A Crafty Celebration

Em's first Thanksgiving celebration began with crafts.  I was inspired to commemorate this special occassion and spent Wednesday in full-blown craft-mode.  Jax and I made pinecone turkeys (as seen below) with a little help from Nana and input from Em, and I also made little felt turkeys out of her and Jax's handprints.  I'm only just beginning to understand how fast they grow, and I worry that if I don't do it now, their hands will soon be too big for such things.

Luckily my children were neither too big nor too young for these kinds of crafts.  They were "just right," and we had our first trip in the new mini-van when we jaunted off to JoAnn Fabrics for the necessary tools for the trade: felt, pompoms, new scissors, sequins, stickers, glitter pens, etc.  Very reminiscent of making posters for pep ralleys and decorations for dances, so I didn't feel too far out of my league.  I was a Nancy Kelly dancer, after all ;)  Sequins and I are old friends.

This was Jax's first craft, however, and he was pretty impressed.  I feel many a rainy day crafty improvisation coming on now that I'm all stocked up!

The final products were so darn cute, they graced our Thanksgiving table.  Thanks for your help, Nana!

While the pinecone turkeys were drying, I quickly traced my kids' handprints to make felt turkeys of them later.  I have to say, I'm really really glad I did it and am pretty proud of how well they came out.  I couldn't believe Jax's hand was almost too big to fit in a 5 x 7 frame.  Big boy!

Other than the decorations, Thanksgiving 2010 was very similar to our weekly Sunday night dinners: great food and family and football.  I did harass my family into taking a group shot; they mostly came out blurry, which looks less obvious in black and white.  This was the best of the bunch, which isn't saying much!  Jax was not feeling photo-friendly this day.

Actually, Jax wasn't really in that great of a mood for the entire day.  Woke up on the wrong side of his nap and stayed grumpy until bed.  This is pretty much how he was all afternoon and evening...

...which, as you can imagine, was really fun for me.  For some reason, he wanted all Mommy and no one else, and was closer to me than my shadow.  It was sweet at first but then exhausting.  I can't say I was sad when Daddy put him to sleep!



Em was feeling much more social, and thus, more fun.  I am equally thankful for them both, but I was very grateful to have a smiley little one to play with instead of Grumpy.

  

This is much more my style.

Well, even a grumpy toddler monster couldn't take away from the joy of family and conscious gratitude on a day like Thanksgiving.  This time last year, Em was still a little bean in my belly.  Now she's a roly-poly ball of fun.  Jax was saying, "Cheers!" for the very first time and now he talks in full sentences (his latest favorite--"Move it!"  What a peach).  But through it all, I am forever thankful for our family, our health, our situation, our freedoms. 

Our blessings are plentiful up here in Vermont.  Our lives (and our bellies!) are full.