thanksgiving day bust

i'd really rather not talk about thanksgiving 2011, but i will. for posterity's sake. you're welcome, posterity. 

it started out like any other thanksgiving day. oh wait. i didn't run the turkey trot i've run for the past five years. i sat on my behind instead. 

but, ryan did get his football on. in the snow, no less.

we lazed around that morning doing nothing - because leah had a whopping eleven seizures that day. ELEVEN. she even had one at the dinner table. seizures + leah + the floor = this:

{i'll spare you the picture of her bruised, carpet-burned forehead and instead post the pic of her resting peacefully on the couch with her french braids. ryan and i for sure get the parents-of-the-year award for that one.}

mid-day, i put the turkey in, leaving ample time for some extra cooking, if needed, as well as time to cool and carve before we walked across the street to feast at the holbrook's house. that ample time came and went and then went some more and the turkey was still pink. i was confused {and frustrated and on the verge of tears} because i've made turkeys before and they've NEVER taken this long to cook. i know i thawed it correctly. i know my oven cooks at the correct temperature, so why, why, WHY was this happening to me? 

{it dawned on ryan, a few hours after the fact, that the blasted pizza stone resting on the bottom rack in the oven was sucking up all the heat. i might never eat pizza again...}

at the eleventh hour, the laytons finally arrived with the bird and a sleepy, seizure-laden leah in tow. the ten other guests {including two other tuckies...one from china who was experiencing her first thanksgiving - go me} were waiting patiently with their perfectly prepared - and timed - sides, and we ate.

and i should have enjoyed it, but i didn't. i enjoyed the company. and i thoroughly enjoyed the mashed potatoes. but the four year old who didn't join us for most of dinner...and the fowl that did...just ruined it for me. 

sorry, thanksgiving 2011. i kind of don't like you.