Lots O' Reynolds

The official count for Thanksgiving at Windy Hill Farm was 49, but I'm sure we missed somebody so I'm gonna say there was an even 50.

We tried to gather everybody on the porch for a picture, and here's what we came up with. 

(My little family alone is missing Jason, Reed, and Granny Sherry.  You can spot JR on the front row wearing a hoodie, and my parents on each side of the back row.)

It was the biggest turn out we've had in years (though we think a small turn out numbers in the 30's) and was the first time all the 1st cousins have been in the same place for many, many moons.

There's a 34 year age difference between the oldest and the youngest, and though I'd love to claim youngest, I have to settle for youngest granddaughter. 

With this many "Reynolds" in one place, it's easy to be thankful for family!

I Guess I Should Mention It

So I figured I should write about Thanksgiving day since that is the reason we went to Texas in the first place.

First, and most importantly, it was Jason's birthday.  And though we celebrated what felt like a million times, and this picture was taken a few days before at his dad's house, I figured I better include it so I don't hear, "Why didn't you say anything about my birthday being on Thanksgiving?"

My parents had 31 family members over for lunch, or as we call it in the South, "dinner". I didn't get out my camera since I was too busy talking and stuffing my face, but my cousin, Kristi, did snap this picture of our boys right before they left.  It was one of those, "Oh! We need to take a picture of JR and Caleb!"

JR and Caleb are 6 months a part and both in 2nd grade.  JR certainly has some growing to do if he's going to catch up to Caleb.

That evening we had a visit from everybody's favorite friend, JD. At one point I felt like JD was the celebrity guest star on the Muppet Show.  My 3 children surrounded him on all sides (one above his head) while they played the keyboard, a toy horn, and sang. 

JD also inherited a "cool" new nickname.  Kyle started calling him "ABC".

I'm not sure if Kyle just gave up on all the initial names (JR! JD!), or it was because when I told them to sing for JD (isn't that what you do when an opera singer comes to visit, make him listen to your kids sing?) that Reed broke out into his rendition of the ABC Song.  I'm guessing the latter.

Before I go I just had to add this little extra bit. Kyle just climbed in my lap to look at the pictures.  He pointed at JD and said, "There's ABC! There's ABC!"

JR Vs Food

One of JR's highlights of the Texas trip was going to the Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. Ever since JR saw the Man Vs Food episode of his favorite TV personality, Adam Richmond, eating the 72 oz steak, baked potato, shrimp cocktail, dinner salad, and a roll in about 28 minutes he's been dying to go there. (He also wants to go to the restaurant in Seattle that serves the 12 egg omelet, but that'll have to be another trip.) In preparation for our visit to the Big Texan, JR watched the Amarillo episode 3 or 4 times (Thanks, Netflix) and was a bit confused thinking the restaurant was also called "Amarillo", which explained his repeated question of "when are we going to Amarillo?" Not something many people ask. None of us tried the 72oz steak challenge (if you eat everything in an hour you get the $72 meal for free), but I'm still convinced Harry could have done it.

It's obvious this place is a huge tourist trap. But it's actually a fun and tasty tourist trap. The best way I know to describe it (and only my Houstonian readers will get this) it's like the Gallery Furniture of restaurants. It's huge! It has also expanded to include a hotel and a "horse hotel". Bonus for me...it was decorated for Christmas!

JR was beyond excited when we sat down and discovered this on the menu.

Harry and Jason decided to go with the Man Vs Food tribute (JR would have had a conniption fit if they hadn't) which is the same as the challenge except the steak is only 1/4 the size.

And what does all this food look like?

Salad.

"Shrimp Cocktail". (Yes, I'm very much aware those are fried shrimp, but on the episode Adam refers to them as 'shrimp cocktail', and if Adam says they're shrimp cocktail, then JR says they're shrimp cocktail!)

Steak (but only 18 oz.)

Baked potato (oops, not pictured.)

Also included, dinner rolls almost as big as Kyle's head. (They were delicious!)

JR wanted to have his own Man Vs Food challenge and ordered the kid's steak. He was so excited he didn't even mind that there was a piece of garnish on his plate. (And you know that means he was beyond excited since under normal circumstances any sort of green colored food on or near his plate would render the rest of the food inedible.)

Reed was too busy with his artwork and skillet o' fries to help cheer JR on...

And with a celebratory jump and squeal, JR finished off his steak. In this battle of JR vs Food, JR won!

He then enjoyed another dinner roll (3 total). Check out that clean plate...with the garnish still there...He didn't even make us take it off! Do you think Adam Richmond would mind joining us for dinner every night? Sigh...

And how do you end the evening after a big steak? Rocking in a Texas size rocker, of course!

My Deer Boys

Surprise, Surprise...Jason and JR were able to squeeze a little hunting into a jammed packed Thanksgiving vacation. (A good rule of thumb when it comes to male Ingersolls: If there's any possible way hunting can be included, it's going to be.)

You know you're in Texas when you hunt in shorts and flip-flops!

