Thankful Thanksgiving

This year was not the typical Thanksgiving for us but we are very thankful for the change. We decided to stay home and have a smaller thanksgiving with just the 3 of us after many factors made it evident that traveling this year was not likely. It was odd planning everything for 3 people but after our bellies were full, we were very happy with our decision to break routine. We got a turkey from H*neybaked Ham and I made the rest of the sides and a pumpkin pie. Wade and K's pick but I was not complaining. The only thing I missed and I am hoping to catch somewhere over Christmas is some cranberry salad or sauce. I was worried on Thursday that K was going to be down not having anyone to play with but as it would turn out our neighbor was home and K had a play buddy for 2 hours while I cooked the meal Thursday. Awe such a relief. After we ate and cleaned everything up, we got out all the Christmas decorations for the inside of our house and cranked up the Cmas tunes and started decorating. It was fun, festive and nice.

I think we have decided since this year was so low key for us (and we loved it) that we are going to add it to our rotation every third year. One year with my family, the next with Wades family then a thanksgiving to ourselves so we can have a few traditions for our little family too. This way we are not spending the four days traveling on the road and dealing with holiday traffic, packing, unpacking, not sleeping in our own beds...you get the point.

Because we stayed in town we attended the praise and pie at church on Tuesday evening which was great for all of us.  K got to play with her good girl friends and then we all enjoyed ourselves eating different pies (getting our fix of pecan pie since I was not making one). I also got to have a night out and dinner on Wednesday evening with a good girl friend here in town. Such a wonderful blessing too.

Friday was the day after turkey day and we do not normally hit any of the Black Friday sales or stores but I had the shopping bug and we journeyed out after much interent shopping and seeing all the deals. I think Wade secretly liked it too once he saw how much we were saving on the things that were on our list. We had a great day...relaxing at home in the morning and then some shopping for a few hours during the afternoon and dinner out that evening. What more could a girl ask for?

On our way...Rudolph was going too for moral support.

Saturday we attended the Nutcracker performance downtown. I was soooooo excited for this event. My parents use to take me as a child and I love the story and show. I have fond memories of this show and sharing them with Wade and K sounded like a great idea since we were home together and not traveling. We got dressed up for the afternoon show and headed out. K was excited but then fear kicked in and although it took about 20 to 30 minutes for her to warm up, she loved the show. We arrived a little early knowing she may need the time to adjust and I am glad we did. Her head was buried in her hands and she was humped over trying very hard to Not see anything even though it was only the preshow. It took me saying to her once the show started, "you have a choice, you can either sit here and watch the show and cover your ears or we will leave and go home - you decide". She chose to cover her ears and watch the first half and by the second half she was on the edge of her seat singing all the songs (totally different child). She said as we were in the car heading to dinner... "Mommy/Daddy, that was the best day ever...Thank you so much for taking me to see the Nutcracker. Can we go again to see it?" That Melted my heart...I'll happily take her any year! It was Wades first time to see a ballet performance too. I was not quite sure how he would do and react but he said he really liked the story and enjoyed the show with all of us. I am Proud of you dear for hanging with your girls! He may want to try to get use to seeing men in tights if his baby girl continues on her dancing path. giggle giggle

One little, Two little, Three little Indians

I am behind on my blogging and many other things in our house because our computer crashed days before Thanksgiving. We were at least able to rescue All our info...love that...major blessing in our household! I would have gone nuts to loose all my pictures and Wade would have gone mad over all the quicken info. Anyway, I have wanted to post several updates so here is the first of many...

K celebrated her Thanksgiving Harvest Feast with her classmates at P*rkhills Mommy's Day Out on Tuesday. She has been so excited about this event and she started talking about it the first day of the month. I guess the girl loves eating and spending time with her friends. ummm, sounds like my kind of girl! They had fun and although I did not get to attend, (I had a scheduled chop-your-hair-off appt) she said it was wonderful.

K happy about her homemade chocolate cookie

K and her friend Olivia

Her teachers Ms. Kim and Ms Karen had a slight mishap while making the kids shirts but I Love how they worked through it and made their class some awesome vests. K said her favorite part one of their days before the feast was picking out what exactly she wanted to stamp on her vest for the special feast and her Indian name. She was pink pony. Imagine that!  Two of her favorite things. The following day they made their headdresses and she was again excited to wear hers for the thanksgiving feast.

Fabulous Fall

I love this time of year. The leaves falling, the wind blowing and cooler days and nights, the crispness of it all and seeing the amazing colors that God has blessed us all with this time of the year. It's a beautiful time of year. I also love the smell of Apple Cider and drinking it is even better especially the new Carmel Apple Cider at St*rbucks. Oh it's a bit of heaven for me this season and I see many more of them in my future. I have also had problems resisting carmel chocolate apples and apple pie. It's an apple thing for me this year I guess.

