My children and I just spent the last 3 hours in the kitchen preparing mouth watering delicacies for tomorrows feast. Okay, so maybe they aren’t delicacies but my house sure smells scrumptious right now!  Dd was so helpful. She is 11. She sliced up and peeled the apples for the apple pie, added the remaining ingredients, did a pretty darn good job rolling out the tricky pie crust I made last night and made the streusel topping. She also whipped the sweet potatoes and drained the olives and such and put them on a platter. Last night she made the cranberry sauce and the puppy chow practically on her own. She proved invaluable tonight because we were surprised early in the day with the opportunity to take my dad to a Dr. appointment on the other side of town. It was a fairly long appointment so by the time we finished and made a few stops we returned home rather late in the afternoon. I am deeply grateful for my dd’s help. I guess I was a bit surprised tonight by how much of a help she was. I am kind of in awe! My 8yo ds was also helpful! He washed and dried the blueberries, zested a lime and made the fruit dip (although I had to finish mixing it. Marshmallow creme is tricky stuff!). He eventually lost interest and left the kingdom of domestic females in order to draw cartoon scenes on the white board while in his underwear. God bless the entertaining cluelessness of little boys!

One of our stops was Costco. I splurged and bought muffins for us to eat while we watch the parade in the morning. I had a feeling I wasn’t going to have time to make anything exciting for breakfast and I didn’t want to make the kids eat cold cereal on such a fun morning. I want to cuddle with them and watch the parade, not be secluded in the kitchen.

We are excited for tomorrow!

“Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.” ~ Psalm 100:3-5