Holiday Number One

Today, I am thankful. I am blessed with amazing people that I call my family. The holidays this year are expected to be emotional. Thanksgiving was the first major holiday without my Dad. I am relieved that the day simply came and went.

I started a new tradition this year, as change is good with grieving.

Normally, Thanksgiving dinner is at my parents' and Mom does all the cooking. Everyone comes to eat and relax. This year, I did the cooking and everyone came to my home. The food was a success and I got many compliments that my version of dishes were similar to my Grandma's. She taught me well! I think I called her 15 times before the turkey was even stuffed!

We also changed up our Black Friday tradition. Instead of trying to sleep for a few hours, we occupied ourselves with card games after dinner until around mid-night. Then we hit the road in search of not a whole lot. We didn't have a game plan or a huge wish list this year, so we were just going to say we did. Our first stop was Walmart where we scored the $25 Leapster with a few games and bedding sets....a quick trip to Walgreens for cheap WebKinz, Meijer just to browse and see the crowds, Big Lots for Zhu Zhu's and Pillow Pets then K-Mart for digital cameras and knitted socks. Yeah, we stood in line 45 minutes for knitted socks! We made it home by 8:00am and we were exhausted!

The weekend wasn't a complete waste, we did manage to find the energy to dig the holiday decorations out of our barn. We put our tree up and decorations around the house. I am excited about filling the floor with gifts and making new memories with my awesome family!

Halloween

The weather was perfect for Halloween. We carved Pumpkins and I failed once again at trying something new and had to piece the design together with toothpicks. It was worth a try! It is meant to be an owl on a limb...but Lacey tells me it looks more like road kill. Ashley's turned out great...although hers too is tooth-picked! The third pumpkin we decided should be a normal pumpkin so we carved a silly face.

Owl or Roadkill?

Ordinary Bat or Edward Cullen? Each year it is getting more difficult for the girls to chose a costume. Lily wanted to be twenty different things but finally decided last minute to be a nerd. Why a nerd? "Because I have all the accessories already and you can give me the costume money for the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book!" She bought the book and had it completely read in 2 hours. I hesitated telling her that dressing up for Halloween should be something out-of-your-ordinary every day persona. Anyhow, she did a super job picking out her clothing and accessories from her own room..and Ryan's closet.

Lacey originally wanted to be a Nurse. Lily was a nurse a few years go and we kept the home-made accessories and the custom was simple and easy. We looked everywhere for scrubs and had no luck and then she saw a Devil horn headband. Decision made.

We took our normal route on beggar's night. The houses participating were spare and after walking 6-8 blocks, for a total of 2 hours, their bags were half full. Mom, Ashley and Jordan (Skeleton), Lee and Xavier (Robin Hood) came with us. We all had a great time, and we're so blessed to have such beautiful children :)