Two Day Thanksgiving Extravaganza!

Thanksgiving was really good this year!  A relaxing, smallish Thanksgiving with Chris' family on Thursday and then we hosted my family and some friends on Friday (25 people in all).  Friday was a bit of a zoo but I learned my lesson after overdoing it with Ella's party so we had plenty of everything but I didn't do or make everything I thought of (or that looked cool online!). Hence, I wasn't stressed and my extroversion had a heyday with all the people around all day!  It was great to be able to invite friends who don't have family in the area.  Definitely a perk of hosting.  That, and the leftovers :-)  It really was a great celebration sprinkled with many conversations and prayers about all we're thankful for.

Miss Cree helping Ella squeeze a lemon for a cream cheese pie at Chris' familiy's annual Pie Night (30+ pies get made the night before Thanksgiving!)

Luke was a cheese ball fan at Pie Night!

I made some maple roasted carrots and fell in love with how the peels looked in the collander!

I LOVE the colors of Thanksgiving!

I let Ella get in on the peeling action and she did well!

We found a craft where you make turkeys out of gumdrops and toothpicks.  Even the adult attempts didn't quite resemble turkeys but the kids had fun!

A friend who joined us at my in-laws' house requested we make these "belly button" cookies and we were happy to oblige :-)

Ella and her two older cousins (the younger ones were out of town) spent at least an hour coloring pictures after the meal and hung them up to make an "art show" for the adults :-)  It was SO cute!  And super relaxing that they had so much fun while all the adults got to just chat over coffee and pie :-)

Nana, Chris' mom, the great leader of all things Pie Night and Thanksgiving.  She worked HARD to put together 2 great events!

Ella showed some interest in Aunt Stacy's project after dinner and got a little knitting lesson! Day One Done.

Friday after Thanksgiving was my Grandmother's 92nd Birthday!  We're SO thankful for her!

The early crew for Thanksgiving Day Two, Part 1 :-)  I was too busy having fun to take pictures of part 2 when 20ish people were there including 3 infants and 5 kids between 1 and 5.  Whew!  Great Day.

Leftovers!!

More Thanksgiving Day Excitment...

So, during Pie Night my SIL Ping was having contractions and by the next morning (thanksgiving day!) they headed to the hospital and less than 2 hours later she had the baby! Evangeline Wong-Chien Heiliger is here! (totally not sure about the spelling of the chinese middle name-sorry Ping). She was 21 1/2 inches and 9lbs 11oz! I have no idea how such a big baby came out of someone so small! Mom and baby went home the following day and everyone is doing great. So thankful for this new baby in our lives!





Ping's mom is a THRILLED grandma!

Thanksgiving #1

Since my parents and Chris' parents live 10 minutes from each other we're able to do 2 Thanksgivings in one day. This year my parents house was at 11am so that gave us a little extra time to get hungry again before eating again at 6pm :-)

The whole group :-)

Ella being silly

Ella had fun digging through the drawers in my parents dining room and choosing special spoons for each person. Random, but she was engrossed in for about 25 minutes.

Since it was a brunch Thanksgiving there was bacon which Ella's never really tried but was WAY into this time! A girl after mommy's heart :-)

Thanksgiving was my Grandmother's 91st Birthday! We celebrated last weekend but it was still great to celebrate her loving, generous, fun-loving, vibrant spirit again! We LOVE her so much and are so thankful for her.

Potrait experiment of my beautiful sister

This pretty much captures the spirit of my always-laughing Dad :-) Lots to be thankful for!

Preschool Turkey Day!

Last week I got to volunteer in Ella's preschool class for their Thanksgiving party. It was fun to see all the adorable things they do and get a feel for some of the other kids I hear about all the time. Those teachers have their hands full but it was fun to help out in the controlled chaos that is 14 3-4 year olds!


Ella kept turning around and waving to me during circle time

The kids made a ton of crafts! Door hangers, Turkeys, Squirrels, a headband with feathers, and wrapped bread dough around ice cream cones to make cornucopias to hold their snack in! I was impressed.



I got to be in charge of helping each kid make their Squirrel craft. It was fun to interact with each of them and get to talk about the little sign the squirrel is holding and how Thanksgiving is all about saying thank-you to Jesus!

Before snack the kids had a little music/dancing time and Ella got really into it! It was fun to see Ella in her environment especially because though she's always loved school, she LOVES it this year and talks about her friends from school so much more than before. I hope I'll get to go back and visit again soon!

Thanksgiving 2008!!

We are so blessed that both of our families live about 15 minutes from us. We had a good, low-key, thanksgiving and spent time at my parents house and then with Chris' family. I actually only ate at the first house so I feel like I actually ate less than I do on a normal day-SUPER weird for thanksgiving but I've been enjoying the leftovers every day since :-) We spent a lot of time on our car rides between houses that day taking turns praying "Thank you God for....". Ella was thankful for mommy, daddy, raleigh, our house, our food, and the Hannahs (her favorite friends at the moment). Chris and I had lots of blessings to count. I have to say I'm most thankful for Jesus. None of what I do is worth anything if it wasn't for his limitless love and constant work in my life. Thanks Lord for all you've done and are doing in our family.


chillin with Marissa-this was before the poor little boy sitting next to me threw up all over his plate...lovely...

getting ready to eat at my rents house


My grandmother turned 90 the day before Thanksgiving! This was her first cake-angel food cake-nice and healthy so she'll be here for another 10 years!

Her second cake-double chocolate...so she can actually enjoy the next 10 years!

On to house #2. Nana was SO on the ball. She had new toys ready to entertain the kids while they waited to eat!


Silas and I got some quality time while Ping and Andrew ate their dinner. He's getting SO big!

Ella LOVED playing with her little cousin and he was SO fascinated by her.

There are about 20 pics in this series of Christopher and Ella. Let's just say they REALLY enjoyed their pie. Before this, Chris was playing with Hannah and made a joke about "getting her nose." This was NOT funny to Hannah. She had a look of sheer terror and burst into tears. She cried and screamed for a LONG time. Amy had to come try and soothe her to get her to calm down. Ella came over to pat her back and say "It's ok, don't cry!" and Christopher was chanting "Uncle Chris is bad, Uncle Chris is mean, Uncle Chris is in trouble." Andrew and I were laughing so hard we almost fell on the floor. It was HYSTERICAL. I don't tend to laugh at crying children but the whole scene was just SO amusing. NO worries though, she recovered and her nose is intact.

Raleigh. How we all felt by the end of the day. Happy, full, and ready to sleep :-)