We did Thanksgiving at home this year. I think this is the first time, in the history of our relationship, that we’ve done Thanksgiving at home. Usually, we visit Aaron’s family, as they are much closer, but we’ve spent a couple of Thanksgivings with mine, too.

Oh, and there was this Thanksgiving, as well. The one where we were in Ukraine. Who has been reading my blog long enough to remember that?!

Because this is the first Thanksgiving we’ve spent at home, this is also my first turkey. Well, I really thought I made my first turkey, but while we were eating, Gus informed us that it was actually chicken or “chickey.” Thanks, Gus. We had no clue.

When we do Thanksgiving with Aaron’s family, we eat at his family reunion, where there is a potluck and an interesting selection of foods. Mostly traditional Thanksgiving foods, but usually some unique dishes, too! I don’t think that the kids remember ever having Thanksgiving at my parents’ house, as the last time we did that, Reed and Lena were just 4 and 3. My mom does often make a Thanksgiving type meal when we come to visit, even if it’s in March. She’s awesome like that.

So, the run-down of favorite foods from our family’s first Thanksgiving at home:
Reed: Stuffing
Lena: Mashed Potatoes
Gus: Corn (the frozen kind. from a bag. with nothing special added.)
Aaron: Pumpkin Pie
Me: Mashed Potatoes with corn mixed in

Gus did not like how all of the Thanksgiving food felt on his fingers and when he complained loudly, I reminded him to use his fork. He decided to try it on a roll.

What are we thankful for?

Gus: “What Papa says”
Reed: A good dinner, a good home, and mama, Papa, Lena and Gus
Lena: What Reed said + good friends + my brother (“which brother?” both of you!!)
Me: Reed, Lena and Gus, and that Aaron’s going to do the dishes tonight.

When it was Aaron’s turn, he gave the ultimate cop-out answer, “everything.” So, Reed and Lena started listing everything… “God? And trees? And even turkeys?” But, Gus finally stuck that answer to him when he announced “bird poop!!”

He kept yelling “and bird poop! and bird poop! and bird poop!”, but it probably didn’t help that we all dissolved into hysterical laughter.

Now, we have a fridge FULL of food. Do you make broth with your turkey bones? I’ll be making some leftover Thanksgiving soup with ours.

Our morning started off with the question, “do you want to do that hike we did before or do you want to go do a geocache at a llama farm?” Geocache at the llama farm, of course.

It was raining out just a bit, but the nicest day we’ve had by far recently. Fortunately, the rain stopped by the time we got there.

We saw this cat. It was very exciting.

When you go geocaching, the kids bring something to trade and then if the cache has toys in it, they can trade out toys. Gus pointed to the cat and said, “can I trade (for) it?” This was his reaction when we told him no.

She was looking super cute and in a good mood.

I asked her to run around for me.

Of course, Gus wanted to join in, too.

He is definitely “his own person”.

I was having a lot of fun photographing her with this prairie grass.

Her coat and hair went so nicely with it.

Sometimes, she reminds me SO much of Anna from Frozen, with her silly expressions.

The boys were there, too, but they kept running far ahead of us.

Around halfway through the hike, we realized we would not be seeing any llamas. Aaron suggested that perhaps they had flown south for the winter. Or maybe they were hibernating. Lena informed him that she had seen llamas at school and they do NOT fly south or hibernate.

It was a disappointment not to see any llamas. It further confirms that we need to plan a trip to Vermont to visit my sister, meet my newest niece and their llamas and alpacas.

Aaron also took us to this overlook park that he had been to before.

I asked Reed to stand by this fence for a few pictures.

His smile didn’t quite go with the chainlink, so I asked for a tough face.

Lena came along and also wanted to pose with the fence.

Gus kept announcing “I want to go home”.

It was still nice to get out even without any llamas and enjoy warmer temperatures for a day.

Do you follow me on Facebook? Well, if you do, this is old news, but if you don’t, you should. 🙂

I got our MudLOVE bracelets in earlier this week– super exciting! I am done with pre-orders, but I have a ton of bracelets in stock, ready to ship. Again, the proceeds from these bracelets go to Luda’s hosting fees and if that gets fully funded, additional proceeds will go towards other hosting expenses, such as her/my airfare within the US, any dental costs which we cannot get donated, etc.

These photos are a small representation of what bracelets I have to sell. I have all of these words and a few different color bands for most of them.

I believe that all words and animals I have are pictured EXCEPT “justice”, “carpe diem” and “dance”, which I forgot to include. I only have one left of “dance”.

This is just a closer-up photo of the bracelets in the first photo.

This is a little gift idea I threw together quick, partly because I’m obsessed with cookie butter right now. In the spring, this is similar to what I did for teacher gifts. I did a MudLOVE bracelet (carpe diem) + a jar of homemade jelly from a friend + a Target giftcard tucked under the band.

I think “inspire” or “loved” or “carpe diem” would be a cute addition to a teacher gift. Or a dinosaur would be adorable for a teacher who teaches about dinosaurs. 🙂

These bracelets are $12 for one “word” bracelet OR $14 for one “animal” bracelet” or $10 per word/$12 per animal when ordering more than one bracelet or ordering bracelets with a t-shirt. The price includes shipping within the US and I’m happy to ship to Canada for a few extra dollars.

Please contact me if you are interested in ordering. These bracelets are selling quickly, so it’s too difficult for me to maintain a post with the design and color combinations that I have available, but I’m happy to talk with you about it via email(molly@amooseinmoscow.com) or Facebook message.

Hopefully, you’ve all seen is the I Not Grumpy video. If not, you should, because it’s quite cute and worth a few seconds of your time. 🙂

We also recently had an “I Not Tired” moment. Gus was sitting at the table, waiting for lunch, and was doing that thing usually seen among college students. Nodding off with this head slowly falling down, then snapping himself awake at just the last second.

But, if you asked him, his reply was “I not tired!”

Even once he had his food, he was still snoozing.

Fortunately, he did wake up enough to eat his salad, but as soon as he was done, he announced “I need a nap.”