Thanksgiving Extravaganza

Since I couldn't travel this year for the Thanksgiving Holiday, Bradey's family came to us! If you have ever been to our house, you know it isn't very big and not a lot of space to sleep 7 adults and 5 children. I was a little nervous about how it would turn out and how my patience would be tested. I have to say it went extremely well and everyone had a great time!

Sheila, Bradey's mom, came on Monday to help me shop for groceries and start cooking early. We were very successful and pretty organized which cut a lot of the stress. We did a little at a time so when the rest of the family arrived we wouldn't have everything to do. Everyone else arrived on Wednesday afternoon and there was no longer a quiet inch in the house.

We cooked all day Wednesday and left the turkey, ham, and some casseroles to cook on Thursday morning. As we were cooking the cornbread for the dressing on Wednesday night, our oven decided to have a mind of it's own and started broiling instead of baking. Outcome - burnt cornbread. From that point on, the oven kept flashing "F10" code. We had no idea what that meant and really thought nothing of it!! So, we turned it off and later tried setting the timer to cook the turkey for a certain amount of time overnight only to find out the oven was no longer working properly. Let me remind you this is almost midnight before Thanksgiving with all the important things left to cook!! Not to panic right?!? We decided to go to bed and set our alarm for 5am to try again. Maybe the oven just needed to rest after cooking all day long.

Bradey got up at 5am and tried once again. Nope!!! Nothing!!! Not happening!! I immediately texted a few friends to ask if we could use their ovens. We took the turkey and ham over to a friends house and cooked it in her oven. Thank goodness we have friends! Not only that but friends that would allow us to use their oven all day at the last minute. Later that morning Randy, Bradey's dad, and Bradey decided to bang on it a little and then proceeded to unplug it. Apparently, it was the circuit breaker which reset when they unplugged it. IT STARTED WORKING NORMAL AGAIN!!!

Eventually, we all sat down and had our Thanksgiving meal together, TURKEY AND ALL!!!

Other than that, we had a great time cooking together, playing games together, listening to the kids laugh and play, and spending time together in a little space! I am very thankful for my family and I consider myself very blessed!!

Here a few pics from the week:

Thankful it was pretty weather. The girls played ball, drew with sidewalk chalk, and went on walks.

Lots of laughter!

All 5 girls sleeping in Adi's room together!

Before Papa left, he gave all the girls a prize, a snow globe.

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving and enjoyed every minute with your families! I was definitely reminded of many things I should be thankful for, not only at Thanksgiving, but everyday!