Thanksgiving was wonderful! Andrew and I spent a lot of Tuesday and most of Wednesday cooking. Thursday, Andrew cooked the turkey, and all I had to do was make sure everything was heated up! I am so thankful Andrew wanted double ovens during our kitchen renovation! It made heating things up go a lot quicker! Still, it was no small feat! When it came down to the wire, I had two dishes heating in the top oven, and four dishes heating in the bottom oven. There was several minutes when I stood and prayed for the oven to do its job! It was working quadrupely (I know, it’s not a real word. HA) hard! The best part was spending time with family! My sister and brother in law came and stayed Wednesday night with us. It was great to spend time with them. We watched an old Disney movie that Leah and I love, “The Ugly Dachshund”. 🙂 Our husbands love us a lot because they watched it too! 🙂 However, we joke with them because it’s not nearly as terrible of a movie as some we have watched with them! (By the way, we have the new Disney plus app that has all the great movies on it, and I have to say that if you don’t have it yet, don’t get it. Trust me. If you do, you will spend way too much time watching movies you love out of nostalgia! You will also want to introduce to your kids to all the great shows you used to watch on tv out of nostalgia! You have been warned!)

Here are some family pictures! I love them all! Emma and Samuel were playing with Auntie Leah before the thanksgiving rush set in. 🙂 Once everyone arrived, Samuel was kind of the star because he is the cutest little squeeze just waddling around the house! 🙂 Plus the older ones where busy playing with their cousins! Cousins are awesome!

Feast Time!

Game Time! Also, there’s nothing quite like leftovers! David requested a turkey leg for his dinner.

Going backwards to earlier in the week. I decided to get out of the house and spend some time with the kids. Away from all the cooking and house cleaning. It was a relatively warm day, and so we went to the zoo. It turned out to be a really great decision. We had a wonderful time, and one of the highlights of my week was actually seeing the new baby jaguars, Lulu and Bella! They are so adorable, and are very entertaining to watch! We will definitely be going back to see them!

It’s hard to believe Samuel is going to be one in a couple weeks! He is getting big too fast! He walks really good now, and is into EVERYTHING! He has the sweetest personality. The wildest hair. 🙂

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Because Advent was so close to Thanksgiving this year it has taken me more time to get prepared and into the spirit of things.  This week I started by having the kids help make cards for our advent calendar. I decided that this year we would do an advent calendar with the names of Jesus! I am very excited about this! The kids love to paint the cards, and each day we write a different name of Jesus with a scripture verse on the back. We do it in the morning during breakfast time. It takes about three or four minutes, and it sets the focus for the day and the season! It also makes a great Christmas decoration. All you need is some twine, small clothespins, and some 5×7 cards. I bought a small art book with removable pages because the paper is thicker and holds up to the paint. I found  a website that has a list of names with scripture verses. For the Family has some other great ideas too!  Yesterday, I turned on my favorite Christmas musical, “White Christmas”, and put out our Christmas decorations. I love that musical! It’s quite long, so it’s great to turn on and watch while doing. 🙂 Andrew and I have a tradition of waiting till Christmas eve to decorate our tree. I know this seems bizarre and unimaginable to most people, and when we first started talking about doing this, I wasn’t too keen on the idea either.  However, now I love doing it this way! It makes Christmas eve and Christmas morning even more special. Our tree decorations are not ornate, but we have a lot of very special ornaments that have been given to us through the years by people from various places and family members. I love taking the time to remember each one.

Wishing you Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love this season!

PK