Pre-Thanksgiving Feast

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we met over at Mike's dad's house for a pre-Thanksgiving feast! It was so much fun. Most of Mike's siblings, and his dad & Viki, live in the Dallas area, all within 30 minutes of each other. So it's great that we can do things like this. Blake came up from Houston for the festivities.

Zoe playing with Tinker Toys while waiting for her cousins to show up.

Zoe, Emma (5), and Jacob (9).

Phil (Mike's dad) pulling the turkey out of the fryer. By the way, have you ever had a fried turkey? It's SO good!

Viki (Mike's step mom) doing an activity with all of the cousins (left to right: Madison (11), Zoe, Emma, Jacob, and Ethan (8).

The activity is really cool. It's a chex mix type of snack and everything in it has a message about Thanksgiving. I think it's called a Blessing Mix.

As Viki poured each different item into the bowl, she told a story about it. For example, the bugles represent a cornucopia which is a symbol of our nation's abundance. The pretzels are arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by our founding fathers. The candy corn represent the sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter when the food was so scarce that the settlers only ate a few kernels of corn a day. The nuts represent the promise of a future harvest. The Hershey's Kisses are the love of family and friends. Something like that.

Emma and Zoe took turns holding baby Caden the entire night. They are so cute and sweet with him.

Pilgrim hat cookies that Zoe, Mike, and I made!

These next few are random pictures during dinner. Left to right are Diana (Mike's step sister), Viki, Phil, Clay (Diana's husband), and Rachel (holding Caden).

Jared (Krista's husband), Krista (Mike's sister), Diana, and Viki.

Jim, Mike, me.

Camera wars!

Blake (Mike's brother).

Caden, Rachel (Jim's wife), and Jim (Mike's brother).

Diana and Viki.

Grandpa Phil and Zoe.