On Thursday, G and I took the long drive to Portland to have Thanksgiving with my family (aka “the Crazies”).  I was up that morning baking my balls off while G worked until 1:30 pm.  When we got there, the house was full of idiots and my mom was setting the table.

Did I help?  No, I was taking pictures.  But I did a good job watching.  And then I heated up my appetizer creation.  Bacon, pineapple and Boursin puff pastry bites.

Tim (who was making an appearance as Santa) seemed to like it:

Tim was a firefighter for just about a million years, but he finally retired last year.  For his retirement, he got a sweet jacket that he modeled for me.

I’m going to see how much I can get for it on eBay.

After Tim’s modeling, I thought it was time for a little competition.  I missed Elijah’s birthday celebration last weekend so I brought his gift to Thanksgiving.  And the kids tried it out.

While I did not try the hula hoop (in public), the biggest kid of all did (and he almost broke a hip).

Apparently, when G gets the hoop going, he throws his arms up in the air.  I’ve never seen this technique before and I think we’ll have to buy one for home.  Maybe we can make a Shake Weight/Hula Hoop workout.

After a little exercise, the bird was done.

And Tim was tearing it apart.

And my mom started showing parts of the turkey to me as if she were a model on The Price is Right.

Thank you, that’s very helpful mom.

G felt left out so he modeled the finished table.  And he wanted me to point out the ornamental gourds he brought for my mom and Tomoe.

That one was my favorite.  My mom said it looks like a penis, but I think if someone’s penis looks like that, he should go to the doctor.

Oh, so back to dinner.  Kai got all dressed up for it, so we had to take some pictures:

I don’t think Kai really likes taking pictures with Em and Jamison.  I can relate Kai, I can relate.

Thankfully, we were able to sit down for dinner soon after this.  Of course, we had the kid table:

And then the Crazies’ table:

My mom wanted to do a toast, so we had to “cheers” for about an hour.

And G’s only concern was smiling for the camera:

I didn’t take any pictures of the dessert I made, but it was (of course) fabulous.  Not that anyone wants any more recipes, but if you’re looking for an easy, good pumpkin recipe that’s different from pumpkin pie, try Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake.  It is good.  Does Paula Dean ever make anything bad?  I think not.

After gorging ourselves, G and I decided it would be a good idea to try to take a picture together.  We had some blurriness issues…

But got one that was okay.

I swear my brother and his wife were there too, but no one cares about them when Kai’s walking around doing this:

Apparently Kai will fit right in with the Crazies.