TYCEN
1. Jesus
2. Coloring
3. Fire trucks
4. Spoons
5. Rescue helicopters
6. Grandma Jan
7. Police cars
8. Trees and houses
9. Broccoli
10. Beds
11. Oregon Ducks
12. My red fish
13. Cereal
14. Tractors, soccer and basketball
15. Daddy and doggies
16. Flowers
17. Race cars, school buses and the color blue
18. Teachers
19. Andy
20. Baskets and Mommy (I made the list! :)
21. Parks
22. Thomas train
23. Sydney
24. Little bouncy balls and smoothies
SHAYLIE
1. Candy
2. Jesus
3. Papa and Grandma Jan
4. Sydney
5. Trees
6. Mommy
7. Bunnies, Daddy and Tycen
8. Kitty cats
9. Puppies
10. Rags
11. Soap
12. Sadie
13. Milky
14. Grandma Kathy, lights and purple flowers
15. Babies and strollers
16. Rats
17. Trucks and fences
18. Mice
19. Daddy and Mommy's clowns (Halloween costumes), doors and chairs
20. Shaylie
21. Gramps, Kai and Oma
22. Magic wands
23. Thanksgiving
24. Pancakes, apples, pears and circles
We had so much fun talking about what we were thankful for every day. A lot of times they'd say whatever they saw at the moment I asked them (especially Tyce). They also had a lot of repeats (I think Shaylie said, 'Grandma Jan' every day :) that I didn't include.
We started off our Thanksgiving celebration with some holiday baking the night before Thanksgiving. This is the first time the kids really helped make cookies and they loved it! We made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and they turned out really good, especially since the measurements weren't exactly exact :)
Enjoying the finished product:
Grandma Jan flew into town on Thanksgiving Day and stayed with us for the long weekend. We just love when she comes to visit and we're so thankful that she chose to spend Thanksgiving with us! She has been with us every Thanksgiving since Tyce and Shay have been born and we hope it'll be a lasting tradition... (no pressure! ;)
We all headed to my Aunt Peggy's for a nice Thanksgiving celebration:
On Friday after Thanksgiving, we had Papa and Grandma Kathy over for a variation of Thanksgiving dinner...I made a lot of the same traditional foods but prepared in a slightly different way, just to mix it up a bit :) We had a turkey roll stuffed with dressing, garlic roasted potatoes, sauteed green beans with onions and garlic, cranberry sauce, crescent rolls, a yam dish (cubed and cooked with applesauce and a little butter and brown sugar, then topped with pecans), salad, pumpkin pie and an apple crisp.
After dinner, we went to the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Vancouver:
Santa comes every year for the tree lighting and arrives on his train:
As we were walking back to our car after the tree lighting, we saw a glass shop that was open and we were peeking in their window when they invited us in to take a closer look. It was really neat to watch them make Christmas tree ornaments and it definitely gave us a whole new appreciation for all the effort that goes into making one glass ball!
Some of the Thanksgiving crafts Tyce and Shay made this year:
We collected these leaves on our walk home from the gym one day:
We have so much to be thankful for: family, friends, health, love, and most of all, our faith. Thank you, Lord, for giving us countless blessings!!
