Vitafamiliae

I didn’t know a house with three boys under three could feel empty. But it can. Our guests left last night and after nearly two weeks of five kids under three and several adults, the house feels strangely quiet. We had a lovely visit with Aubrey, Josh (who joined us for Thanksgiving), Thomas and Sarah Grace. We feel very blessed to have friends that we could live peaceably in the same house with for two weeks. Peace may be a relative term, but I mean that we didn’t have much tension, just lots of chaos! I’ve already told you about juggling all the children, now I can share photos of our actual Thanksgiving. We decided to keep things simple. I made a ham. We called it our “humane ham” because it was from a farm that doesn’t give the pigs funny chemicals, treats them well, and doesn’t separate them from their mother too soon. From the taste, we could determine that our ham definitely loved his mother! Aubrey made mac ‘n cheese, and I did my grandmother’s mashed potatoes. Add a can of English peas, some Sister Shubert’s rolls, and we had a meal!

The adults decided to eat during naptime so we could actually taste our food. Good plan. Didn’t last long, since the kids decided napping was optional, but we did have very pleasant adult conversation while it lasted. It felt very reminiscent of the days when Aubrey and I lived together and we shared a meal of steak and potatoes as couples.

As you can see, I made a go at table decorations. After the kids finished lunch, I wiped off the table and put a tablecloth over it. Sam and Ian (who were still up) got very excited. They loved the place mats I dug out of the linen closet, too. I’m not sure why it appealed, but they seemed to be very impressed. So even though I put the tablecloth away before they ate their dinner, I left them the place mats to enjoy their dinner on.

We did have the traditional desserts of pumpkin and pecan pie, but Aubrey didn’t like either, so I made her a chocolate cake. Of course, the kids were pretty interested in that, too. I let them enjoy a piece BEFORE dinner, because that’s the kind of mom I am.

Adam approved.

When it felt like our house couldn’t hold any more noise or chaos, we’d suggest “popcorn time.” Andrew would break out the air popper and kids would come running from everywhere. He had lots of little helpers and even more little hands to help him eat it. Adam and Sarah Grace were especially cute eating out of the bowl. Adam would grab four pieces of popcorn in each hand. Then he’d stuff some into his mouth and reach back into the bowl, even though he still had popcorn in his hands. Sarah Grace took “clean up” duty, going behind everyone and picking up their trails.

Hope your Thanksgiving was just as merry and fun, if maybe not quite as noisy!