Thanksgiving Turkeys

These two turkeys have been helping me get ready for Thanksgiving. No, not the actual turkeys, the girls, Xandra and Theia. Since I didn't have a picture of both of them, I thought their turkey placecards could stand in for the actual girls.

We'll be spending the day today with friends, Tim & Jennifer, in Northern Virginia. We'll be leaving in a few hours and so far we've made our place cards (using ink and fingerprints),

(even Aliyah has one),

made our pilgrim hats,

(marshmallows, chocolate chips, fudgestripe cookies, and frosting (yum!)),

taken a bath after the pilgrim hats,

and made some other turkey day decorations at church and MOPS last week,

I'm somewhat sure that the teacher who wrote that helped her think of it, but it's sweet anyway, isn't it? I'm thankful for your sisters, too, Xandra.

Theia's turkey is more of a turkey hunt. Can you see the purple turkey made from her hand under all of the feathers?

Xandra also made a beautiful turkey from a brown paper bag on Sunday at church. Now that the important things are taken care of all we have to do is make some rolls, sweet potatoes, a relish tray, and desserts. Then we'll load up the kids and half of what we own and drive to Virginia. But first, Joe's running a turkey trot this morning.

Amidst our day of running, driving, cooking, and visiting with friends, we'll take some time to reflect on all of our blessings and give thanks to the One who gives them to us. Beyond fun decorations and desserts, we so desire for our kids to see and learn what it is to live lives of gratitude to the One who gives so much more abundantly than we could ever deserve. Happy Thanksgiving and if you're reading this post, we probably said a word of thanks for you today.