Day of Thanks

It has been a full day. The kids spent the morning doing projects. Since they have spent the majority of their week glued to the TV, we didn't turn it on today. We did rent a movie this afternoon so we will probably watch it in a little while. Jacob made our family and Joshua made the dog and cat. I am not sure why they are shaped like people and wearing glittery clothes.
There was quite a spread for the Thanksgiving meal. Dana and June were laughing at me for taking a picture of the food. I told Dana I was going to put the pictures on my blog and she told me I need to get on Facebook. I just can't bring myself to do that.

We decided to go ahead and put up the tree today. It was too tall to fit in front of the window in the office. So being the traditional family that we are, John just cut it down. It fits nicely now.
John and I married in 1995. That is the year we bought our first personalized ornament. Since then we have bought a personalized ornament each year. When the kids were born we started buying a personalized ornament for them each year. It is a fun tradition. We have not yet bought this years ornaments. We will most likely order them this weekend.

I just love getting out the ornaments and strolling down memory lane. Of course, we have our Ohio State ornament. It was a gift from our small group in Ohio. They gave it to us as a going away present last year. We have lots of ornaments the kids have made. It is so fun to see the kids faces light up when they get to put their ornaments on the tree. I will post pictures of the finished tree later.

Let the Thanks begin

Fall is slowly transitioning to winter. The reds and yellows are turning to brown. Can you believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving? It was weird to leave work today knowing I don't have to be back there until Tuesday. I went by the ATM on the way home so I could pay the babysitter. I am thankful I don't have to do that every week.

I need go to the grocery store tonight. I am sure it will be chaotic. Nothing says Thanksgiving like standing in line at Kroger with all the other procrastinators. John plans to start the fire in the smoker tonight. He will put the hams on about 2 a.m. so they will be ready for lunch tomorrow. I have to make cheesy potatoes, a lime jello salad, and a sopapilla cheesecake. I am one of those odd individuals that loves jello salad. I only get to have it on holidays or at pot lucks. I can hardly wait, and not just for the jello salad. I am really looking forward to a day with some great friends.

Once the festivities end tomorrow, the Christmas season begins. John is planning to work on Friday, but the kids and I will have a fun day at home. I hope to get the house really clean, so we can spend Saturday decorating for Christmas. There is something exciting about decorating a new house, or in our case a house that is really old but new to us. We need to get our picture done for the Christmas cards. That is always fun getting the kids to smile and the dog to look at the camera. I guess we will have to add the cat to the picture this year. What fun.

That is all the rambling I have for now. I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

The Deed is Done

Apparently, it is very traumatic for Jacob when you start putting his things in a trash bag. He tried to take his roller blades away from me. Silly child, mommy wins. He is in his room throwing quite an impressive fit. Actually, the noise is dying down. He may very well cry himself to sleep. Who knows if this little lesson will make an impression. For the record, I really am throwing everything I picked up away.
Joshua did a good job and got his room and the family room picked up. I think he has a little more fear in him.
I feel like dirt right now, but the kids rooms are clean. Have I mentioned that sometimes being the mommy sucks.

Mean Mom

Yes, that is what I am today. My dear children have just been threatened. I will recount how we got to this point. When I got home from work today the kids were in the family room playing. One of the neighbor kids was here and all was well. The babysitter left, and about an hour later the neighbor kid left. I baked some cookies and left them on the counter to cool. We then went to our neighbor's house so they could show Joshua where they keep the dog food. He is going to be feeding their dog while they are out of town. As soon as we got home I told my dear little angels to clean their rooms and get all their toys out of the family room. This was about two hours ago. I went on about my business. About an hour ago I reminded them that they needed to be cleaning or there would be consequences. I then proceeded to work out. As soon as I finished my workout, I issued an ultimatum. Everything that is not put in its proper place within the next twenty minutes will be thrown away. They are quickly scurrying. I am trying not to be irritated. I am not going to ask, beg or encourage them to get the job done. I probably shouldn't have given them the ultimatum. I should have just thrown things away. Too often, I just give in and wind up picking up just to get it done. While I was working out I was thinking about this habit. So much for relaxing and relieving stress during the workout. Anyway, it is not a good habit to be in. They have just a few minutes left. I may need to get a big trash bag ready.

Who Knew?

