Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving! No, we are NOT crazy... well, OK, we just adopted two kids so maybe we ARE crazy, but wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving is not a sign of our insanity. You see, one of the things that most bothered Beth and Luke about our trip to Russia was that they had to miss Thanksgiving. It's not a holiday they celebrate over there... even though we sort of celebrated a little bit at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Stavropol. We promised the kids a real Thanksgiving feast with all the trimmings sometime after we got home.

Since Mark and the non-homeschooled kids had Monday off for the MLK Jr. Holiday, we decided that it would be a good day to have our belated Thanksgiving. Part of the tradition is Beth making pies (she is GREAT at making pie!) and she wanted to try out her new apron and ovenmitt from Grandma. She helped teach Kim to make cinnamon roll cookies with the leftover crust. We cooked a turkey (or Bolshoi Chicken as Peter and Kim understood it). We found a good Thanksgiving story and explanation online that we translated into Russian using babelfish's webpage translator. We looked at a photo of turkey... turns out it isn't just a big chicken afterall. Most importantly, we shared this opportunity to thank God with some very dear friends. The Canary's joined us and a great time was had by all... 4 adults and 8 kids (yes we ate in the dining room on the good china and no, there were no spills... much to Bandit's dismay). Kim really enjoyed having two year old Erin over to play with. She hasn't stopped talking about it. All four of our kids REALLY enjoyed the turkey and Kim, Beth and Luke also liked the stuffing... not Peter... seems we ruined his hleb (bread) by putting stuff in it.

We may have to celebrate Thanksgiving a lot more often! We have so much to be thankful for... and who doesn't love the smell of turkey?