As I was loading pics this morning from my camera from Thanksgiving I noticed the only pictures I took all month were from Thanksgiving! How can that be?
Thanksgiving was super fabulous. Actually the entire holiday weekend was amazing! We had no plans other than to spend time with each of our families and the rest of the time was dedicated to our children! That never happens!! We even passed up pre-holiday plans with wonderful friends because it was our plan to be home. {I wonder how all that went anyway?!} We had a wonderful meal at my parents' home and it was our year to celebrate with the bigs so fortunately they were with us. Later they were picked up and K, Kyle and myself headed to the Stratton's for another meal and family time. Cozy homes, yummy meals, loving family...what else could I have asked for?
{I was nervous wondering why there was no noise coming from the upstairs...then curious to see this...}
{definitely ♥ this...I sort of captured the amazing time these kiddos were having making videos of each other}
{the girl's gotta do somethin' about that shine...otherwise...aren't we cute??}
{there's always a punk or two in the group...}
{as good as it was gonna get...}
So as I mentioned, we had days and days of family time. Wednesday we all pitched in to clean so that we could start the night off with our first Christmas movie. I, in fact, had already cheated and watched a handful of them on Lifetime but it doesn't really count since none of the boys would have sat through any of those movies!! I was the biggest cheerleader regarding rallying for this precious time and I talked everyone into watching Christmas Vacation against their better judgement...then I fell asleep and they all laughed hysterically the entire movie! Doesn't it just figure?
Friday we all kind of did our own thing at home but then got back together for games. Ha! The Charlie Brown Christmas movie came on, which is one of Andrew's favorites, and we attempted to play during the show. Kyle picked the teams. Of course it was him, Caleb and K against Andrew and I...it should be no surprise to you that the one single game took the entire duration of the movie to finish! {the movie was two hours long!} I was glad when that was over. The best part of the night, however, was because of Andrew. We were playing a game where you could act, draw, give specific lettered clues, sculpt or hum. Andrew chose to hum his answer to me. Silly me to think it was a song or something related to some music. Something. This is what my hint was..."hmm hmm...hmm-hmm-hmm hmm." He kept repeating it over and over again. The second best part was watching the faces of both K and Caleb because they both knew the answer. It was pure torture for them. They had no idea...and then they couldn't help but roll on the floor! Meanwhile, I was getting so frustrated because I may have learned at that point that the answer was a celebrity...Andrew hummed the name...of.a.celebrity!!!!!! He hummed Arnold Schwarzenegger to me! It was so hilarious but so very ridiculous!
Saturday we invited the TenBrinkmans and my parents over to play games and watch movies. Right away the kids went downstairs. We saw them one time after that, besides when it was time for everyone to go home, and that was for pizza. Kristin said that it was quiet and she wasn't being bothered so we should maybe rethink interrupting for a movie. besides, the guys clearly didn't plan to give up football. I figured gaming would be a little trickier this year. Maybe not tricky, but different. I knew that we would no longer have two teams of three or three teams of two...I knew we'd have a seventh player in our midst. Without hesitation when I announced it was time to play, Caleb grabbed a drink and sat down on the couch...he apparently expected it as well. We played Catch Phrase the rest of the night. It was a hoot! I've only played with people my own age. Adding my parents to the mix was a riot. Thanks, family, for the fun!
Our Pastor asked us to participate in Sunday's service by lighting the first advent candle and reading a verse. I responded by asking if the boys could be the ones to do it since Breakfast Club was cancelled and the answer was yes. They were so cute. Andrew lit the candle because Caleb was sure he's burn the church down. {not a good idea} Caleb read the verse. They both did such a good job. I'm so proud of them both. I love that they, too, fit right in at ECC as if it has been their only church home.
Kyle signed up to sing in the children's choir and his first rehearsal was after the service Sunday. He did so well singing that he was asked to come up to help lead the rest in singing. I was praising him in the car ride home when he asked if he could sing the song for me. {he loves reading everything} It was precious...he was singing The First Noel and was doing a fine job. As he neared the end, he sang, "Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel...born is the Keen {which is funny in itself because he generally emphasises his Gs...} of Illinois..." IT WAS AWESOME...I'm not gonna lie! He keeps struggling with that line still. Last night he said, "Ugh...I always get that messed up." Just precious.
I cannot believe tomorrow is December FIRST! I was so super excited to receive my first card in the mail Friday. it's always a wonderful surprise, but not really a surprise at all. I know I can always count on opening my first Christmas card of the season the day after Thanksgiving, from the Lohmans, every single year. I've come to expect it...in a good way. I so look forward to Black Friday every year...and it isn't even because of the shopping deals! I don't know what I would do if it ever got lost in the mail?! hopefully I'll never find out.
My shopping is almost done.
Yes...almost done! This is the best I've ever done! Actually I've done so well that I've actually been able to sell off gifts I've bought to others because I keep finding more and more fun stuff to buy! It's win, win for sure. I get to help others with their gift giving stresses and I get to continue to shop. Merry Christmas to me!!!! K is in charge of all outside-our-home boy gifts, excluding male teachers and my boss. He enjoys doing that himself so that's always our rule...with all holidays. I have helped him out, though, so Isaac is done and both of our dads are almost done as well. Beyond that, I have some crafting to do and some {my} boy shopping to do and ta-da! I'm golden. I have the night off, after a ball game and running to and from church, so I think I'll sit down and write down actual gifts purchased so I can finish up by week's end. How fabulous.
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