It's all about the food!

We have had a nonstop, long weekend of Thanksgiving vacation fun!

Tuesday was Noah's last day of school before the weekend and he brought home this drawing. Go ahead and take a guess.
Does this help?
We asked him what he drew and he told us, "turkey." Of course it's a turkey! Don't feel bad if you thought it was a dinosaur. That was our first guess, too.

Mike took Wednesday off to be here for the HVAC dudes installing our new furnaces. The 21 year-old dinosaurs in the attic pretty much fell apart when they were disconnected and left a lovely trail of rust all the way down the stairs. Yuck! But the mess cleaned up easily and now we have safe heat! Just in time for some super-cold (yes, low 40's is super-cold for us) overnight temps. During the home inspection, it was discovered that the furnaces were emitting higher than normal levels of carbon monoxide, but not enough to kill us...yet...Comforting, right? Anyway, we were reluctant to use them at all. We arranged to get the new furnaces after the summer heat was over and before the cold weather started.

Mike also learned how to use the fireplace that day. The bunny loooooooves her new fireplace. She has claimed it as her own. She's the boss of everything! She fell asleep that night, on the floor, wrapped up in a blanket, with her, "baby sister, Jordan."
Thanksgiving morning was busy, yet wonderfully relaxed. The weather was gorgeous and the kids bounced in the bouncy and played outside pretty much all day. I have no photos of that. But I do have photos of what we ate. Because, you know, it's alllll about the food!

Here's the turkey...
...and Mike, the turkey-frying master! You thought I called him a turkey, didn't you? He fried two turkeys so we had plenty to eat, share with friends, and keep for leftovers.

Mike is in charge of the meat and I do the rest. And I have to say, I love, love, love having two ovens! I didn't have to schedule oven time for all the dishes or make anything the day before.

Behind door number one, we have: green bean casserole topped with crumbled bacon and cheese, Pioneer Woman's buttered rosemary rolls, and brown-sugar glazed roasted sweet potatoes.
Behind door number two, we have: sweet potato casserole topped with chopped pecans from our tree that I hand-cracked the night before and a ginormous roaster full of cornbread dressing.
Wanna see those rolls up close? They were deeeeeee-lish!
I also made a pumpkin-pecan cheesecake. Note: it, too, is topped with hand-cracked pecans from our tree.
About that hand-cracking pecan thing...Never. Again. I spent two hours cracking nuts and didn't quite get a cup full of usable bits. I am truly thankful I don't make my living shelling pecans. I'd be fired on the first day. And my fingers and thumbs would be in a world of hurt. But, it was cool to say I did it and it made the sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pecan cheesecake taste better. Right? *winks*

Here's the spread:
Black Friday was spent mostly playing outside again. Did I mention the weather has been gorgeous in the daytime? We did run to Lowe's in the afternoon to get some things for the house, but not for the crazy sales.

Today, Saturday, I FINALLY unpacked the dining room and Mike brought home our Christmas tree. Needless to say, the kids were super excited about it. I'll have photos and more stories later!