I have added a link to some pictures of all the activites we did in October. Whew! It was a busy month for us and it looks like the next two months will follow a similar pattern. Tis the season...

We wish you all the very merriest Christmas and a wonderful New Year filled with love, tradition and too many blessings to count.

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Wikki Sticky

I guess I got my dose of "Oh My Gosh! with a giggle under my breathe" from K this week. I walked into My bedroom today after K's quiet time to discover that she had created embellishments on our room decor. I will say it was great work and it took quite a bit of time for me to unravel some of those sticky wikki stixs. NO wonder mommy she was so quiet! I had a feeling I should have peeked in...trust those instincts. We had a talk about the proper use of them and not applying them to any of mommy's furniture or other household items unless she asks first. Whew! I will give her an A+ for creativity and effort because that had to take some time but I do not think she was following house rules.

NOTE where she has them placed...around the lamp, on my crystal drops (that we had to clean to get all that sticky stuff off). She is something else. Please know, she had plenty to do. She had various activity books and colored pencils to do some mazes, picture searches, coloring books etc. Plus I brought down all of her Disney Princ*sses and this is what she chose. hehe

Was she trying to give the plant piggy tails? Now you know what happens in our house. At least it is not eggs, right mom! Do your kids find their creativity during quiet time too?

New Do, Short Do, What's a girl to do?

For the last 4 or 5 months I have been struggling with wanting a new hairstyle. If you know me well, you will know that I put a LOT of thought into almost all of the things I do. Yeah, it drives me nuts that I am that way sometimes but, this dog ain't learning any new tricks in that department soon! So, I tipped my toes into the thought of cutting it short for many months and I decided I needed to find something easy, cute and appealing to my hubby. I have always loved having longer hair and I have always thought I would keep my longer hair even in my "older" years. Yeah, this is the same girl that use to tell my mom "I would NEVER color my hair. Nnnnooooooo! I would go gray naturally and not fight age." BOY was I WRONG!!! This girl ain't going down without a fight now!
I showed up to my appointment this morning and Minnie, the lady that cuts my hair said jokingly, "Well, are you biting the bullet and bringing me pictures of a short cut?" I just laughed and said "Minnie, I have 3 pictures that I can not decide on...I like them all but they are all different." She said after seeing the pictures "Oh my Gosh! You were not kidding girl." I guess she must have thought I was too chicken or flighty to go for a short cut, who knows. I have been going to her for almost 4 years and she is use to me bringing in pictures with "looks" I love so that was nothing new but obviously the "looks" were though. We talked LOTS and lots and I finally said "you decide, I am sure I will love it." Of course, I had NO idea that the first cut was going to be so big. I saw 10 years of money, love, a baby, 4 moves, and my marriage drop to the floor. "No going backwards now girl," Minnie said. And I am thinking..."AUGHHHHHHHH! What HAVE I done - do not hyperventilate...you'll be okay and IF you hate it. It will grow out. You have done this before, it's just been a long time. You are always telling K to be strong and a big girl - eat your words mommy. You're use to change - you can do this." Do you see a pattern of self confidence talk? Then I was fine - maybe because I faced the wall the majority of the time instead of a mirror? Do you think Minnie did that on purpose? When I saw myself next I had wet hair still and I thought "OHHHHH MY GOSH! It's short and I think it's shorter than I was ready for...I did it and I think I may not like it - it will grow out some and it will be cuter." Then the styling time came and my smile grew and grew and not from fear.

I have to add K and Wades comments too. I walked into K's school to pick her up from pre-K and I was Very nervous because I forgot to tell her I was getting a haircut today. I was very unsure of what would come out of that little mouth especially after we saw a very nice looking black lady in the grocery store yesterday and K said in a very loud voice and we passed her shopping. "Mommy, that lady has ORANGE hair." See my fear? But, my sweet baby said, "Mommy, you look beautiful!" as soon as she saw me. I melted and sighed! Wades reaction was a bit different, he walked in the door tonight and the look on his face was priceless! He stood still at the door and said "oh my! It's shorter than I was expecting." Then he proceeded to follow me around the house for about 20 minutes. I think he likes it too.

It is so funny how we can get attached to our hair. Change it is for me! I think it's cute and I feel trendy again but it will take some getting used to seeing this lady in the mirror. But, oh dear! I need lipstick now and my makeup will need to be adjusted some and oh yeah! time to go shopping for some fun hoops. OHHHHH to be a girl!

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

I let K put some of her play makeup on tonight and well as you can see it is an interesting creation. Does she see me this way? Someone please tell me if I am wearing too much makeup! She was even in front of the mirror saying..."Mirror mirror aren't I the prettiest princess of them all." OH MY! This is NOT the first time we have been down this road either. The only other time I have let her play on her own in makeup we ended up with this...

I just pray she does not try to leave this house at 13 or 14 wearing makeup this way unless it is for a costume party. Oh Dear where have I gone wrong? I think we may need more practice.