Walking with Big EZ

Monday, December 3, 2012

Christmas Tree Shopping and Jamie's Birthday!

With Thanksgiving Day behind us we pushed forward to celebrate our son-in-law Jamie's birthday, and assemble the troops to head out to a local Christmas tree farm. What's a birthday breakfast without Monkey Bread, which Tara lovingly made this year, along with fresh fruit and maple/black pepper glazed thick bacon cooked in the oven! Yum!

It was a cool, overcast day so we bundled all the little ones up and drove down the road to Big Ridge Tree Farm. How wonderful to be greeted by this sweet Nativity as we arrived.

As we looked out over the hills, there were certainly plenty of trees to choose from!

Please Mom, can we buy this one?

Sorry Nick, this one it is!

Look who woke up! Is he a cutie or what?

The steep slopes were a bit difficult for EZ to navigate with the way the peripheral neuopathy affects his left foot, so he and Nick headed back up the hill after picking out our tree. There was delicious hot chocolate for them to enjoy, courtesy of this family run farm. The rest of us made our way down the hill to where the ducks, chickens, donkeys and rams awaited us.

A misty rain started to move in before we all had a chance to take a free hay ride, but the children did have an opportunity to share their wish list with Santa.

What a fun time we all had before heading home to see Gigi and enjoy Jamie's pizza and hot wing dinner, courtesy of our favorite, Capone's!

It was a wonderfully full day from start to finish. Happy Birthday Jamie!

Friday, November 30, 2012

Thanksgiving Day 2012

In spite of a few family members not feeling totally up to par, we had a wonderful day together at the cabin. Earlier in the week we planned our menu and did our shopping so that we could make our side dishes as the turkey roasted in the oven, filling the cabin with a delightful aroma. EZ had driven about 1 1/2 hours to spend the night with his folks on Wednesday, so that he could leave early in the morning and bring them to Boone for Thanksgiving. We were so very grateful that they decided to join us for the day, and their presence made everything more special. Having all of our children, their spouses, our grandchildren, and our parents together in one place was a real blessing!

THANKSGIVING MENU:

Oven Roasted Turkey (14 lbs.)

Mom's Sausage Stuffing

Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Topping

Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Pioneer Woman's Mashed Potatoes

Broccoli

Petite Green Peas

Gravy

Ambrosia

Rhodes Dinner Rolls

Assorted Pies

Many of us commented that for some reason, this year's dinner was one of the best we can recall! We were hungry when we ate at about 2:00, and everything just tasted delicious.

There was time to take the kids to the park, visit, read books and just enjoy one another's company as all the food was being prepared.

The two great grandmas...Grammy and Gigi

Before it was time for EZ and I to drive his folks back home, we grabbed everyone for a group shot of them with the grandkids and great grandkids. I love sweet Nathan's hand on PopPop and Natalie holding Grammy's hand. We always joke with Grammy about having so many little ones because she is the link to TWINS (she had a fraternal twin sister and brother). She just smiles!

And one last parting shot before the drive back to Black Mountain. Wonderful memories were certainly made once again this year! Sure hope you all had a special day as well.

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Pre-Thanksgiving in the Mountains

During the week leading up to Thanksgiving day, our family made their way to the mountains bit by bit. We love gathering there, and were looking forward to having our whole clan together, including our parents. As always, there was plenty of good food, lots of fun family times in the park, and many long dog walks. The weather was beautiful, which is always appreciated when you have five little ones that need to burn off some of their energy!