thanksgiving roundup

Well, Thanksgiving has come and gone. . . I have so much to be thankful for it is hard to even begin.  I'll just give a short list: my guys who bring me so much joy every day, my family, this little apartment we're in {even though there's lots I'd change, if I could}, and so on.  I feel ridiculously blessed.

We went to Massachusetts, of course, as we're pretty much locked into vacations that a) we can drive to and b) have free everything once we get there.  So, Mass it is!  Good thing we like it there :)  Anyway. The plan had been to have the Olatundes - our friends from the UAE - over for their first Thanksgiving in the US, but my mom threw out her back and there was just no way we could host.  So instead, we went to the Hammons' house, and carried on a life-long tradition of celebrating holidays with their family.  I left the camera at home because I knew I'd rather spend my time eating and talking than taking pictures, but it was a lively party - 19 adults, I think, plus a handful of children.  My dad made . . .TWO turkeys, which were awesome.  No one went home hungry, that's for sure.

On Friday, we had the Olatundes over for a little pizza party. The girls - Peace, 8 and Praise 14 (I think?) - came early to help with prep: making dough, making sauce, chopping veggies, shredding cheese, etc. Isaac, Adeola and Covenant came later for the feast.  It is really wonderful to have them so close by and to be able to enjoy time together - already we're thinking about a cookie decorating fest for Christmas.  Because, really, what's a gathering without food???

The pizzas (FIVE of them) were perfect, but the first one, just a simple cheese, was perfect:

 

We put all the kids - even Covenant who's 17 - to work...

Oh, and Covenant brought us (well, my Mom!) and apple pie that he'd made.

melting hearts with pie

smart guy

We all had a good time, the pizza was a huge success (and I love it because it is so easy to throw together, more or less at the last minute...or...hour), and we'll look forward to a Christmas visit in just a few weeks.

The rest of the weekend was filled with shopping (no malls, thank you) and relaxing.  Dexter and I had talked about going out to dinner while we had free babysitting, but some how it just didn't happen. Instead, we watched "The Natural" on TV with my parents...until Dexter called it a night and went to bed long before the movie ended.

Keeping the romance alive folks.

And now we're back in NJ where we had snow on Tuesday and temps into the fifties this weekend.  Which is good because my friend Jana flies in tomorrow from Minnesota for the weekend. NYC here we come!  

We're also in the home stretch of Dexter's first semester of school.  Two weeks to go which is amazing.  Then, we'll be a quarter of the way done with this program.  Time to start thinking about the next stage in life!

Does it ever end?