Our Thanksgiving Celebration

We started our Thanksgiving Day with a big breakfast, so that we could go without lunch and have an early dinner - The big turkey meal! Kids were happy that we made both American pancakes and waffles, and add hot chocolate to that, and they were happy!

After breakfast, the kids were playing and I started with the meatballs. As our little ones wouldn't eat turkey, I thought it was best to have a backup plan for the protein part of the meal for them. My Swedish meatballs, with extra heavy cream, were a big hit as always! I normally only do them this way for special occasions, like Christmas, and otherwise I skip the cream when I make them, and this way they are just so tasty! 

I just had finished up the meatballs and cleaned the kitchen, and it was time for my husband to take over the kitchen and get the turkey prepped and ready for the oven. We normally have a really big turkey, one that is over 20 lb, but as it was only the five of us for dinner, I had hoped that we could find a smaller one. But, the smallest one my husband could find while shopping, was one with 16 pounds (7,3kg). Plus with smaller turkey, it didn't have to be in the oven the whole day to get ready!

While he was prepping the turkey and getting it into the oven, I had to run extra to Fry's to get a few last minute things that we had forgotten, and when I came home, I made the potato gratins and got the sides ready. Then it was plenty of time left to get the dining room ready and the table set for dinner! I l love this part, getting it all nice, especially as it's only us. For me it's important to show the kids that even if it's only the five of us for dinner, it still should be very festive and nicely decorated. It should feel special in every way that it's a holiday! 

I am thankful for Cassandra

 I am thankful for Isabella

 I am thankful for Benjamin

Well, let's say that it's a good thing that no one in our family is very keen on the skin of the turkey! It got a little too much color as I was getting the finishing touches on the table and my husband had to take a phone call just before dinner. Still, even if it got a lot of color, as I had the potato gratins in the oven at the same time (no double oven in this kitchen I'm afraid), it was very juicy and so tasty!!

Cassie waiting to dig into the "pigs-in-a-blanket".

My baby girl was very happy to hear what her card said inside!

Ben sneaks a little bite before the first cut!

Voila- the first cut is made from the master - Happy Thanksgiving, the feast can begin!!

Guess if I was stuffed - and I didn't even eat of the stuffing!

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm so very thankful for everyone around this table!!

Sisters forever!

Twin love!

I probably took about 15 pictures to try to get one that was really good of the kids. Not easy to get them all to smile and look somewhat natural! After I got one that I was happy with of the kids, I even got two pictures with the kids and myself!

The smiles are already getting tired...

We have as a tradition in our family that we always do the "wishing bone". The kids are very well aware of this and we always have to make sure that we don't brake it while taking it out. With three kids it's always hard to decide who can't pull the bone, and to not have any sad faces about not being able to try their luck, we decided that the parents were going to do the pulling this year. And maybe, we would wish something for all the kids!!

One Two Three- Pull!

Somehow, we pulled and not one piece got bigger than the other, it was a tie! So, the kids were confused and said, who gets to look under it's pillow to see if the "Wishing Fairy" had put something there? Well, we first looked under the pillows in the master bedroom, no gifts.. then the kids ran into their rooms and found their surprises! A movie each, "The Fault In Our Stars", "Sleeping Beauty" and "Barbie and the Secret Door". They were so surprised and some happier than others..Isabella asked several times, Mommy did you wish for this movie for me? Why couldn't you have wished for the "Frozen Castle" that I want instead??.

Sometimes you feel like you can never win as a parent...

We finished the evening with movies on the sofa and only small portions of dessert, pumpkin pie and vanilla ice cream were wanted!

Happy Thanksgiving!

As it's busy times before and during a holiday, so I'll make this short. I will make a longer post about our Thanksgiving after the holiday. Chris will be off tomorrow, so we will start our day with breakfast to Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Then it's already time to get the turkey in the oven, as it takes a few hours! We will have traditional Thanksgiving dinner later in the afternoon. Play some boardgames, watch a movie and just spend time together! Luckily, my husband is not one of those that HAS to have Football on all day and myself - I couldn't care less!

I want to wish all my family and friends and my dear blogfriends a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! I hope that you all get to spend it with family and loved ones, and that you will enjoy a wonderful meal together! For the ones that are traveling during these days- stay safe!

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Balloon Festival

Last Saturday, after putting everything away from the yard sale, we got the kids ready to go into town for the big annual Balloon Festival. It's a three day event, and they take off early in the Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning down by the Colorado River. On Saturday evening, they have the so called "Glow", where they light up the balloons in the sunset, followed by fireworks. It's a neat event, and the kids love it. Last year, it was more or less cancelled, as it was too windy, and only one balloon were blown up but had to be taken down as it was not safe, so we were looking forward to more balloons this year. We got there just when they started to light up the balloons. Here are the pictures from our evening.

I tried to get some good pictures of the kids from this event, as this is something special that we did while living here in Yuma, and I wanted some good pictures to capture this last time being here. But, to get a really good picture of all the kids, is not the easiest! There were too much to look around at, to concentrate on what this mommy had to say! 

Exiting with the fire!

Almost all filled up!

One after one got ready for the show!

