Happy Birthday to Steve

Saturday was Steve's 32nd birthday - Happy Birthday Baby!

We celebrated with plenty of birthday kisses (as pictured) and a whole lot of Lego Rock Band. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that Lego Rock Band may be the greatest game of all time - nothing beats pounding along on the drums to Spongebob's "The Best Day Ever" with Sasha on my lap (also pounding away, making it very challenging to amass my star power), Steve wailing on guitar, Gramma rounding out the band on bass, and Sam or Ben shrieking out the words as our little Lego guys on stage rock out. We just got our own private Lego jet, so I think we may be close to winning the game. And the name of our band? Why, the Turkey Leg Heads, of course, in homage to our Thanksgiving hats!

But we didn't just rot our brains in front of the Xbox all day, no sir! We also rotted our brains at the movies (we saw Fantastic Mr. Fox which was, appropriately, fantastic), ate a ridiculous amount of kettle corn, had Five Guys for dinner, and finished out the day with a Cold Stone cake. It was a pretty fantastic birthday, if I do say so myself :)

Thanksgiving Day

We had a really delightful Thanksgiving this year, sharing dinner with Gramma and Poppop (visiting from Maryland) and the wonderful Powells (visit their blog to compare Thanksgiving notes). Oh, and if you're confused about the hats, you can read all about them in yesterday's post.

Persevering through some early struggles to get the turkey onto its platter, Steve and Sharon finally emerged victorious and we enjoyed a delightful Thanksgiving feast, complete with oyster stuffing and sauerkraut (that's what happens when the crazy East coast relatives are in town for the holiday). No dried corn this year, though, despite visiting three grocery stores in pursuit of my favorite Pennsylvania Dutch dish. I suggested that perhaps we should just get chicken feed to reconstitute, but nobody else thought that was a good idea.

Jim made four (count 'em - four!) kinds of pie for dessert because he wanted to practice his pie making skills. I'll be his dessert guinea pig any day! Sam's enthusiasm rather paled in comparison to Steve's.

The day was made all the more sweet by the addition of two new little ones to the party - Sasha and Thomas! Introducing Sash to each new holiday has been such a joy and I love sharing our traditions with this little one that we waited so very long for! Happy first Thanksgiving, Baby Girl!

I'll leave you with our Thanksgiving blessing this year, from Psalm 136. Standing around our table, stating the simple truth that God's love never quits in response to each line was an amazing way to start the meal. What a perfect, exuberant way to capture the gratitude in each of our hearts.

Thank God! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods,
His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords.
His love never quits.

Thank the miracle-working God,
His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos,
His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations,
His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light,
His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day,
His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night,
His love never quits.

God remembered us when we were down,
His love never quits.
Rescued us from the trampling boot,
His love never quits.
Takes care of everyone in time of need.
His love never quits.
Thank God, who did it all!
His love never quits!

Thanksgiving Hats

I was working on a touching post (well, as touching as our posts ever get) about the wonders of this Thanksgiving and our gratitude for our friends and family... but when I got ready to upload the annual group picture around the dinner table I realized that we may have some explaining to do about the hats.

Last year, Sam created nine truly fantastic hats for our Thanksgiving celebration - traditional pilgrim and Indian hats. This year, Sam decided to focus on the centerpiece and Ben happily took on hat duty. As Ben told us that he planned to make turkey hats and started making a supply list. The conversation started like this: "Let's see... for every hat I'll need two paper bags and three cotton balls. Oh, no, it's three cotton balls for each side. And I'll need tissue." and it went downhill from there in terms of my understanding.

But once he started on the massive hat creation project, it all became clear - get it? they're turkey hats! Like, turkey leg turkey hats! Hilarious and completely unexpected.

Here are some shots of our family and guests modeling their fabulous turkey hats:
Wowsers - I dare you to find more astounding Thanksgiving hats anywhere, let alone guests who wear them with such distinction :)