Feasting with Family

 Wow I can't believe our Thanksgiving stay-cation is almost over. 

It went by too fast!

We were so blessed to have the Harris/Bean families in town visiting for a whole week. 

David's parents, Grammie and Abuelo, flew in from India, and his sister and her family, Tami, Greg, and Gabi flew in from Colorado. 

Here is what we were up to this past week:

Finley enjoyed the week playing with his cousin. 

The last time these two were together Finley was really too young to play with Gabi. 

Not this time! It was so cute and fun to have the cousins together again. 

 

We played fun board games with Auntie Tami and Uncle Greg after the kiddos were asleep. Or maybe they were just fun because both David and I were the winners of the games we ended up playing :). 

Finley enjoyed doing some more girlie activities like 'having your hair did'. 

The weather was just beautiful this past week so we got out as much as we could. 

 

We went to our neighborhood park. 

And let the cousins run around together. 

Finley had to do everything that Gabi did. 

We were also fortunate enough to go see my sister perform one last time with STOMP here in Raleigh.  

Finley was so pumped to finally see the show in person.
His eyes were glued to the stage the entire show. 

He loved seeing his auntie Michelle perform. But every time she left the stage, he kept asking me where she went. I think he was a little worried. But by the end of the show he was clapping, and dancing right along with the performers. Poor Gabi must have been tired from flying across the country, because she fell asleep about half way through the show. I was amazed she could sleep through all the noise. 

Afterwards we were all able to go out to eat together and visit. 

My sister's girlfriend Mishay was also in town for the show. 

It was so great to see her and catch up! 

Finley just adores these two. 

On Monday we were able to go out to our favorite park and hike around. 

Gabi was used to hiking with her parents in Colorado. She kept telling us she had walked a lot of miles. Finley on the other hand, was not as used to all the walking around we did, as the picture above indicates. 

A fun tradition we started 2 years ago is to have the kids wear matching PJ's for the holidays. 

Thanks Grammie and Abuelo for the new Christmas PJ's!

We were all also very excited for our new clothes from India. 

Isn't this outfit on Gabi just adorable! Kind of makes me want a girl now :). 

On Thanksgiving Day we went down to Pinehurst to spend Thanksgiving with Greg's parents. 

We went out to eat which was great. No cooking or cleaning up! The only downside was no left overs. 

Then we went over to Nana Kate's brother's house (across the street) for dessert. Look at that table full of desserts! David and I split three different pieces of pie. Yum!

It was so nice to spend the holiday with David's family since we don't get to see them as much as we would like to. 

Like my new Kurta?
(another Indian article of clothing)

To top off the meal, Lisa and Paul had s'mores for the kids to roast. 

I am pretty sure this was Finley's first s'more (you know since we don't camp!). 

He loved it. And loved the fire too. 

Before we knew it the week was over!

It was so hard to say goodbye! 

Especially to Grammie and Abuelo who will be heading back to India until their 'year' is up this spring. 

Luckily we have skype to keep in touch. 

We were also able to have some amazing family photos done while everyone on the Harris side was in town visiting. Thanks again Toni! Here are some of my favorites:

To me Thanksgiving is all about family. 

I am so blessed and grateful to have such wonderful people in my life.
We love you guys! 

Happy Thanksgiving!

60 & Fabulous!

This past Tuesday we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday.

We didn't want such an event to go by without doing something special for our mom. After months of planning and organizing we were finally able to throw her a surprise birthday party!

We hosted a dinner for close friends and family at my Uncle's restaurant MEZ in Durham.



My sister Michelle, who flew in secretly for the event, and I put together some flowers for the centerpieces.

And with the help of my mom's coworkers at the ballet school we gathered a bunch of photos of her to display. I love the old ones from my mom's dancing days.

Especially this one.

And this one! 

The guests arrived early to be sure to surprise my mom.

In true Dorrance fashion she arrived a little late :). But at least all of the guests were already in place to surprise her! Keeping this party a secret from my mom was really hard to do. And I was afraid she was going to kill us because she HATES being the center of attention, but in the end it was a good surprise. 

She smiled, stomped her foot, and told us we were not suppose to do this! Luckily she forgave us. I think flying in Michelle for the occasion and having her brother from Virgina there were added bonuses!

Finley, who had been dying to see Mimi all day, had trouble sharing her with the rest of the group. He would ask where she went when she left our table, and then not speak to her when she came back. I think he was a little jealous.

A tradition that we started this year is to produce a list of 60 things we love about our mom in honor of her 60th birthday. From the good qualities, to the bad, and everything in between that make our mom special and unique. We shared our 60 for 60 list with the guests. Their were both tears and laughter from the crowd.

And then we performed a special musical number.

Notice the costume change?



Over the past week we had all been working hard to learn the lyrics and melodies of "Sisters" from White Christmas (thus the interesting costume change by Donovina).

And no musical number was complete with out a little tap dancing.

Below is our special musical number. No laughing now! I know I am not the best singer in the family, but sometimes sacrifices of pride are made to make others happy.

Mom/Mimi we love you to pieces!

We hope that you had a great birthday and know just how much we love you and how lucky we are to have you in our lives. You are the best!

Halloween Highlights

Halloween Night we enjoyed dressing up in our costumes for the final time. 

David and I were dressed up as Peeta Mallark and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games novels. 

The best part of the night for me was when we saw our neighbor (a 10 yr old girl) and her friends and they all treated us like celebrities because of our awesome costumes! It was hilarious!

We stuffed ourselves silly on caramel apples, hairy eyeballs, graveyard pudding, and spider deviled eggs. 

 We lit up our pumpkins and they looked great!

Finley finally put on his Halloween costume, but only because we told him he wouldn't get any candy if he didn't dress up.  

And then we went knocking on doors with some friends!

Finley really enjoyed hanging out with his new best friend Woody aka Brycen. 

 Hope your Halloween was delightful as well!