Thanksgiving week

Happy post-Thanksgiving week to all! Here's a "quick" summary of our week & weekend:

Wednesday
*The girls anxiously awaited the arrival of "Grammer & Pappy" (my parents) and "Bigmother & Bigdaddy" (my grandparents) on Wednesday afternoon. It was a coooold, grey, windy day which, in my opinion, fits perfectly with the holiday. It had even sleeted the day before which is quite rare for around here. One of the school districts "out in the country" even let school out early and I think they saw some snow. I'm sure that's very funny to people who live in other parts of the country, but we don't get a lot of that kind of weather here in South Carolina!

*Chris built a fire that afternoon & evening which I LOVED! I just love a fire in the fireplace; it makes the room seem so cozy. We had baked spaghetti that night along with caesar salad & french bread. I had made chocolate cake for dessert (recipe from the back of the Hershey's cocoa box~yum!)

Thursday
*Chris got up at 6:30 and stuck the turkey in the oven-then went back to bed! We watched the parade off & on throughout the morning and cooked. I'd wanted to eat around 12 so the rest of the day could be relaxing and we just about made the time. Pappy took the girls for a walk while we cooked. It was a beautiful day. Just cool, but not cold at all like the day before and it was very sunny.

*Our menu: turkey, dressing, cranberry salad, deviled eggs, rolls, green beans, harvest casserole, mashed potatoes, apple pie, pecan pie, mince pie, chocolate cake, fudge, cookies

*We lazed around the rest of the day, napped, spent some time outside, the men watched the Cowboys (Chris is a HUGE fan!), Mom & I played 'Phase 10.'

Friday
*Mom & I got up and left around 7:00 (not too early!) and went to a few stores. There was something at Target I needed to get that was on sale enough to warrant getting out with the crowds. We then went back home and picked up the rest of the family and headed to the mall. We did some shopping there then went downtown. We have a very cute, quaint downtown so it's always fun to shop there. We ate lunch at a little cafe then browsed. I don't think any of us actually bought anything down there but it's fun to look.

*Poor Katie was having some tummy issues so the 4 of us ended up going home a little earlier than the rest of the group.

*Gracie & Bigmother decorated some cookies that Bigmother had brought with her. Katie helped some too!

*That night, after eating leftovers for dinner, Chris & my dad drove about 70 miles to watch GAC play football. (You can see here that Katie has Pappy right where she wants him. He was feeding her! They both loved being with each other!) Mom & I and the girls put on our p.j.'s and stayed in. (My grandparents stayed in a hotel so they left pretty early each night to go there.) I made a birthday cake (red velvet) for my dad who will be "60" on Wednesday and the girls made cards and we wrapped a couple of presents. We watched "Monsters, Inc." and played some games with Gracie after Katie went to bed. We even taught Gracie how to play 'Phase 10' and she did pretty well for a 6 year old. Pretty soon though, she was made the scorekeeper while Mom & I continued to play for a little bit. It's not as much fun to play with only 2 people though.

Saturday
*We all kind of slept in on Saturday. Chris & I (mostly Chris) made breakfast burritos for breakfast. They were good but nothing like when we lived in Uvalde! Man, those ladies in Uvalde could cook some breakfast burritos!!!!! YUM!

*Pappy opened up his gifts. They were nothing big, but just a little something to say "happy birthday." Gracie used one of her dollars to buy him something at the Dollar Tree and he showed her that he would like a magnifying glass set for when he reads his maps so that's what she got him. Chris & I got him a sweater vest.

*Chris started getting the Christmas wreaths out for the windows and blowing off the roof and raking, etc. The girls spent some time playing outside with some of the grandparents while I started getting the tree set up, etc. I have to admit to not being as excited as I usually am about decorating. I think it's because I know we're going to be gone for over 2 weeks during Christmas so I hate to spend too much time putting stuff out when no one will be here to look at it. I know, I know, I sound ooooollllllddddd!

*Chris & I had to make a run to the church building so I could get things to prepare for my Sunday School class. After that, we picked up some things for lunch & dinner and we all ended up at the park for lunch. As you can see, Gracie & Katie "attacked" Pappy while he tried to take a nap in the sun! Once again, it was a really pretty day.

*We made tacos for dinner and had Pappy's birthday cake. We got the girls bathed & picked out clothes for Sunday then Pappy, Grammer, Chris & I all played 'Phase 10.' Can you tell I love that game!?!? It was fun.

Sunday
*We all went to church that morning. In the 1st/2nd grade class, our lesson was on 'Isaac & Ishmael.' We read the story then talked about how it was hard for Abraham to send away Ishmael because he loved him but he did it because God told him to and Abraham obeyed God because he loved Him. We talked about things the girls find it hard to obey but they know they need to do it because to obey their parents is to obey God. They chose one of their answers and illustrated it, along with illustrating a part of the story. I'm planning to make a portfolio of some sort of different things they've done in class, along with the memory verses they've learned and pictures I've taken. It's a work in progress (mainly in my mind at this point!) I need to spend some time there this week taking down the "fall" things and putting up "winter" things.

*Katie got to spend lots of time with her Pappy during church although she did take one little trip down the pew to see Grammer for just a quick visit before she wanted to go back to Pappy (definitely her favorite!)

*We had put a roast in the crockpot along with potatoes & carrots so we just had to throw together a salad and some rolls and we were ready to eat when we got home. Everyone got packed up, gave out hugs and they were on their way shortly after lunch. (You can see here that Gracie is in her "Sunday afternoon nap clothes"....bow, pantyhose & a t shirt! HA!) Of course, I need to mention that my grandmother can come live with me anytime because she is an absolute machine when it comes to washing dishes! I have never seen dishes get done so quickly in my life! She would wash, 2 or 3 of us would dry, then someone would put them up. It was great!

*I took an AWESOME nap (in my own bed rather than on the pull out couch!) then we headed back to church. We came home afterwards, ate some more leftovers and watched Amazing Race then a Hallmark movie.

We had a good time and now it's back to the real world. Chris went back to work. Gracie went back to school. I'm blogging and thinking about all the things I should be doing. It is my afternoon carpool day so I'll be getting dressed at some point today!

Time to start thinking of all the things we need to pack for our Christmas trip!