ice cube for him to suck on because we still weren't letting him have real food.

The 12-hour drive was uneventful except for poor Javi's fear of starving to death. We stopped at Shoney's in Virginia because they had a soup bar. We fixed him up with a bowl of cabbage beef soup and a slice of dry toast with a cup of Sprite. He tore into all of it as if he'd never eaten before and then had a mini-meltdown because he wanted to take refills in the car with him. I think he really believed he would never eat again!

So, no throwing up in the car for Javi and only slight drama queeness from Bella made the trip LOOOONG but pretty pain-free. We did realize that Ms. Thang does NOT like being in the dark. If she can't see what's going on, you'd better be holding her - or else! We kept her occupied with graham crackers and the mini DVD player but wouldn't you know she only liked the parts of Nemo without sharks or whales? I don't know if you know this - but there's not much going on in Nemo that doesn't feature a shark or whale?

But once we were at dad's we all relaxed and proceeded to have another great Thanksgiving. I think this might be the first one I've spent with him. I made the turkey and his girlfriend Chris made tons of other yummy sides. My little sister Nicky is a vegetarian, so we had lots of non-meat options.

Poor little Javi had existed on ice cubes, lukewarm broth, dry toast and juice boxes up until Thanksgiving dinner so the child ate with gusto. Between bites he would exclaim: "This is the best ______ ever! Thank you so much for making this _______!" It was so cute, but a little desperate at the same time.

So, after two super-filling Turkey Day dinners in two different states, you'll be surprised and amazed to know that I have NO PICTURES of Bella Wayne's first Thanksgiving. NONE. However, I know that Ashley took a few and my dad took a few. So somebody better start the sharing!

More to come on our trip ... soon!