Chirren and Chittlins

First of all Thanksgiving was fantastic. However, I took ZERO pictures. Sorry. I'm disappointed too.
But hey, here's a random recent pic of Olivia asking for "more muck peeease!" aka more milk, please.

Back to Thanksgiving--I am pooped just thinking about it. At this time I would like to "shout out" to all of the folks who spent lots of time on their feet preparing their Thanksgiving dinner for their families. I have done it only once before, but this was the first time as a preggo, and I had to stop a couple of times and pull up a stool and eat a snack just to make it through. I spent three hours alone at the kitchen sink cleaning Chitterlings on Wednesday night. Yes, you read that correctly. Chittlins people! My dad, bro and I are BIG fans. I season them with so much vinegar, lemon juice and hot sauce, and onion, you can barely taste them--but that's how I like 'em. When all of those spices combine enough to make your eyes weak (and mouth water) over the bowl.  Ahh--the family delicacy comes but once (sometimes twice) a year--Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Charm City Daddy, O and I celebrated Thanksgiving with my dad, younger brother, and my mother-in-law came down with a little 5 year-old cousin to play with Olivia. With the exception of my dad's fried turkey, my little brother and I split the cooking responsibilities (WHOAH) and we ate at my parents' house while mom was in the Windy City tending to my sister and her new arrival, Camille Arielle! The "peanut" finally arrived on Tuesday, November 23rd at 6 lbs 3 oz.!

All in all, it was a wonderful 5-day weekend filled with some light holiday shopping and lots of family time with Olivia including a trip to the National Aquarium in Baltimore.