Chantel made mashed potatoes for other people for the first time. She had a few trial runs this week, and solicited her mom’s help. Tamara tried a new sweet potato recipe and brought scrumptious homemade pumpkin pie!

The kids all loved the Jello boats this year... including Andrew!

Andrew was being so silly when I took his picture - squinting his eyes in preparation for a flash.

A viewing of Transformers (with Jon’s custom editing) followed dinner. Since I’ve seen it plenty, I cleaned up, folded all the laundry, blogged, and read 2 chapters in “Sense and Sensibility.”

Then came my long-awaited game of “Marbles” ...the perfect choice as it’s a 6-player game. Jonathan & Brian whooped us! After that, Jon beat us all in Ticket to Ride (America Expansion) while Jonathan watched Barbie Fairytopia with the kids.

Parker was a delight at his first Thanksgiving! He and Andrew played a little together... and fought over toys.

As you can tell here, we were all sad to see everyone leave, but had such a great time together!

Our table is so tiny it was a challenge to fit all the food on it!