Thanksgiving Week

I did Thanksgiving week all wrong this year.  I am taking mental notes so I don't make the same mistakes next year.  I planned to have family pictures taken one day, which kind of ruined the day...and made it extra stressful.  Two kids got the flu (which was not my fault but didn't really help make our week better) and Scott and I painted a room which took A LONG TIME!!  Next year I want to do less so I can take it a little easier.  The weekend before Thanksgiving I got all the boys haircuts for our family pics.  They all looked great!!

Grant had a little Thanksgiving program before the break.

They sang songs and recited some lines about Thanksgiving.

Each child had several lines to say on their own.

His class did a great job and it was fun to see him.

This is his pilgrim self portrait

Good job Grant.

 The day before Thanksgiving the kids had no school and Scott had work off so I scheduled family pictures.  While we were trying get ready for pics two kids were on and off throwing up or having diarrhea, the plumber was working on the basement and the countertop guys were scheduled to come in and fix one little mess up with the counters while we were out so everything had to be cleared off in the kitchen.  I felt kind of stressed.  Plus we were getting pictures taken outside and it was cold.  I couldn't cancel the photo session last minute even though we had sick kids so we decided to just do it...and it turned out ok.  Here is one picture.

On Thanksgiving, Scott' sister's family invited us over for dinner.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with them and dinner was delicious!!  The kids love to see their cousins whenever they can.

Boy cousins

Emma and Norah!!

It had been threatening to snow a lot that week but after Thanksgiving, it finally did.  

The kids were so excited for some real snow to play in.  They spent a lot of time coming in and out of the house.  I had to dig up all the old snow gear and then take kid snow gear on and off...on and off as they came in and out.  And make the obligatory hot chocolate...and then clean up all the spilled hot chocolate off the floor.  I'm not trying to complain, but having it snow somehow made it a lot harder for me to get anything done that morning.  :). I don't share the same love of snow that the kids do I guess.

We had a 2nd mini Thanksgiving (another mistake) later in the week.

The kids pretty much eat turkey and rolls and that's it.  Anna and Matthew tried everything on the table this year after I offered them 20 sticks to do so (our current family jobs/behavior currency).

Decorating sugar cookie turkeys

I had a bunch of candy corn I wanted to get rid off

And another project Scott and I did that week that just seemed to take up way too much time.  This is Grant and John's bedroom before we moved in.  After moving in there were white patch spots several places on these painted walls where things had been taken off the wall.  I didn't really want to deal with paint matching the different colors so we decided to paint it beige like the rest of the house.

First I taped everything.  There is no moulding at the top and the ceiling is the same beige color as the rest of the house so that made taping a little easier.  We sanded the walls where the colors meet since there were tape lines that stuck up a little there.  Then we had to do two kill coats (of white Kilz) and let that dry.  Then one thick coat of the final beigey color.

The lighting in these pictures is not good, but the room does look nice.  

Scott and I are proud of the accomplishment.

We will put some pictures up eventually.   Baby steps.

It looks better in person...and with natural light.

Right after Thanksgiving break the kids had their STEM fair projects due 

(STEM = Science Technology Engineering and Math)

Anna did a group project about gum flavoring

Matthew did a project about yeast and leaveners in bread.

It was a bit of a scramble at the end, but I think they feel good about what they did and were glad it was all done.

And I am very excited about this.  We got a treadmill this past week.  Woohooo!!  Our last treadmill broke last fall in California so I switched to running outside with a double jogger stroller.  We had our previous treadmill for 9 years and it got a lot of use.  Scott said we could probably get a new treadmill after we moved.  Well, we had some trouble getting it ordered once we got here to Utah - our first order was canceled after being pending for several weeks but we finally got things squared away and the treadmill has arrived!!  It is huge and heavy and its final destination will be in the basement...which we hope will get done soon.  Scott assembled it with some help from Matthew.  It is pretty cold outside most mornings and I feel bad taking Emma out in the cold and snow.  Plus I once sprained my ankle pretty bad in college running in the snow and had to hobble two miles home then crutch around campus in the snow for several weeks.  Not to mention Scott's very bad leg break and ensuing surgery thanks to some super slippery ice!!  So I'm happy about the treadmill!!  And so is Emma.  Everyday for the past few cold weeks that we went to run outside she told me how much she hated it.  Poor girl!!  

And before we knew it...it was December.  More adventures to come...