Gobble 'til You Wobble... or Spin Yourself Dizzy!

I have been excited about Thanksgiving for weeks. I love making Turkey Day dinner. That's kinda weird, right? I get nostalgic for the smell of turkey, marshmallow yams and pie. I don't really even care that much about eating the food (although I do my fair share), I just love making it. I'm sounding a little freakish.

This year marked our first Thanksgiving in Utah. We weren't alone, Uncle Dusty joined us and for that we are thankful! We bought a little half turkey (actually, I only paid 17 cents for it because I had collected enough turkey vouchers from Macey's -- the greatest grocery store EVER!) which was perfect in size and taste (not to toot my own horn). I made my famous yams, some fresh green beans, stuffing and rolls. Uncle Dusty made delicious mashed potatoes (Andy was so impressed that one of his brothers could produce such fare) and a yummy apple pie (I made cherry cobbler and bought pumpkin pie from Costco... mmm... pie).

The table was full of food, our bellies were empty as we sat down preparing to indulge and engorge, Ava says, "Mmmm... Mommy this looks delicious. I'm gonna get stuffed." And she did. The toothed-Kleinmans weren't the only ones filling our tummies. Jax has his very first taste of jarred baby food yesterday -- one day shy of his half birthday.

We've already given baby cereal a try to no avail. But, I thought I'd give it another whirl, maybe he'd forgotten about the taste or texture. But that kid has a mind like a steel trap! As soon as I put the cereal up to his lips he made this face, like he had just smelled the worst stink. As soon as it touched his tongue, he began gagging. Maybe that was a bad spoonful, let's try again. Same thing, except this time, there's some dry heaving. Okay, so rice cereal is a no go. I let Ava choose what Jax should have for Thanksgiving, she picks green beans.... ahhh, pureed, jarred, green beans... just like the pilgrims did it. This one goes a little better. Initially, Jax didn't know what to think. I think he was just confused by the new taste and texture. But, once he warmed up to the beans, he chowed down about 1/3 of the jar. He promptly spit part of that up soon after. But, hey, I'm sure he wasn't the only American regurgitating his food yesterday.

Jax's first bite of green beans

Ava ate her weight in food, I'm sure of it! She never ceases to amaze. For being so thin, the girl can put it away. She had an entire plateful of food, then moved on to the desserts. A sliver of apple pie, a sliver of pumpkin pie (both with heaping spoonfuls of whip cream) and a bit of cobbler. At that point I cut her off, despite her pleas.

Copying Daddy

Now, here's where it gets good. This is how you know my child is deprived of sugar. About 15 minutes after she finished stuffing her amazingly stretchy stomach, she began spinning. We encouraged her to let her food settle a little while before she sent it into blender motion. But, she was set on spinning. We're not talking just a few spins around the kitchen either. No, she spun for a good 20 MINUTES! I'm not exaggerating. And as she spun, she sang... loudly. She performed the "Little Einsteins" theme song, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," "Jingle Bell Rock," "Mr. Grinch," "Rudolph," the "Super Why" theme song, "I Just Can't Wait to be King," and "I Am a Child of God" -- all at the top of her lungs. Even a few near biffs later didn't throw a wrench in her spinning. Andy, Dusty and I couldn't stop watching her. We were all prepared to see her Thanksgiving dinner in reverse, but more than anything, we were amazed. How does one spin that long? I kept thinking to myself, "So this is what a sugar high looks like."

Here's a brief video we took of the Spinning-capades. Sorry it's sideways.



Once Ava came down from her Happy Place we retired to the living room to watch "Wall-E" followed by "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving."

It was a great day! I'm so thankful to have an amazing family to have spent it with. Had it been any other day, I might have been sad to see it end. But, to be honest, I'm happy it's over... because that means Christmas is just around the corner.