Here we go again...

3 days after Thanksgiving, we put up our Christmas decorations.  It is a chore to me.  I don't love doing it, but I love the outcome.  I will say, these kids are becoming bigger helpers each year.  We got the trees up in record time this year.  We each have jobs and we fall into those pretty naturally now.  I am the branch sorter/fluffer and ornament unpackager.  The kids help fluff and hand the branches to be put on the tree and put their own ornaments on their tree.

 Cody and Rick get all the branches placed properly.

Rick also had to go out in the middle of the process for the annual "buying of new lights because last year's don't seem to work anymore" trip to Walmart.

 Abby did a lot.  She is our resident decorator.

After the trees were finished, I gave her the rest of the decorations and told her she could decorate the rest of the house.  She did really great!  She and Lauren also decorated their room.

 There was some dancing to Christmas music, too!

 Our resident comedian kept us laughing

 Meet "Sugar Baby"

 Rick's and my tree.  This thing is 18 years old.  We bought it our first Christmas and it is still going strong.  With all the needles it sheds each year, we cannot figure out how there is anything left on it. We are a simple folk when it comes to tree ornaments.  I prefer ornaments with memories and meaning over a perfectly decorated, matching tree.  That's my style, and I am sticking to it!

 The kids' tree with the all of their ornaments. 

I do love getting the ornaments out and talking about why they got each one!

I thought I would give you a close up of the top of their tree that I discovered.  

Is there really anything more to say?

 Abby's decorating.

I know there are only 4 stockings.  We do have 8, we just can't fit them the way our fireplace area is.

Can you see the Swazi Nativity on the tile.  That is one of my favorite Christmas decorations!

 The kids are frantically trying to earn money for Christmas shopping.  

I caught these two in the back yard dressed like this doing a job for their dad.  Their outfits cracked me up!

 We have another sickness going around our house.  Back in October, it was a stomach bug that wore out its welcome and attacked 6 times.  Then, I had strep while Rick was in Africa.  Now, a month later, strep has struck again.  Sam, Cody, and Isaiah have it.  Cody is suffering the most.  He has literally had fevers of 103 degrees and higher for 4 straight days, even with the antibiotic.  We are praying it will stop.  We are praying no one else gets it.  I hate to see my babies sick, no matter how old they are.

I have some other big news to share.  This boy read his first book!  He is doing so well in school.  I had to document this moment with a pic:

It symbolizes so much.  It symbolizes that he is going to school, something that might not have been possible if he was still in Africa.  It represents opportunities for his future.  I love seeing God unfold the story of my little guy's life.  There are some big plans for him.  You would never know that he is English as a Second Language.  He speaks better than some kids who have only known English.  He is doing so well in school.  His handwriting is beautiful.  He aces every one of his phonogram tests.  He is a math whiz.  He would teach the class if his teacher would allow it.  Watch out, world, this one is going to do something BIG!

Thanksgiving 2012

 The one word I would use to describe Thanksgiving this year is :  RELAXING!

We didn't go anywhere.  We didn't have  any schedule to follow.  We just did our traditions and enjoyed our day.

On Thanksgiving morning, Rick goes out to buy the newspaper so we can look at Black Friday ads and picks up a Starbuck treat for him and me.

That red cup is the first sign of Christmas to me!

 I spent the morning cooking and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  For the first time, the kids watched a lot of it with me.  I don't know why that means so much to me.  I think because it is a tradition from my childhood.

Sam also had a hippo puppet project to complete over Thanksgiving break.  Since Abby is our resident "crafty" kid, she helped him with it.  

 They spent all morning working on it.

 I forgot to take a pic of the finished product.  Now, it is at school.  I will have to take one when he brings it back home.

Rick spent the morning looking through the Black Friday ads

 I would like to introduce you to, Archibald, our turkey this year.  

I have been naming our turkey since the first one I made in Dallas our first Thanksgiving alone in 1995.

 I almost didn't post this pic.  I am not a fan of my appearance, but it captures the day.  Everybody else looks so good!  We were in comfies, specifically Dallas Cowboys gear.  It ain't always pretty, but it's real!

 I LOVE cooking Thanksgiving meals.  I just really enjoy it and don't feel like it is a hard thing to do.

Our Feast 2012

We spent the afternoon watching the Cowboys game and eating some pumpkin pie.  

I think Isaiah summed it up well with the craft he brought home from school this year

The feathers list what he is thankful for:  Home, Earth, God, Family, Dad, Mom, Jesus, and Babies

Well said, son.  The helmet on the turkey's head completes the sentiment!

Cabin Time

The week of Thanksgiving from Sunday to Wednesday, we had the opportunity to getaway to the mountains for a little break.  Our family really needed some focused time together.  We have had a busy fall of football, soccer, piano, school, and Rick's trip to Africa.  We were all in need of a break!  Once again the generosity of our friends provided this opportunity.  

We spent a lot of time relaxing.  We wore our pajamas the whole time we were there!  We had family meals together along with some nighttime treats while we watched movies.  

 We read.  Abby is reading the second Harry Potter book.  I read the first Twilight book.(Yeah, I know I am way behind the times. I never got around to reading those and took this opportunity to. I really liked the first book and read it in 1 1/2 days.)  We also played games:  Clue, Stratego, Loopin' Louie, Dominoes, etc.

 One afternoon, Rick and Sam went out exploring the area

 Sam liked throwing rocks at the icy ponds

 Rick got donuts from the Donut Mill.

These things are GIGANTIC!  I am pretty sure each sprinkle donut has a whole bottle of sprinkles on it!

 Very happy to have donuts

 It took 4 days to eat all of these

On our last night, we did some "Minute to Win It" games.  We laughed a lot as we competed to complete the tasks:

Stacking dice with cups on our hands

 I was dominating in this game!

 Next we had to get pretzels on a bamboo skewer without using our hands

 Note to self:  When you are using bamboo skewers in a game, be sure to take them away from the children when the game is complete.  Laila was running around with hers, fell on it, and cut the back of her throat. 

 I love my reaction here

 Holding a skittle with a straw...

 carrying it across the room to drop in a bowl

 Blowing cups off a table with a blown up balloon

 Abby got tickled and couldn't stop laughing to blow up the balloon again

 Love Isaiah's expression blowing up his balloon

 Rick dominated in this game getting all the cups off with one balloon's worth of air

Trying so hard to blow up that balloon

 The final game was the most hilarious!  We had a pair of panty hose with a clementine in one of the legs.  We put the panty hose on our heads and had to swing around the clementine to knock over cups.

 I laughed so hard during this game.

 You can't use your hands.  

I am laughing in the background watching Isaiah

 This game is a bit dangerous.  That orange swings around wildly!

 Creepy

 We ended our time with some s'mores

Our time was just what we needed to regroup and reboot as a family.  We had a bit of drama at the end and had to come home earlier than planned.  On Tuesday evening, Isaiah started having breathing issues.  I knew that if we didn't take action, we would be in the ER before the night was over.  It happens so fast with him.  So, we cleaned up the cabin and headed home Tuesday night instead of waiting until Wednesday.  We got him home and with medicine and breathing treatments, we were able to keep him stabilized.  It was crazy as we frantically cleaned, packed, and loaded up to leave, but in the end, it turned about being nice getting home on Tuesday night and having Wednesday to settle back into our house before Thanksgiving on Thursday. We made some memories that we won't forget!