The Kirk's - Boys-R-Us!

Thanksgiving 2008

So Much To Be Thankful For!

Giving Thanks

Each year we go around the table and say what we're thankful for, and of course it ends up that everyone is usually thankful for the same thing: family! This year was no different! Especially as I watched my BIG boy feeding himself from his own plate and felt his little brother kicking away, while listening to the conversation of close friends and family I was overcome with gratitude and had to take just a minute to let it all sink in. Of course a moment was all I got before a lump of mash potatoes was being smashed into the place mat - but for that one moment life was perfect and for that I will ALWAYS be thankful!

The Meal Plan
I was so excited to be able to host the thanksgiving dinner at our house this year - we had been at Mom's for the last few years but I won back the "Gobble Till Ya Wobble" honor this year! What a wonderful holiday weekend! Of course in true Kirk/Ingersoll fashion we made way TOO much food but it was fun and oh so yummy! We started on Wednesday night and made the pumpkin pies, apple pie, bread loafs, chocolate pie and the cranberry relish. We were exhausted by the time we were done but that was just the beginning of the fun!

Thankfully Mom spent the night so that we could get up and at'em early Thursday morning since we were having our dear friends the Robinsons over for dinner. Chad brought the bird and the fixings and he got to work on his creation - and Mom and I finished the rest of the dishes. You know unless you have hosted a multi-dish meal you really have no idea the amount of planning it actually takes to make sure all the dishes will be ready to put on the table at the same time. So being the scientist I am I made a list of the order in which to fix all the dishes based on prep time and bake time - I started with the Mac 'n Cheese, then the green bean casserole, the dressing was next in the holding pattern for the oven - on the stove top we had the white potatoes, sweet potatoes and butternut squash simmering. Once the bird was out we had about 30 minutes for it to rest - I guess getting cooked for 4 hours is hard work! Anyway the 3 casserole dishes were put in then the sweet potatoes were mashed shoved in a dish and topped with marshmallows and added to the oven - the baby carrots were quickly steamed up and the squash and potatoes were mashed and placed in their serving dishes. I was quite impressed with how everything turned out - and although we may have sat down to dinner 30 or 40 minutes later than originally planned at least everyone's food was hot and the Turkey was not dry!

OK on to the good stuff. . . . Pictures!

Kaiden doing a last minute check before his girlfriend Ashlyn arrives.

"Hi friend! You look nice" "Thanks so do you"

"Oh I like your sweater, is it new?"

"Geez why do they keep calling our names? Can't they see we're having a conversation here?!"

"Hey Ash, did you see this circle? It's pretty cool!"

"Alright well I'm outta here! Are you coming?"

"Hey wait for me, I'm coming too!"

A little after dinner story time with Uncle Todd

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving and survived any Black Friday shopping excursions!

Love Ya,

KK