The kids had the week off of school for Thanksgiving. We met Amy at Barnes and Noble, then went to Hobby Lobby to pick out Christmas crafts for the week. While shopping I found this adorable Christmas countdown and had to reorganize my little Rae Dunn coffee section as soon as I got home:
After the kids rested, we combined some new crafts with these Halloween ornaments that Aunt Loolie sent the kids. Tenley didn't understand why they were Halloween ornaments and wanted me to save them to convert to Christmas ornaments. They used their imagination and made cute Christmas ornaments:
(Thanks, Aunt Jul! We love you!)
The kids got a package from Grammy full of new ornaments. They go nuts for ornaments and loved opening each and every one:
(Thanks, Grammy! We love you!)
I taught Empower Monday evening and Amelia and I had some fun with the PB balls after class:
Chelsea and the whole fam were in town so we met them at Sunset Station to see 'The Star'; which was so cute! All the music reminded me of going to midnight mass with my family and I loved that the kids loved it, too:
After the movies, we headed to the park and had so much fun catching up with the Robbins. I can't believe how big these kids are getting. I swear when we see each other it's like no time has passed at all; I just wish we could have more park dates like this:
(Miss you already, boo!)
Wednesday I was in prep-mode for Thanksgiving at the Rices and legit baked all day! I made 2 pumpkin pies, 2 apple pies, sangria and my famous pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I felt so old because all the baking killed my back, but at least everything turned out pretty and most importantly delicious:
That night we finally got the lights on our tree fixed; which meant the kids got to start hanging ornaments. Ev and Wes admired their work all evening:
Thursday was Thanksgiving; which is so special to me. We celebrated at Lindsay's and it was perfect. She's a real life Joanna Gaines and always amazes me with the love she pours into the holidays. Her table was stunning and almost too good to eat on, but that didn't stop us. The food and company was perfect. We are so thankful that the Rices share this day with our family:
Isla made a Thanksgiving tree for everyone to write what they were thankful for and Tenley wrote, "my teachr". She was really missing her this week and this made her smile:
After eating dozens of times, we were entertained by the kids:
I just love Thanksgiving. I love that it's all about togetherness. The kids never expect anything other than being around loved ones and stuffing their faces with pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. It's so magical! I'm very grateful for my family and friends. Life is good and we ended our night thankful and very stuffed:
We spent Friday morning exploring Mount Charleston. I love the lodge and scenery up there. The kids loved exploring and "looking for donkeys". The weather was beautiful and perfect for our little hike at Deer Creek. There were creeks for rock throwing, bridges, and plenty of logs to climb. It was such a peaceful morning:
While the kids rested, I swapped some of my classic Rae Dunn for Christmas Rae Dunn:
We painted Nutcrackers with the kids in the evening:
The weather was beautiful again, so we met the Venturinos at the park for some fun Saturday morning:
After spending the morning at the park, Tenley's attitude reached an all time high since she needed to rest. Ed asked her to clean up after herself before she could have her iPad time and she responded with "you're the worst!" I was so mad at her and made her sit and write, "I will not be mean to my dad." over and over again. It gave her lots of time to reflect and she felt really bad afterwards:
We put the finishing touches on the tree and decorated the outside of the house on Sunday:
I just love this time of year. Until next time! :)
