Oooooooooh.

I'm full.

I've done a lot of eating in the last 24 hours.

A lot.

But when you come from a family full of Kitchen Geniuses,

I suppose it comes with the territory.

Back in my blogging days, I made a yearly list of gratitude. It was always so fun to look back at my year and think of the silly and not-so silly things for which I was grateful. This year my heart is full of the silly and not-so silly things that I hold dear (from my kids to my coffee grinder to fat quarters and everything in between).

At dinner, Joe had us share something we were most proud of from the year that has passed since last Thanksgiving. For some, it was a new job...for another, it was getting new teeth. I liked the idea of sharing our proudest moments--it was a truly happy conversation. Ian was proud of his progress in reading and reverence at church (when you're a 4 year-old boy, both things don't always come easy, you know). Blake couldn't share, but if I'm intuitive enough, I'd say that his proudest moment of the year was taking 8 months to gain as much weight as it takes most babies 2 years to do. Joe was proud of his 180-mile bike Tour de Cape this summer with the boy scouts. And me? Well, I am pretty proud that I had a baby in my living room that late night in March (a 60+ degree day...a gift).

It's been a good year, saturated with things for which to give thanks.

For Thanksgiving Day, we celebrated in Maine with my extended family--

both related by blood and by friendship.

And it all started off with crafts for Ian.

We had to do hand turkeys. It's the law.

And Sean and Joe got a start on the 20+ pounds of potatoes we brought.

(we ended up having races to peel the things. I won EVERY TIME.)

And it still blows my mind how grown-up these kids are...

...And seating for 26 stretched through three rooms...

I'll be honest: Papa was already done with his carving duties when I went to take a picture. He was a good enough sport to pose for me. I love my Papa.

We forgot what well water can do to a baby's digestive system.

So four outfits later we decided to let Blake go au naturale

until his stomach calmed down.

Ahhhh. The Neighbor.

...wearing suspenders and a belt.

I reminded him that he should be proud of his sense of preparation.

He laughed at me.

The Spread.

Ian insisted upon having his first drumstick.

I'm 94% sure he wanted one simply because it was called a drumstick.

And then Megan got the sillies.

So did Sean.

A Mitchell Family Gathering would not be a

Mitchell Family Gathering if it did not involve

some sort of tech support.

Uncle Mike set up a mission-control-type arena to fix some sick computers.

I think this picture is hysterical. I'm pretty sure only my family would agree...

...I guess you had to be there.

And there are more pictures of our weekend to come. We head home tomorrow (Saturday), as Saturday is official GET THE CHRISTMAS TREE day. After a music downloading frenzy on Tuesday, we're all set for time to put on the brakes so we can soak in as much Christmas Spirit as humanly possible.

*sigh*

*sigh*

I get to look at this face every day.

Jealous?

...and in case you were wondering,

MAINE WAS AWESOME.

But saying "Maine was awesome" is sort of like saying "The color blue is blue."

REDUNDANT.

My cousins Isaac and Owen were a happy surprise addition.

Joe was in hog heaven when he and Scott spent some quality time

working on the tree house.

I'm pretty confident that the only time Ian came inside the house

was to eat and to sleep.

He also found a square...

...and proceeded to play with it thusly.

And these guys kept on keepin' on...

And this guy came running up to me and said,

"MOM! I found a worm!"

And Ian played his first-ever computer game.

{And Blake watched his first-ever computer game.}

And tonight during Family Home Evening we wore paper hats.

Joe and Ian made mine last night when I was visiting my friend, Sharalyn.

My hat says "The Brave Strong Mama Hat."

Thankyouverymuch.

Ian is a pretty persistent guy.

When he gets an idea, he really hangs on to it.

...And for the last two weeks or so,

he has been begging to make pickles.

[be still my heart!!]

But I've never made pickles.

So I did the most logical think I could think of:

I called my mother.

[A pickle-maker extraordinaire.]

And for the Veteran's Day holiday,

we drove up to Maine for the following reasons (in no particular order):

1. So Ian [and his mother] could learn how to make GG's pickles;

2. So Joe could build a treehouse and squeal with delight;

3. To spend some time with my grandmother who's been under the weather;

and 4. to give my family some Blake lovin', because

WhoCanResistThoseCHEEKS!?!?

PicklePalooza2010 began with hand-and-pickle washing

"Look mom! I'm washing-without-looking!"

Then it was time to gather all of the ice in the house

(which involved both my parents' and my grandparents' ice).

As an aside, here's how Blake spent the afternoon:

strapped to my chest in the Ergo.

I take Blake during the second and third hours of church these days,

and after quite literally pulling my shoulder muscles on Sunday,

I sent out a plea to the Facebook universe: "HELP ME FIND A SLING!!"

The advice was nearly unanimous: BUY THE ERGO. So I did.

And I'm pretty confident we're BOTH in heaven.

But I digress....

Mom took on the cucumber-slicing-duties, for obvious reasons.

But Ian was the Cucumber Transport Man from the counter to the ice.

Mom spent a second extolling the virtues of Kosher salt.

[which is why she is awesome.]

...And then they salted the heck out of the thing...

Mix, Mix, Mix

Ha! Ha! Ha! This might be my favorite picture of the bunch.

Ian licked one of the salted ice cubes.

He found out that it was awful.

And spent about 5 minutes cleaning off his tongue with his sleeve.

Fast-forward four hours after the cukes had time to brine...

Ian helped Mom make what he affectionately referred to as "the sauce,"

and Mom did the hot-and-heavy lifting...

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd....

I am now in Heaven.

The end.

Do YOU know the Muffin Man?

I do.

You see, at our house, it gets dark by about 4:15 in the afternoon.

That is not a joke.

So cabin fever tends to set in pretty early in the day.

And my bag o' tricks tends to fail me by about 3:45 or so.

I'm just sayin'.

So today, after reading through The Friend about six times together,

I decided to have Ian make the muffins in this month's issue.

I measured the ingredients,

Ian did the rest.

Hands-down, one of my proudest moments as a Momma.

My baby's all grown up and baking.

Last, but not least...

Meet my best friends,

Nutmeg & Cloves

(not pictured: cinnamon)

Joe came home the other night, took one look at the stovetop and said,

"What in the world is in this pot?"

Here's the thing:

A while back, we stopped using chemical air fresheners...

...and I started simmering spices on the stove.

And now my house smells like Christmas.

Try it!!