Monday, November 30, 2015

Thanksgiving Weekend

The kids and I immensely enjoyed our four day Thanksgiving weekend. We got to spend a lot of time with family, enjoyed a yearly event in Des Moines, decorated the house for Christmas, and even fit in some down time. 


Thanksgiving was about as perfect as a holiday can get with three kids who were forced to keep going all day long. We woke up early (thanks to minis who don't like to sleep in one bit), ate a butter braid (thanks school fundraiser), ate a huge meal with my parents and family (and took family pics), and spent the afternoon and evening with Hubs side of the family. It was a very busy day, but so much fun and it was great to see everyone.


 Unique family pictures....at least that's what I call them.

 My Grandma Ann and Grandpa Rich with the minis

 My favorite picture from the day: Elizabeth falling asleep on Grandpa Sheaffer's lap amidst the chaos and noise.


My favorite day of the year is the day after Thanksgiving (read more on my thoughts here). It didn't start out as planned when we discovered our van battery had died, but the day wound up being perfect. We baked and decorated a giant gingerbread man, put up Christmas decorations, read Christmas books, watched Christmas movies, and stuffed our faces with Thanksgiving leftovers. My favorite part of the day may have been the 2 hour nap I took on the couch with a football game on in the background.



The minis ended their day with a light saber battle. I'm not sure who won but no one was hurt in the battle! That's a first for our kids.



Saturday was quite the busy day and we were all in different places. Hubs had to work, the kids and I went for breakfast then the boys went to Grandma and Grandpa Sheaffer's for a day with the boy cousins, Elizabeth and I had a coffee date and went to cousin Natalie's birthday party. At the end of the afternoon, we all met up and went to the Festival of Trees and Lights and out to dinner at one of our faves, Star Bar.


Elizabeth LOVES Santa. She pushed through all of her older and much bigger boy cousins to be the first to get to Santa. I wasn't close enough to hear what she was saying to Santa, but they had some good conversations



 She's my daughter, checking out the wine and beer list at the restaurant.


Sunday we got all of our errands done in an hour and half, making this some kind of record for us! Other than errands and organizing the house (as best as we can with three kids) we had a fairly relaxing day. I attempted Santa pancakes for the kids, but they weren't exactly PInterest material. The kids made and decorated Rice Crispy Treat Christmas Trains.



Of course we couldn't go one day without one epic meltdown. All because I told her to set her open water bottle on the other coffee table in case it spilled. I'm a horrible mother (wink wink).


We spent a good part of the day decorating the little trees in the bedrooms. This is the first year the kids have had mini trees in their rooms. All 3 minis begged for their own trees so we checked out Target and Walmart for the trees and ornaments. It wasn't $50 I had planned on spending, but it was well worth it since the deal is they have to keep their bedrooms spotless in order to keep the trees in there. So far so good!



                                      New Christmas jammies courtesy of Grandma Harmeyer.


We ended our weekend by sharing our favorite things about the four day weekend. Their responses:
Max: "Having all of the daycare kids here and playing in my bedroom...and playing with Connor and Grady."
Harrison: "I like seeing all of the daycare kids and playing with them....and cooking lots. I really like the train treats too....and today was pretty cool too" (referring to Rice Crispy Treats and Sunday).
Elizabeth: "Playing with my daycare friends, Aunt Jen, Santa, and my new Anna and Elsa Barbie's."

Sunday, November 29, 2015

A Thanksgiving Festival

Friday, November 27, 2015

Weekends Are For Playing