Thanksgiving 2009

I love being a mom for many reasons but one of my favorites reasons is because it teaches me so much. At Thanksgiving, I always try to be grateful and remember the reason for the holiday but often I get too wrapped up in planning and cooking. This year I wanted to teach Hannah about Thanksgiving and what it really means. Of course, we talked about food, turkeys and football (thanks Brian) but I really tried to focus on being grateful.

We started by talking about what blessings are and making this thankful turkey.

We also talked about how we give thanks to our Heavenly Father because all of our blessings come from him. I don't know how much Hannah learned but I know it made me focus on my blessing and I felt more grateful to my Heavenly Father this year than I have in many previous Thanksgivings.

We spent Thanksgiving at my parent's house and had a great time.

The dinner was great but in my family the dessert has become the big thing. I don't know when it started but I assume it came from the days when we had Thanksgiving with my cousins and grandparents and had over 20 people, but we would have a pie bake-a-thon the night before Thanksgiving and make a ton of pies. The number of people attending Thanksgiving have decreased but the number of pies have not. It's now become tradition that we have about one pie per person. This year we had 14 people (5 of those being kids) and 15 pies. (Don't worry, we don't eat it all in one sitting.)

Thanksgiving just isn't Thanksgiving for me unless I have made some pies. My contributions this year were a blueberry pie (Brian's favorite), apple-blackberry pie, and a raspberry white chocolate cheesecake.

The favorites this year were my sister Kristin's Toffee Pecan pie and my cheesecake. Hannah however liked the chocolate cream pie.

We always top the evening off with games. Here's my brother Michael's reaction to the girls beating the boys at cranium.

We missed my brother Dane (he stayed in Provo for a wedding) and my brother Mark and his wife Jasmine (they were at her family's house) but otherwise it was a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Another Funny Conversation

My parents were visiting a few days ago and my mom had a conversation with Hannah that went like this....
Grandma: Hannah who is nicer, grandma or grandpa?
Hannah: Grandma (keep in mind, grandma is the one asking these questions.)
Grandma: Who is more fun, grandma or grandpa?
Hannah: Grandma
Grandma: Who is smells better, grandma or grandpa?
Hannah:Grandma
Grandma: Who is smarter, grandma or grandpa?
Hannah: Me!!

Halloween Fun

Halloween this year was so fun. Hannah really got it this year and has decided that Halloween is the best day ever. She has already decided that she going to be a giraffe next year.

We started with carving pumpkins. Hannah didn't like the cleaning the guts out because it was "too gross" but she did like helping Brian pick out a face for the pumpkin.

Hannah and I made some crafty decorations. The spider and ghosts are made from Hannah's hand print.

Hannah was a witch this year. I have to admit that I was proud of the costume this year. I saw the spider skirt on Martha Stewart and think my version turned out pretty good.

We had lots of Halloween activities. Hannah's play group had a Halloween party. Here's Hannah with her best friend Sarina all dressed up.

We decorated Halloween cupcakes with our neighbor.

We had a great time at our annual ward carnival and trunk or treat.

And Hannah really, really loved trick or treating. We practiced saying trick or treat and Happy Halloween all month and so when it came to trick or treating, she was a pro. Hannah wasn't shy at all and just ran right up to the doors and knocked and said "trick or treat" followed by "thank you" and multiple "Happy Halloweens". She even learned to say "I put a spell on you" which occasionally came out "I put a smell on you."

Sunday morning Hannah went downstairs while Brian and I were getting ready for church. This is how I found her.