Happy Thanksgiving (just two days late)

I hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. We had both my family and Damon's family over for a late lunch. Damon smoked a turkey, and I baked a turkey breast in the oven (at Damon's request in case his turkey didn't turn out well). My turkey was good for making the gravy, but Damon's turned out better than mine!! It was so moist and the smoked flavor added a different taste. Here are pictures of the turkey before and after. (and yes...I did wash and sanitize the platter)

Last year we started having both families over to our house for Thanksgiving, and personally, I think it has turned out well. Even though you might not think so, it is much less work for us to have it at our house than to attend two LARGE meals at both my parent's house and Damon's mother's house. It's also easier on me mentally to have Wes at our house because when we go somewhere else I worry about him breaking things as he tears through the house. Wesley did eat a lot at our thanksgiving meal! He had turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes, stuffing, jelly (don't ask - Damon fed him that). He is making progress on chewing more foods instead of just swallowing and seeing if he gags, so I am thankful for that!

We headed to northern Ohio today for my mother's side of the family's thanksgiving dinner. It was great to see everyone since we don't get up there as often as I'd like. It is difficult to make the trip up there and back in one day - especially now that we have a small child who doesn't love to sit still for a 2.5 hour car ride (We almost always do it in one day because otherwise we have to get someone to take care of the dogs).

Here is a picture of us with my parents, my brother Scott and his girlfriend Emily. (I would like to add a disclaimer that this picture was taken at the end of a long thanksgiving day. I would also like to add that Wesley's ear looks like an elf because you can see just a hint of the fireplace behind his head)

Damon is going to the Bengals game tomorrow, so Wesley and I are going to start decorating the house for "Critmas," which is Christmas in Wesley-speak. We did a little Christmas shopping on Black Friday, but we didn't leave our house until around 11:00am. We missed some of the sales, but got a few good deals. I decided that for myself sleep was more important than saving a few dollars, which goes to show how much I needed sleep! The sale at Staples ended at 10am, but if they had items left, then the sale price was good until they sold out. We didn't get there until around 1:00pm, but they had sale items left.

Speaking of good deals...have you ever visited the website restaurant.com? With the code "SAVE," right now you can purchase $25 gift certificates to restaurants for only $2!!! We have been able to go out to eat with another family for only about $10 each (includes tip)! Most restaurants required you to spend $35 and add on the gratuity, but it's a cheap way to try new restaurants. Also a good gift idea...

I am heading off to bed, so have a great rest of the weekend. Why does it always go so quickly?????