THANXGIVING EVE

I came home from some errands to find my kitchen full of all of "my" big girls. Our 2 best friends' families had sent their big girls over to join us for a day of fun in the kitchen. I love moments like this when all the stresses have been set aside and the girls just enjoy each other creating something yummy for all of us. I found myself in a much lighter mood too, which was a great relief to have a small moment of peace and lightness in all of the struggles I continue with.
Having all the big girls there was not only fun, but a HUGE help! They knocked out all the yummy goodies we needed to prepare for Thanksgiving dinner in a very short time, 3 of which they had done all by themselves before I even had gotten home. The big girls really did all of the work, and I was mostly just there to supervise...here is a list of all the goodies:
great grandma's family recipe brownies, yummy potatoes, everything from scratch cherry pies, new recipe pumpkin cake(with cream cheese frosting!), homemade bread and rolls, chocolate cream pies, great grandma's famous tomato soup cake (our favorite tweak is to add choc chips and make muffins),pie crust cookies, and ORCA fruit salad.
Part of the fun, of course, is being able to eat all these yummy things. Our 3 families very much enjoyed eating the "fruits" of our labors and will always remember this special day spent together!
Kaeli is also our awesome frosting maker. She did 2 different kinds of frosting for yummy treats. Of course she got to lick the beaters too...at least for the choc frosting. None of the kids were too impressed with the cream cheese frosting, but it sure was yummy to me!
Ky usually doesnt want me to take his picts...but since all the big girls were getting their picts taken he wanted one too...I love the way this turned out because of the unusual angle - he is just such a squirt I just tilted the camera down and took his pict standing right under the camera...his eyes are a little droppy because (we didnt realize at the time) the poor little mister has picked up a nasty cold....