I actually missed being home today. This is the first day I have had to work while the kids were home. Usually they are at school while I am at work. Since they are out of school for Thanksgiving we had a babysitter come to the house. It felt so odd to be at work today. I really wanted to be home. That is not like me. John and I always joke that I really don't have much of a maternal gene. Luckily, I was really busy at work today and the day seemed to pass quickly. When I got home Joshua was still in his pajamas. Jacob was dressed, but he didn't have on socks or shoes. I had asked Julie last weekend if she could keep the kids on December 6th while John and I go to my work Christmas party. She told me today that she could and asked if it would be OK if she did it for free. Of course, I'm fine with that. Apparently, she has to complete service hours for cheer leading. I just have to fill out a form so she can get credit. Works for me.

Lazy Saturdays

Saturdays with nothing planned are awesome. Today I was up before seven, so I had time to enjoy my coffee and read the paper before anyone else got up. Jacob was up next. He always gets up so happy when he wakes up on his own. During the week, when we make him get up for school it is a different story. Isn't he cute in his PJ's and socks. I woke John up around eight. I don't think he was ready to get up, but Jacob and I were ready for breakfast. We have a Saturday tradition. Daddy makes pancakes. I had to wake him up so as not to deprive him of his Saturday morning ritual. Joshua was the last one up. That is actually pretty typical.

After breakfast, I cleaned the kitchen and then proceeded to mess it up again. I had to brown some round steak to get it in the crock pot so we could have Swiss steak for dinner tonight. We haven't eaten yet, but it smells good. Once that was done, I cleaned the kitchen once again.

We decided to go shopping on our day with nothing to do. First stop, the Magnolia Flea Market located on Hwy 49 south of Florence. We have driven by it a time or two, but have never ventured in. Jacob just kept saying, "Wow. They have lots of nice things." It was too funny. They did have a lot of stuff. We didn't find anything we couldn't live without, but it was fun to look around. We saw lots of things that we thought others would like. There was lots of blue glass, and I saw a couple of pieces of my grandmother's China. We will probably go again.

Next we traveled to Flowood to the Stein Mart. John was looking for a sport coat. He found one he liked for a good price. I had a 20% off coupon so we decided to get it. When we got to the register it much less than we thought. With tax and all it came out to under $50. I was pretty excited. I told John he should get a second one. He said they didn't have the other one he liked in his size. No problem, we headed down the road to the Stein Mart in Jackson. They had the other jacket and I had another coupon. I like shopping days where we find what we are looking for at a great price. When we got home the kids went outside to plant a piece of fruit they pulled off a tree at the El Charro where we had lunch. We have no idea what kind of tree it is.

All in all a pretty good Saturday. Hopefully, the wind will remain calm and we can burn the pile of brush behind the house tomorrow. John and I walked around the edges of our property this afternoon. Luckily, this tree is just over the fence. Our neighbor will have to deal with it. While we were walking we kept hearing gun shots really close. At one point we could see an orange vest through the trees. I am thinking we probably shouldn't walk so close to the fence line during deer season. Our neighbor told us before that he hunts back behind our house. I think he said he owns about 30 acres behind us. I don't think he is a very good shot, because we heard at least ten shots over the course of about an hour.

I don't guess there is much else happening with us. The kids are out of school for the Thanksgiving break. We have a babysitter coming to the house Monday through Wednesday. The kids are really excited about that. Thursday we are going to June and Larry's for Thanksgiving. At the moment next weekend is plan free. I will probably forgo shopping on Friday. I really don't like crowds. I should be off work the Monday after Thanksgiving, so I may try to go shopping while the kids are at school. Who knows, I can't plan that far ahead.

I like Thursday

I am so glad it is Thursday. Tuesday and Wednesday are hard because we have cub scouts and church. Thursdays are good because we get to stay home. I really like Thursday. I like Friday even more so I guess the week is only going to get better. At the moment we have nothing planned for the weekend. I am so excited.

This has been a busy week, but it has been good. Yesterday at work we had a Thanksgiving lunch. A lady I was sitting with was complaining about how tough the steaks were. I said at least it has a good flavor. She just said, "Girl, you are such a white girl. You know you can't chew that steak. You are too nice saying at least it has a good flavor." She was cracking me up. I do work with a diverse group of people. I am still working way more than I intended when I started this part time job. I think things will slow down a bit after the holidays. For now, working a few extra hours is good. We could certainly use the extra money for Christmas.

The boys are diligently working on their homework.

One quick picture of the beauty that surrounds us. I went out unto the breezeway to get something from the car. I had to stop and admire the Autumn sights. The sun shining through the trees was quite beautiful.