Happy Thanksgiving

Did you all have a nice Thanksgiving?  We sure did!  We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, and the kids were entranced watching the singing and dancing.  Matt grilled the most loved food by many in our family, bacon-wrapped shrimp.  He learned the recipe down at the Greenbriar, and anyone who tastes them, loves them....except me.  They really aren't my favorite, but I know any family member who reads this will call it blasphemy.  Anyway, he made them, and then we rushed out the door and headed south.  We spent the rest of the day at Marty and Dena's house, my aunt and uncle.  Most of the rest of my dad's side of the family was there, so it was nice visiting with everyone.  The girls had a wonderful time playing with the other kids.  They played hide and go seek downstairs in the basement, a game called headbands, jumped on the trampoline, and ran around wildly.  I think all three were asleep before we hit the end of the driveway!  And of course, the food was awesome too!  I enjoyed every morsel.

Next of course was our annual day of shopping.  We aren't those crazy people who start on Thanksgiving or get up super early on Friday.  We met at Aunt Lisa's at 9:00is and then spent the next hour looking at ads and making lists for everyone.  Then we finally set out at around 10 or 10:30.  We hit all the usual stores, Meijer, Kohls, etc.  The lines were the worst at Kohls, but I think I got the best bargain there too (king size comforter for $25.00).  We had lunch at Old Bag O' Nails in old Hilliard.  We were all running out of steam by that time (it was about 2:00) and needed some fuel.  I had fish and chips - yuuummm!  Then we headed up to the mall for our last round of shopping and were able to get a few things there too.  It was a successful venture and a good time too.  I was completely exhausted at the end!

Saturday was the BIG game.  Matt attended with his brother and had a blast, especially since we pulled out a win, whew!  I wasn't so sure at one point.  Watching the games with the kids is not always the most enjoyable experience.  They don't always want to let you watch in peace.  You might get one quarter of peace, but after that someone will want a drink, a snack, a diaper change, a toy, a crayon, a book....you name it, they want you to get it for them.  Or they will be fighting every 30 seconds.  Or they will be getting into something they aren't supposed to have.  Usually that's Emma but sometimes the others too.  Anyway, it wasn't too terrible.  The fourth quarter was par for the course, but it's about as good as it gets.  At one point, the older two went upstairs and were "dressing up."  They had their hair pulled up and belts around their tank tops.  They thought they were stylin'!  They came downstairs, and Laura told Hannah,"Come on Hannah, let's take selfies!"  How does she know what a selfie is?!  Here are a couple of them.  Hilarious.

Of course Johnny, our Elf is back too!  He made his debut the morning after Thanksgiving in full Buckeye attire!  In case you can't read the note he left -  he let our kids in on a secret that Santa is a Buckeye, and the Grinch is from Michigan.  Makes sense.

Sunday has been the catch up day, as usual, BUT, it is a special Sunday, as it is the first Sunday in Advent.  To kick off the Christmas season, we did some preparation activities.  Matt put up the Christmas lights, and the girls LOVED them.  The kids just love looking at lights on the way home in the evenings, and they always want their house to have lots of pretty lights too.  So Matt obliged and got it done while the weather was nice today.  (He actually put them up in shorts!)  I did normal chores like laundry and cleaning.  But in the spirit of Advent, I did some preparation tasks too.  I finished uploading about 1200 pictures to Snapfish.  Matt makes me a calender each year, so I have to get the pictures out there!  I also did my second round of toy cleaning.  We got almost all of  toys back into the toy closet.  Everything fit except for the doll accessories (stroller, crib, highchair) and the pony castle.  I consider that an accomplishment.  We did one other fun activity for Advent.  I read this somewhere last year, so this is not an original idea.  We are opening a book each night of Advent.  Tonight we opened There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell.  I knew Laura would love that one since one of her favorite books is There Was a Cold Lady Who Swallowed Some Snow.  Now as I write this post, the kids and Matt are watching Laura's favorite movie, Despicable Me.  She loves minions!  Who doesn't?  Have a nice week everyone!