Thanksgiving Continued

 Just before Richard's parents came for Thanksgiving we found out that Kimberly (Richard's sister)  had her twin boys who were 8 weeks early.  It brought back memories of when Sariah was born 6 weeks early.  I quickly threw these NICU gowns together to send to her so she would know we were thinking of her, Jon, Arthor and Weston.  I found the pattern here.  It is a gown that is designed for babies 3-8 pounds.

 Meagan always want to be in the pictures.  In this case you can see how tiny these are.  They wouldn't even go around her 3 year old thigh.   You can also see that even in November we have swimsuit weather.  Sort of.  Meagan was sure it was warm enough to wear this swimsuit outside, and she was right as long as she stayed dry.  Unfortunately that was the case a few days later when Deanna and George arrived.  By then it was definitely jacket/coat weather.

 While Richard's parent were here we went to Christmas at Beauvoir and had a nice time.  I didn't understand the settings on our camera so the pictures are few and not very good, but the lights were pretty and the house was beautiful.

 They had a live band that played big band music along with old-time radio type narration and props.  It was very fun, and Deanna and George graced us with their dancing. 

 Saint Nick was their as well and gave a jumbo jingle bell on a beautiful printed ribbon to everyone who sat on his lap.  Chris even whispered what he want for Christmas in his ear.

 Deanna really wanted a bell too so she  sat on his knee and whispered something shocking into his ear.  I still don't know what she could have possibly whispered.

 We all took a picture at the end.  That is Chris's friend Isaac with us.

 Afterwards we dropped off Chris and Isaac and went to eat at Mary Mahoney's Old French house.  It's not a french restaurant, but a house/boarding house that dates back to about 1737.  The portraits behind us are of Mary and Bob Mahoney, not Napoleon and Josephine.
 

 We left on Monday to head to Louisville and made it a two day trip. Meagan and Kiersten rode the luggage cart up along with all our suitcases.

 The next day we went Corinth Mississippi civil war museum.  Here are Trevor, Sariah, Kiersten and Kate following the soldiers in the door.

 Meagan and Kate with a canon.  If you zoom in on this photo you can see one of Meagan's million facial expressions.

 For a short while Richard had the camera and so you get to see me in the background with Kate and Meagan.  We are working on getting the Junior Range Badge.  All the blocks in the water feature represent a different battle in the civil war and the size represents the fatalities of that battle.  Kiersten is the the foreground as cute as ever.  In case you are wondering the kids all earned their junior ranger badges.

 Next we went to Shiloh where Trevor is making sure his uniform is up to snuff.

 I think maybe he should have checked the lower half of it.  Other than that he looks pretty sharp.

 At Shiloh they also earned their Junior ranger Badges. The day was beautiful.  The entire site was breathtaking both in the natural beauty and the scope and documentation of the awful battles that took place there.

 For thanksgiving Kate and Emily made this relish tray with me acting as soux chef (ie vegetable cutter/carver.)  It turned out beautifully.

 

Not as beautiful as these two girls. Their only disappointment was that it wasn't gobbled up.   I think it was because it was too pretty and not right next to the turkey

or turducken as the case may be.  Here is a picture of our cooked turducken.  For Christmas we are having a smoked one.  I'll try to get some pictures of it sliced then.

 And here is the derby pie.  It turned out so pretty in Elizabeth's pretty pie plate.

 Hey! What do you think you're doing?

 Here is a picture of the mustard ring that is a recipe from Richard's Grandma.  For Christmas I'll actually make it a ring. It is one of my favorite holiday recipes.  Another dish I love is stuffing, but I learned this year I don't like stove-top or any other stuffing mix stuffing.  I thought it would do in a pinch, but it didn't.  I even bought one that was more expensive and looked higher quality and it just didn't cut it.  Homemade or nothing for me from now on.

 Here is the crew eating dinner

The next day we made gingerbread houses.  Here are the Beaches working on theirs/

 And the Bucks.  I tried getting pictures of the Sanders working on theirs, but they didn't turn out.  At all.  I think it was the windows that messed me up and my usual adjustment didn't work.  And I didn't check that I had a good picture before I stopped.

 Here are the finished houses.  Sanders, Beach, Buck.

 Playing games with Meg and Kiersten.  Aunt Elisabeth is so much fun.

 The birthday boys.  Trevor blows out his candles

 and then  waits patiently for Kade.  Who wasn't slow.  Trevor is just fast at getting relaxed.

These glasses from Christmas at Beauvoir are a hit around our house.  When it's dark and you look at lights you can see stars, reindeer, snowmen or something else depending on which pair you wear.  And if you tilt you head from side to side with the snowman glasses it looks like the snowmen are dancing and is entertaing to those watching you .