Happy Thanksgiving!

It has been chilly around here! I keep saying it really feels like fall . . . everyone else thinks we've been thrown into the middle of winter. Ha! Anyhow, we've had frost in the mornings and definitely have been pulling on layers--it's wonderful!

Here's a visual of the weird conundrum that is California . . . Erik, in shorts and a jacket, picking lemons on Thanksgiving morning.This was my first real opportunity to use Grammy Beth's china, which I brought back from WI this summer. It was fun to use it and think of her!
Meet our turkey. One of our turkeys, I should say . . . (the one I live with was not on the menu). We tried a couple of different things with the bird this year, an overnight brine and a pretty quick cook time in a very hot oven. Let me tell you, this turkey was MOIST!! We will be repeating said experiment in the future . . . Moistest. Turkey. Ever.
We got smart this year and laid the food out buffet style in the kitchen--no worrying about making enough room to set everything and the table didn't feel all crowded.
Patrick & Debra (above) and Don & Evalyn (below) joined us for the afternoon! :-)
There was plenty of food, including old favorites like Kirsten's broccoli casserole and scalloped corn, some yummy cranberry walnut bread and pumpkin butter from Evalyn, and strawberry and pumpkin pies a la Debra! Mmm . . . wish we still had leftovers!!

Patrick & Debra surprised us by bringing the grandfather clock Erik inherited from his mother! It was his grandfather's, I believe, and we hope to get it working one of these days. :-)Patrick also helped Erik with a project that has been on "The List" since early August. We had been looking for a light to hang over the pool table for months, but were having no luck finding anything we liked that was remotely affordable. When I was in Sturgeon Bay (after Erik had flown home), I found a leaded glass hanging light at a second hand store. After texting pictures to Erik, I bought it and packed it in the car for the trek home. It has been sitting in the garage since. Actually, it even sat on the pool table for a while and then went back into its box. Anyway, long story short(ish)--the boys hung the lamp!This one has less dramatic lighting, but you can see just how happy it's making Erik. The floor lamp pictured has been moved out to the garage--no longer necessary!! :-) We keep turning the light on and grinning at each other . . . this is exciting! It seems much more like a Real Room now.Here are Erik & Patrick doing the Turkey high five . . . see how Patrick's hand is the body and head of the turkey while Erik's open palm make the tail? Try it at home! Say, "High five, Inks!" and then instead of slapping her palm, smack it with a thumbs up and yell, "Turkey!" It's great fun. :-D
On Friday, I made turkey soup and we spent a little time outside--yay!!
Look--COLOR!!! There isn't fall color all over the place in Bakersfield, but there are pockets! We met our friend Becky at a park--she brought her girls and we brought our pups.
Getting Meredith ready to ride
Scooter for Lexie . . .
and for Kenadie!
Meredith started strong!
But she needed to take a little break before we were done. :-)
After that last lap we abandoned the bike and scooters at the van and made the loop one more time with the stroller.
Running down the Big Hill (I love Meredith's arms spread out from the stroller)--see Erik & Thomas way up ahead?
We headed back to our house and had a dinner of leftovers when Dominic joined us after work. We played several rounds of Phase Ten until we were all too tired to continue.

On Saturday, I'm not ashamed to say, we did NOTHING. Just lazed about the house and enjoyed a day of rest and relaxation. Then on Sunday, Brent, Julie and the kids came over in the evening for turkey soup, salad and a rousing game of Pit! Definitely reminiscent of Freitag Thanksgivings and Cousin George . . . Brent beat us soundly before the evening was over.

I hope you all had great Thanksgiving celebrations. I'm so thankful for you!!
~cmr

P.S. There will be another post this week . . . here's the Teaser: what happens when you try to take "Family Pictures" with four pets? Stay tuned.