#SpreadsheetThanksgiving Social Media Recap!!!

Well you guys, #SpreadsheetThanksgiving was TOTALLY EPIC! In a good way. I think my favorite part about it was that I didn’t actually have to host it and I only cooked two things instead of 800 things. My second favorite thing about it was definitely the FOOD. It was awesome!!! Emily really outdid herself! My THIRD favorite thing about it was the company. I mean, our family is pretty great. NOT AS GREAT AS THE FOOD, so they ranked slightly lower, but still pretty great. Here is some photographic evidence of their greatness:

Emily’s daughter loves selfies. WHAT MORE COULD I ASK FOR?

My #selfie protégé! ?????????????????????? @momminitup #cousinsdoitbetter

A photo posted by Jenny Rapson (@jennyitup) on

 

Ummm, also. These children are supposed to be babies, not HALF GROWN UPS!

These children are supposed to be BABIES! ???? @momminitup @rapson2000

A photo posted by Jenny Rapson (@jennyitup) on

 

Jonah loves our Grandma. She is pretty darn lovable!

Jonah loved Grandma Burns!

A photo posted by Jenny Rapson (@jennyitup) on

 

Ok, but moving on. My FOURTH favorite thing about #SpreadsheetThanksgiving was going back later and reading Emily’s tweets from the days, and especially the night before. The night before #SpreadsheetThanksgiving was my husband’s birthday and I was all at his sister’s house celebrating with the Rapsons because YAY! BOBBY IS 37!!! So I was totally oblivious to Emily tweeting things like:

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and posting pics like this:

 

And then andy had to plunge the kitchen sink. #SpreadsheetThanksgiving

A photo posted by Emily Berry (@momminitup) on

 

and then tweeting things like this:

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OhI’mNOTlaughingiSWEARi’mnotlaughing…

This one made me laugh a little though.

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But only because I dropped a bottle of shampoo on my foot and it CUT MY TOE the same day. Sheesh. ANYWAY.

All joking aside, #SpreadsheetThanksgiving ROCKED! Emily totes rocked it, from the place settings

Fancy tables! #spreadsheetThanksgiving

A photo posted by Jenny Rapson (@jennyitup) on

to the gluten-free sweet potato casserole.

 

And of course, Gibbles the Turkey was delicious. She cooked him REAL GOOD.

 

Well, it’s out of the oven. #spreadsheetthanksgiving

A photo posted by Emily Berry (@momminitup) on

It was a super-wonderful day filled with laughing children, incredible overeating, funny Grandmas:

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And of course…SPREADSHEETS!!!

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Great job, cousin!  You really earned some mad spreadsheet and culinary STREET CRED!

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#SpreadsheetThanksgiving

After a series of unlikely events and somewhat by default, I’m hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow for my grandmas, my sister and her family, Jenny and her family, Jenny’s brother and his family, and Jenny’s mom and dad. Add Kate, Sam and Andy and that’s 21 people.

I know what you’re thinking.

But I promise this does not involve spaghetti in a crock pot.

It does, however, involve spreadsheets. Lots of them.

I have a spreadsheet for the seating chart, one for the ingredients for each dish, one for my grocery list, and one that has pretty much everything else.

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I’ve also got a to-do list for today and tomorrow, and a timeline for tomorrow broken up into five minute increments.

Issues, I haz ’em.

I have been researching the hell out of Thanksgiving for a month or so now… I’ve read the entire internet and quizzed UP and his wife about how to make stuffing, gravy and cranberry relish, but every time I see an alternate version of something I’m planning to make or a no-really-THIS-is-the-best-way-to-cook-a-turkey pin, I nearly veer off course.

Take, for example, Monday night when I read an article about how to spatchcock a turkey. It started to sound like a really good idea, so I turned to Jenny for advice.

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So, needless to say, this is going to be interesting. I’m tweeting and instgramming the experience using #SpreadsheetThanksgiving, so if you need a laugh or reassurance that someone is screwing up a meal more than you are, I hope you’ll follow along.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Your Happy Pre-Holidays Board Game Review

One of my favorite things about the approaching holiday craziness is…that my favorite game-makers from the Wonder Forge always ask me to review some of their new games. YAY! I love this because I love playing their board games with my kids. If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile you know that’s true, and you also know I love using games to help my kiddos who have or have had speech delays – Jonah is currently still in speech. This time around I picked two games with Jonah in mind and one for the big kids. First up – the Tickety Tock Chime Time game for Jonah.

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This game is a lot of fun! The reason I chose it is because there are a variety of cards you draw as part of the game that have activities on them (for example: pretend to walk a tightrope) that you have to do. This is great for teaching Jonah to follow directions and since the activities are silly and fun, he enjoys them. As a matter of fact, he gets a little impatient to get to the cards, so I’ve modified the way we play a little bit, but I think most older three-year-olds will love it just the way it is. I highly recommend it, it’s really fun!

For Joshua, I picked out Marvel Avengers: Slide Strike! – but Sophie loves it too!

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This is really fun because it involves both strategy and surprise – not to mention Joshua’s favorite Marvel characters. Plus, every character combo that battles against each other yields a different outcome. So, the game is really different every time you play!

The last game I reviewed is super super fun – Dr. Seuss Charades!

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Jonah loves, loves, loves Dr. Seuss, and I’m always trying to get him to pretend, so this charades game is PERFECT! Plus it involves a little instruction-following too which is always good. Sophie really gets into this game too and we love to play it together – the whole family enjoys watching Jonah play this, he’s so cute because he’s having so much fun!

Well, that’s the low-down on three of the new games from the Wonder Forge this holiday season, but there are plenty more where that came from! Check out all their games at their website – they even have Frozen games if you’ve got a Frozen fan (like most of us!)

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