I believe my mother's exact description was "it's the Taj Mahal of deer stands".

Glassing for wildlife. And for all of you, like me, that don't hunt, 'glassing' is a big, fancy word for "lookin' around".

The hunters came home empty handed. But when you get to drink Dr. Pepper and eat Swiss Cake Rolls (not pictured) in the deer stand...well, that's pretty exciting too!

Who Made The Right Choice?

As we were watching the big Texas/Texas A&M game last night, Harry was just a little too excited to cheer for "Jason's team." (Hum...) JR was cheering for whoever was winning, ("Is Mommy's team winning or Daddy's?") but as you can see, we know who his loyalties are really with. Good thing I dressed the babies yesterday...They certainly look like winners!

Bad News Bears

I have good news and bad news.
The bad news: dial-up Internet at Windy Hill Farm isn't interested in allowing me to upload cute and witty pictures documenting our fun little pre-Thanksgiving activities for you.
The good news: You'll get to enjoy doubled-up posts in the days to come.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh, and Jason's upset I didn't wish him 'happy birthday' on Facebook (even though we've now celebrated his birthday 3 times). So, Happy Birthday, Jason!

Was Wendy on the Mayflower?

If you know my mom, then you know she doesn't care for Thanksgiving food. She starts in around September letting everyone know she's "not a turkey and dressin' fan". She even has a turned-up, wincey face she makes so you know she's serious about her distaste. And so it seems our favorite picky eater, JR, has inherited the "Non Fan of Thanksgiving Food Gene". JR eats exactly two things at Thanksgiving dinner: corn and Cousin Caleb's reindeer cookies. (And in case your wondering, the rest of us all eat and love traditional Thanksgiving yummys.) With the big day being right around the corner, JR's school had their Thanksgiving lunch in the cafeteria today, and of course, the parents were encouraged to come and eat with their child. I figured there was about a 50% chance that corn would be on the menu, but I was quite certain Cousin Caleb's reindeer cookies would be nowhere to be found. So what did I do?

I brought in Wendy's.

Now, the way I see it, I'm either:
A. A fun and fabulous mom.
B. A total enabler to my son's picking eating.
C. Completely given up in the food department and decided to blame "Nature" over "Nurture"
or
D. Have eaten enough school cafeteria food to know it can't even pretend to compete with Wendy's.

Answer: I'm going with "all of the above".

So here's the Ingy version of a Thanksgiving school lunch. (My mom will be so proud.) Except there were no costumes, in a true Ingy version there would be Indian headdresses and Pilgrim bonnets at a minimum. But you can see JR's super cool "woven" placemat he made for the occasion.

Thanksgiving Leftovers

We had another great Thanksgiving at my parents house. The babies ate everything I gave them, and I was so proud to have children that actually ate. They ate peas, corn, corn casserole, broccoli cheese casserole, dressing, chicken and dumplings, sweet potatoes, Italian cream cake, and banana pudding. JR ate corn, a roll, and a plate of Cousin Caleb's reindeer cookies. Speaking of Cousin Caleb, can you believe he's only 6 months older than JR? And we thought JR was big. College football scouts, the line starts here.

Is It Time For Turkey Yet?

We celebrated Jason's birthday last night and we're heading up to Lovelady to celebrate Thanksgiving. I'll have a full report when we get back.

Turkey Day Recap

There were 46 of us for Thanksgiving this year (not including dogs). There was SO much good food and lots of laughs.



Jason was in charge of the fried foods for Thanksgiving. He fried a turkey (which everybody loved) and here he is frying Twinkies...which as you can imagine were also a big hit!





For some reason JR felt it necessary to offer after dinner check-ups to our family for Thanksgiving. Here he is giving Cousin Sarah a shot. You can see Cole (Sarah's nephew) trying to make his escape from her lap. I'm guessing that's because JR had just told him, "Now, Cole, this shot is going to hurt- A LOT!"

JR and his favorite cousin, Caleb, were more into playing than eating this Thanksgiving. Although Caleb made reindeer cookies that JR just loved. This tree house they're playing with was mine when I was little, nice to see that it's still a big hit.

Thanksgiving Feast

It was Thanksgiving Feast Day at JR's school today. He has been upset all week about having a name that is only 2 letters long. I finally figured out today what that has been about. The kid's feathers in their headdresses spelled out their names...JR just wanted more feathers in his headdress! He was pretty proud of his macaroni necklace too. Speaking of macaroni, Jason and his dad are still talking about the mom who brought 10 macaroni shells to the party. Not a serving for 10, but 10 cooked shells. We were supposed to bring enough food to serve 12. I guess she figured only 10 people would be interested in eating one shell of macaroni. She really needs to hook up with the lady who showed up at one of our church parties for 50 with 11 deviled eggs!



Yum! JR ate cheese, jello, crackers and cookies

I was so proud when I started reading that JR was thankful for his church, and then I got to the "because" part! Too funny! They really do have a transformer car in his Sunday School room...he even calls it "the transformer car room".

The party is over; JR and Timothy ready to go home.