Thanksgiving 2008

Sofie had a turkey filled, mashed potato stuffed, yam feast! She loved eating EVERYTHING! I even gave her a little taste of my own homemade pumpkin pie too.

It was so nice having all the family together. Kalani, Bryan and the girls made it from California. This Thanksgiving was a little hard, it being the first Thanksgiving without our Mama Chana. My Dad wanted to make all the recipes just right. My mom her stuffing, and her sweet potatoes. The night before Thanksgiving we did the necessary "chopping party" for that stuffing that we all LOVE to eat. This year was like no other, Dad did it his way with three turkeys. One was deep fried and the other two were injected with delicious sweetness-mango citrus marinade and a Teriyaki Marinade then smoked over night. I was in charge of the pies and we all helped make all the sides. After hours of intense labor, we ate and had a feast!

It was nice having the girls play with Sofie. They all got pose together in their Thanksgiving dresses that their Nana bought them.

Here is Sofie enjoying her first taste of sweet potato casserole that I made. We think she prefers Gerber??

A couple days after our Thanksgiving feast, we took my mom out to lunch for her birthday. It was nice having us all together again. Here is Sofie getting some love.

Here is Sofie and her Uncle Ryan.

Sofie lunching with the girls...

Papa being goofy and Sofie just playing along...

After everyone was gone and all the festivities were done, we relaxed and had a family day. We took Sofie to the park to feed the ducks for the first time. She loved watching them swim and she was intrigued by their quacks.

She wanted to eat the bread...we let her know that it was for duckies only. She is still trying to understand the meaning of sharing....

She did not understand that once the bread was gone, so were the ducks! The look on her face was priceless!

Fun fact- this was same park that Nick and I took our first "pregnancy" pictures, this time last year (11/18/2007) right in this same spot. And now, Daddy is showing our little girl the world. AMAZING!

We finished the day by taking Sofie to the park and letting her crawl in the grass for the first time. She was a bit unsure at first but she got the hang of it.

We took Sofie on the slide, teeter totter, and the swing. It's amazing, having a child really takes you back to being a kid again. It's probably been 15 years since I've been on a swing...let along crawling around on a park playground!

Each and every day I am thankful for Sofie and Nick! The two most amazing people in the world. I love each of them more than they will ever know! This year, I am thankful for them!

We started one of many Allen Family traditions- The day after Thanksgiving, Nick hung up our very own Christmas lights on our own home. We want this to be a tradition that we can all take part in. Sofie loves seeing the light. As the years go on, we plan on getting more and more elaborate.