 

And then, after most everyone got their balloons ready, the public counted 1-2-3- GLOW, and they all lit up their balloons at the same time for the "GLOW". Very nice in the sunset! They only had gas enough for about 10 "Glows" so I had to try to get some pictures to catch those short moments. 

 These three light up my life every day!!

Something didn't work well here with the camera on my phone, 

but still, it was a sweet moment with my youngest!

After the fireworks, it was over and time to go back home. We had a late dinner and then it was time for bed. I was tired too, but used some time after the kids were in bed to post more items on Craigslist and take some off that had been sold over the day. I wanted everything to be ready for the Sunday morning, when I was opening up the yard sale again for day 2. 

The grand finale!

New Design

I have wanted to get a new design on the blog for some time now, and as we soon will leave the cacti in Arizona behind us, I figured it was time to get a more natural look. I might change it up a little bit more or add some colors here and there, but for now, I like it! Hope you do too!

Oki Preparations - Dental Check

It's been awhile since my last post about our preparations for our move to Okinawa, Japan in February, so here we go, this is what's going on right now:

• Last week we had our Dental appointment with the Dentist on base. The kids and I go to a Dentist out in town, but for the final screening, we have to have everything checked and made sure it's up to date with the provider on base. I had all the records, and it all went smooth and fast. All five of us in the room and one after the other. Well, Chris was last, and we didn't wait for him, as he anyway was going back to work after the appointment, and we needed to get home and get dinner started. 

• Ben was very upset and worried before the appointment. He didn't want to go there at all, and even if I tried to explain that we just had to show him how nice our teeth are, he didn't want to go. BUT, after talking with him again, after seeing Isabella jump up in the chair and go first, he was very brave and did it! I played with him that the chair would start moving if he snapped his fingers, and the dentist played along and told him that ok, time to snap and he did and WOW, the chair moved. Pretty cool how well the Dr. understood without further words, that I needed to get him comfortable. I was so proud of him, he did what he was told, got lots of praise for his shiny teeth, and then he was done. Chris took them in the waiting room to keep them busy, while it was Cassie's and my turn. We were all good, and ready to be signed off as OK. One step done of the checklist!!

• The last two weeks have been slow, we have turned in all the medical papers but have not yet been able to get screened and processed. It's frustrating, but there is nothing that we can do at this point. We finally got a date set and will have our Medical Screening on December 8th. 

• Why the hurry you might wonder? Well, considering that it's holiday season starting this week with Thanksgiving, there are a lot of days that the offices are closed and everything takes so much longer. The total processing takes about 6-8 weeks, and not until then, we can get our date and tickets booked. To know that we need to leave in the beginning of February, this doesn't leave us much time. This is very stressful, as we need to reserve a spot for our "in cabin" rabbit, as the flights normally only allow a few number. We have no control over what airline, if with Patriot Express or commercial, it's all not in our hands. For someone that wants to make things happen and be on top of things, this "hurry up and wait" is very frustrating!! 

• To not know what date we are getting on that plane is hard. It makes it very hard to plan ahead for other things. We need to have a plan on when to book the movers. When they come and pack the fast shipment that takes about 30 days to get to Okinawa. Then they come back and pack the second shipment that takes about 3 months to get there with ship. Then at that time, we need to move into a hotel and clean out our rental in a few days, take care of storage for the rest of the things that won't be coming with us to the island at all. Then we still need to decide on what to do with our cars...As it looks now, we most likely will put the Honda in storage with a good friend of us in Texas. Why? Well, if we happen to be stationed on the East coast or the West coast when we come back after 3 years, it's about in the middle to go and get the car!  The second car we will most likely let the military put in storage for us.

• It's always stressful and hard to move, but this move takes the price! There are so many factors that we can't control, and to have to wait and not being able to plan as you like, is hard. 

• So, to at least take some control of some things, I've kept very busy with selling things on Craigslist and last weekend I had a big yard sale here at home. Cleared out toys and clothes and it was nice to see all the "big" outdoor toys gone. I made some money, and got a lot of things cleared out, perfect. We will have another yard sale after the holidays, in January for sure, to clear out maybe some furniture etc too. It takes a lot of work to put these yard sales together. A lot of sorting, cleaning, washing and taking pictures. I rented tables to put everything on, and many hours went on this. Saturday morning early before 7am, the people started coming...I had hardly opened the garage, and people started pulling on things. I sold a lot and it was an almost sad feeling selling the strollers, the toddler slide, the water table that they have spent hours and hours of fun with, the seesaw, and all kind of things that were so typical for their early years. Even if I've know for a long time now that we are DONE with having children, it still hits you and it becomes very clear when you get rid of all the baby stuff...knowing that you won't need it again.

•  And to make matters "worse", last week my husband got a new job! Just like that, out of the blue, he got transferred to another position. He's now not working shift as usual, but "regular"  office hours. What is regular in the USMC? 7am-6pm give or take, Mon-Fri. It means that he is home on the weekend, but this week he has hardly been home before 8pm, as there is a lot to take care of. So we'll have to see how "good" these hours will be for the family, for him, it's stress pure, as he has to get a lot of stuff done in that office before he leaves, and as he is taking over after someone that didn't do his job well, it's a mess. Best part of this- no more night shift and sleeping during the day!!