Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving has always been a big holiday in my family. Growing up, it was a tradition for my dad to cook a big turkey, and we would have family and friends over. When I moved away for college, I came home almost every year. When I moved to Virginia, my parents and brother started coming up most of the time, and a couple of times we went to Florida.  Now we live overseas, and this is our second Thanksgiving away from home. Today is just another day for most people here, but we do feel thankful that we got to celebrate with other Americans today. The list of things I am thankful for is endless, but most importantly is for our loving God, my husband, boys, family, and friends. Thankfulness is a part of my everyday life, especially being at a place far away from home, where life is very different. Today, I was glad for how we spent this Thanksgiving day.

Our day started with parent-teacher conferences at the boys' preschool (more on that later this week). It was good to talk to their teachers and hear about their progress. Afterwards, we participated in a Turkey Trot 5k at the Embassy with some friends. We even convinced Tes to run and she had a blast. Caleb ran about half of the race too, and he won a race car afterwards. We enjoyed some home baked goods and fruit with everyone then headed home. It was a fun way to start the morning.

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our home. We had our American friends, and also shared the day with friends from the Philippines, Mauritus, Canada, and Lebanon, some of who never had a traditional American Thanksgiving meal. Another friend cooked the turkey, stuffing, and some delicious apple crisp and jello desserts, and I cooked the pork roast, salad, some sides, and pumpkin cheesecake bars. My entire menu was thanks to Pinterest - for which I was very thankful this year ;). Everyone was guinea pigs for my first time recipes, and I think they all turned out really good. This is a chicken, walnut, pomegranate salad that tasted great and looked so festive.

 Garlic and onion roasted brussel sprouts.

 Butternut squash with cranberries and feta cheese.

 Honey and brown sugar glazed baby carrots.

Pumpkin cheesecake bars with whipped cream

 The spread!

While the adults enjoyed lots of food, good laughs, and sharing Thanksgiving traditions, the kiddos watched Stuart Little and ate their meal.

The plasma cars from Grandpa Mark and Grandma Betty were a hug hit today. At some points we would see 3 kids piled onto a car!

 Caleb loves our friends twins, he followed them around everywhere!

 And we caught them cuddling with their little sister too :).

 Showing their tough guy and gal faces.

It was a fun day with our family and good friends, and for that I am always thankful. Happy Thanksgiving to our family and friends around the world. We love you a lot and are thankful for you every day!