Sophie's Thanksgiving Program

Sophie's preschool Thanksgiving program has come and gone and the kids did a great job with their meal preparation and performance.

As always, the tables were decorated with festive crafts and the meal was served after the kids filed in and said the prayer.

"We give thanks, we give thanks, we give thanks for friends and food!"

"Amen!"

Sophie and I were very thankful that Great Verna came to spend the morning with us.  And also that she helped all the children make applesauce earlier in the fall in preparation for this program.

After a tasty meal, the kids returned to the risers to entertain us with their Thanksgiving songs.

Incorporating handmade tom-toms into the music.

Mya & Stella approve of their homemade pumpkin cake.

The three girls with their buddy, Jax.

More friends.

Nana & her granddaughters.

And one with Great Verna too!

These next few crack me up.  Mya did NOT want her picture taken.  Actually, none of them were very excited about this photo op we were having.

But we can always count on Stella to smile!!  

Standing seemed to cheer up the two on the left.

And finally, the best one of our preschoolers.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving for my side of the family looks like this:  Wednesday night before Thanksgiving Day; a large suite room at Maumee Bay Resort (with smaller adjoining rooms for each family); extremely crowded with our extended family on my mom's side; a long table filled with chafing dishes, crock pots and other serving dishes containing a complete, traditional, Thanksgiving dinner (my grandma is amazing) + two separate tables filled with appetizers and desserts; lots of chatter; plates in laps while sitting on chairs, couches, beds, coffee tables etc.; a Euchre game amongst the gentleman; an ever-increasing number of little ones running around and needing to be kept account of; some flushed-little cheeks from a fun time on the indoor playground downstairs; and ALWAYS a prayer before our meal giving thanks for our blessings... usually initiated now by the aforementioned little ones.  :)

When this tradition was initiated, I was probably in Junior High.  Now, our family as greatly expanded with nearly all the grandkids bringing significant other and/or spouses and children.  We are outgrowing our space!

Sophie and her beloved Brianne.  :)  Brianne babysits for us from time to time and the kids absolutely adore her.  Sophie has told me before that Brianne is her best friend.  Brianne is getting married next September and has asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding!  So excited to be a part of her big day!!

Love this picture of Case and Mya.  Stinkin' adorable.

The Wittman family and 9-month old Reese.

After dinner, we headed down to the playground to let the kids run around.  Wes's temporary, Movember mustache is about three weeks old and going strong... much to my sister's chagrin.  :)

Ready?  1...

2...

3... JUMP!!

After some hard play time, it's time to settle down a bit.  Sophie and Will packed some Mo Willems books for the evening.

Will volunteered to be our photographer for this next series of pictures.

 

 

Case and I with mom and grandma.

Some of our Thanksgiving decor from the kids' respective school projects:

Thanksgiving Day was fairly relaxed around our house for the morning and through nap time.  Then in the early evening, we drove to our second family celebration at Craig's parent's house.

Kids table.

A too-dark picture of the deeeelicious spread.

The adult table... plus little Miss Veronica, who's about to turn one on December 16th!

Cecilia and Sophie "reading" together.

My goodness, are they ever related!  So funny how Will and Sophie have flip-flopped who they appear to take after.  Sophie looks so much more like a Riedeman and Will like my brothers and dad.

More reading.  Big cousin Will reading to Celia.

Even more reading.  Sophie reading a peekaboo book to Uncle Jim.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving and a gloriously long weekend.  Such a treat to have so much free time to spend together!  I got so many projects done, cleaned the house from top to bottom, put up our tree and relaxed with my babies. 

On Saturday, we joined the Munoz/Riedeman family for the Ohio State/Michigan game and lunch.  Just a couple of pictures of the girl cousins from that day.  :)

Hope you all enjoyed a nice long weekend with your families!!