Thanksgiving Week

What a relaxing week we had as a family over Thanksgiving break!! The kids had the week off from school, Rick had the week off of work, and we stayed home. No packing, no traveling, no recovery afterwards. We spent more time in pajamas than we did regular clothes. We slept in. We stayed up late. We played Wii "Just Dance" and "Mario Kart" A LOT. We watched movies. We only left the house a couple of times.

When I saw this, I knew this kid was not feeling well.

So glad we decided not to travel. I am pretty sure this little guy would have ended up in the hospital like he did last year. That was not how I wanted to spend Thanksgiving.

We did lots of this...

...and this

Sam chipped Lauren's tooth once again(she chipped it 3 weeks ago in a soccer game), so we had to make a visit to the dentist.(One of the 2 times I left the house for the week!)

Abby was so anxious to decorate for Christmas that she started making her own decorations early in the week. She is my little Martha Stewart!

We began preparing for our holiday baking

I realized last year that our baking time is much more fun if I bake individually with the kids rather than everybody helping with everything. I cannot handle the chaos of everyone helping. I am a much better mom doing it this way.

We also had a play performed for us,

"The Neverland Pirates"(there was no one willing to play Jake)

Laila was "Izzy," Lauren was "Mr. Smee," and Abby was "Captain Hook"

Sam is making progress on his six-pack.

He wanted to share a picture of his "two-pack". Only 4 more to go!

I enlisted the girls to help me prep the food.

Those onions are really strong!!

The beloved Cornbread dressing in the making

"Reginald" the Turkey

He was a stubborn little booger taking much longer to cook than expected.

It was worth the wait!!

We decided to wear our Cowboys' gear for the day

This one is much more real

The food was delicious. Between shopping and food prep, the meal took me about 15 hours to create. It took about 30 minutes to consume. Thankfully we had LOTS of leftovers to give me a break over the next few days. Rick printed out a "Thankful" paper ahead of time and handed them out the day before. Everyone's assignment was to complete it and bring it to dinner the next day. It was so sweet to hear their answers. To top off this pretty perfect day, the Cowboys won!! It doesn't get much better!!

On Friday we kicked off the Christmas season. We gave the kids the VeggieTales DVD "St. Nicholas" for a family movie night. During the day we decorated for Christmas. I LOVE the end result, but I really HATE the decorating part. Thankfully, I have a husband who is passionate about it and leads us in the effort.

I told you I wore jammies all week.

I didn't fix my hair either. Can you tell?

The kids' tree in the family room filled with their ornaments

Rick's and my tree in the Living Room with our ornaments

We did not participate in Black Friday. Sometimes, Rick will go out, but there was nothing this year that we saw that was worth our effort. I will say, Cody and Lauren were begging us to go out. They wanted to see the craziness!! Maybe next year.

The girls and I ventured out on Sat. to do a bit of shopping. Those crowds were much more my speed. The weekend ended with going to church on Sunday and getting everyone to bed on time to prepare for school on Monday.

Isaiah brought this home from school today:

Yes, my 4 year old is thankful for Lightning McQueen, Soda, and Coffee.

That should get me some kind of "Mother of the Year" award!