Thanksgiving 2019

With Grandad and Nana here, I have been able to go out with the kids one-on-one.  Caroline's special morning began with a haircut.  She's been asking to get her hair cut for quite some time now.  When she got up in the seat, the hair dresser asked her what she wanted.  The usual - two inches.  I would have loved to tell them to take four inches off just to give her a different look to see if she liked it, but she was adamant that she get the same cut.  After she got her hair all fixed up, we walked over to the grocery store where she walked up and down their two toy aisles for one very long hour.  After that, we got some lunch and headed home.  She definitely likes to do stuff together - just us girls.

A few days later, we were at Target walking the toy aisles again.  Grandad and Nana had given the kids money to spend and, for one child in particular, that money was burning a hole in his pocket.  Josiah asked us no less than fifty times when we were going to Target.  We're not going until you stop asking!!!  Josiah was able to buy two small Lego sets and Caroline got a Barbie clubhouse set.  Henry left Target angry that he didn't get anything.  Yet in the store he said he didn't want to buy anything. When I asked him what he was hoping to buy, he replied, "An X-Box."  Of course.  Only $480 short.

Henry doesn't having a gaming system (yet), though he talks about getting one non-stop.  Literally.  It's not incentive to get him one.  He does play Minecraft and he was showing me his village earlier in the week.  As he was pointing out his fox pens and vegetable gardens, he continuously put torches on the posts of all his fences.  Curious, I asked him why he was putting torches everywhere.  So his animals wouldn't be scared at night.  It made me laugh, because that was some major projecting on his part.  He is not a fan of the dark.   

With the week off of school, the kids have played outside a lot.  We've mostly had good weather which is always nice for a holiday week.  They've all enjoyed batting practice nearly every day with Grandaddy, picking up lots of good tips for batting and throwing.  (Do I have any pictures?  No.)  They've played with the neighbor friends in the street.  (Helmets required when driving with Caroline.)

Henry and I have thrown the football a lot. 
Caroline has worked on her skateboarding skills.


Caroline can go from skateboarding chick to fancy dress girly-girl in the blink of an eye.  While at Costco one day, Nana and Caroline picked out a fancy dress for her.  She loves the fuzzy vest so, so much.  Josiah calls it her candy cane dress.  It is perfect for Christmas. 

 We did some good eating for Thanksgiving Day.  Nearly all the traditional foods were made.  Nearly none were made by me, which made them all the better.  The kids were able to get outside to run off all that pie-induced energy.  As a kid, you eat a big meal and go run around.  As an adult, you eat a big meal and nap.  We even remembered our turkey photos, squeezing them in right before bed. 




Continuing another tradition, Grandad and Nana brought the kids to Hobby Lobby to pick out their 2019 Nutcrackers.  Henry couldn't decide between the Ax-Wielding Mountain Man or the Football Player Nutcracker.  He chose the mountain man, but hid the footballer far in the back of the shelf so he could pick that one next year.  He doesn't have a grasp on rotating inventory just yet.  Josiah chose a very festive peppermint striped one.  Caroline looked them all over and settled on a sequined mermaid stuffed animal.  That girl of ours bucked tradition.  She is drawn to sequins like a moth to a light. 

We talked about hospitality and kindness a lot before Grandad and Nana arrived.  We wanted to make sure the kids were kind and helpful during their visit.  Most of the time they have done fairly well, but they have started to revert back to their bickering and arguing a LOT lately.  They argue over everything - who sits next to who at every meal, who touched who when they passed by, who gets to go first, who stuck out their tongue at another, who tripped who as they walked by, on and on and on and on.  It's driven us slightly crazy.  This morning I sat them down and told them that if they continued to argue, that I would assign the offender to manual labor.  So today, my carpets, foyer, shoerack, and dining room have all been vacuumed.  Other floors have been swept.  At the rate that they have been arguing, our house is going to look amazing.  I'm looking forward to it.  At one point this afternoon, Caroline had just finished sweeping the breakfast room.  No less than five minutes later, Henry sat down and ate a very crumbly roll over a napkin (not a plate).  Caroline took one look at him and said, accusingly, "I just swept that floor!"  Welcome to my world baby girl. 

We had some time before church this morning, so we worked on getting our Christmas card pictures done.  Now to actually do the Christmas cards!