Wrapping Christmas Gifts

Caroline came to us earlier this week.  She said she had set a budget and made a list of everyone she needed to buy for.  Maggie isn't the saver that Caroline is...so she chose to use a Target gift card that she was given for her birthday.  So we all went to Target to shop.  We split up and helped the girls shop.  It was so fun to watch them look for the right gift for each friend.  While we were there, Caroline realized she had left someone off her list...so then her budget per gift changed.  I was impressed.  Each girl paid for their gifts.  We then came home and the girls worked on wrapping their gifts.  Crazy that their gifts are the only ones wrapped under the tree...I have a lot of work to do!

 

Christmas Cards

Yesterday I sat outside to work on Christmas Cards.  Maggie asked to help me.  Y'all, I am NOT gonna lie, it took SO much longer but she had a so much fun and was SO proud of herself.  Check your mail soon...

 

Operation Christmas Child

Several weeks ago the girls were each given $10 to spend at the Dollar Store to pack boxes for Operation Christmas Child.  The girls loved picking out items they thought a little girl their age would like.  Sadly we haven't always participated in this...we wanted to but haven't always made it a priority so it didn't happen.  I truly hope that we can make this a tradition and a priority.

Non STOP Talking

 Y'all...this kid...talks NON stop!  I got up this morning while the house was dark and quiet.  I wanted to work on blogging while I had the time.  Well she woke up moments later and has been talking nonstop!  Mercy percy...shew!  Good thing she is cute and that I love her a WHOLE lot!

Turkey Day

Our Thanksgiving was very different this year BUT it was still special and sweet.  I cooked my very first turkey and prepped the big meal with the help of my family.  We started cooking on Tuesday.  Maggie was up at 6 am this morning help cut up fruit and other things.  Andy made sure the sink was empty and the dishwasher was running.  As I type this, the dishwasher is running for the 4th time today!  Ms. Susan and Teresa joined us today for our meal.  It was nice to be with family today.  I don't take for granted the gift of being together.    We used all our fancy stuff.  The girls helped me decorate and set the table.  I loved it!

My first turkey.  I put it in a brine for 18 hours.  Then used my Momma's recipe to cook it.  I love that Caroline wrote the recipe as Mom told us.  Might be my favorite new recipe.

Our feast...

Dessert

The leftovers

 

Christmas Tree Family Fun

Early on we began the tradition of putting our Christmas tree the night before Thanksgiving.  Mainly because we kept Jack and Grace the week after Thanksgiving while Tomi Jean and Greg went to Chicago.  Of course we no longer do that but we do love putting our tree up on the Wednesday before.  Caroline was a huge help this year...Maggie not so much!  Mags and Peep worked on Maggie's personal tree. I love the process of looking at and touching each ornament and remembering the sweetness behind it...so thankful for the many blessings we have!!

 

Delores' Tree

Earlier this week, I noticed a Christmas Tree in a neighbor's driveway.  I thought maybe they were fluffing it outside.  Well yesterday I noticed it was still there.  I drove by to take a closer look.  Sure enough it was beside a box that said free.  However, I wasn't sure if the tree was free or the box of ornaments. So I thought to myself, I will stop by when I see a car home just to make sure.  This morning on my way to take the girls to school, I noticed a car at home.  So Caroline and I dropped Maggie off at school, grabbed a quick Starbuck's (Caroline's new favorite treat) and headed back to the neighborhood.  Caroline was totally embarrassed that I was knocking on the door to ask for the free tree.  She didn't want to get out the van to help me load it.  I told her if we didn't get it loaded in the van, we would have to walk it home.  That changed her mind really quickly!

You see I've been looking for a tree for a special little project.  Delores LOVED the Wizard of Oz.  She had several Christmas ornaments that she put on her tree every year.  When she passed, I asked if I could have them.  (I have found memories of helping she and Mema put up their tree every year.)  Anyway, I wanted to have a tree with just her items on them, not mix with mine.  However, I was TOO cheap to spend $40 on a tiny tree.  So I have been watching sales but this find was just perfect!  I had to buy lights and decided to have colored lights on this one.  Going with the Wizard of Oz theme, we used a witches hat that was in the closet.  I found gold ribbon to make 'the yellow brick road.'  It's cute and reminds me of our sweet Aunt Doe.  Now, to find more WOZ ornaments to add to the tree. 

 

Star Student

 Last week Maggie's assistant Mrs. H sent me an email to let me know Maggie was chosen as Star Student of the week.  She said not to mention it, to wait and see if Maggie said anything.  Sure enough the moment she got in the van, before the door even closed, she said "Guess what?????  I am the start student!!  She was so excited!  So proud of our girl, she is settling into school well!

Christmas Lights as far as you can see...

Tonight while driving home from my Mom’s we were looking for Christmas lights. Maggie said “Wow!! Look at all those lights along the road!!” Caroline and I were like “where?” She said “right in front of you for as far as you can see.”  We quickly realized she was referring to the orange reflective barrels on the Hwy! 😂🎄 😂

Saturday Fun

The girls spent last night with Granny and Mr. Archie. Andy and I had a fun day at home.  I got up and got cleaning done.  I am such a morning person and get the most done the moment I wake up.  Well when you have kids sleeping, you want them to sleep as late as possible on a Saturday morning.  SO typically I try to hold off getting my day started until they wake up...well then they mess things up as soon as I clean them up! Anyway, after a few hours of cleaning, I showered and we headed out to do a little Christmas shopping.  We started with breakfast at a yummy place in town.  I had the most amazing breakfast bowl...I can't wait to go back and have it again!  We knocked a few things off our Christmas list, which made me very thankful!

Meanwhile, the girls were living their best life with Granny. She made them a yummy breakfast while they helped clean up from last night.  After lunch they went over to my aunts house to pick pecans.  After 2 hours, Maggie and Mr. Archie agreed that it's better to purchase them at the store than to pick them yourself.  Caroline enjoyed climbing a tree and having quiet time all to herself.   

 

Thanksgiving with my family

Tonight we gathered at Mom's for Thanksgiving!  It was the first time we have all been together at her house since last Christmas.  (thanks Rona)  It was SO good to be with family!  I am always amazed that no matter how much time has passed, the kids always have a great time together!  You can rest assured that everyone will laugh and eat well.  As we gathered for dinner, we stood in a circle and held hands for our blessing.  It was good to be together and I don't take for granted what a gift it was.  Mr. Archie said the blessing.  He also acknowledged my daddy...he said best I can remember "Lord, as we gather in this room as a family, there is something special here.  George built a family and left a legacy that many could only dream of."  I guess for me, this is the way we have always been.  I guess it takes someone from the outside looking in to remind us.  We are blessed!  We can argue and fight like the best of them but in the end, we are family!  We are so thankful for Archie and the gift he is to our mom and ultimately our family.  But Lord bless him, he is a good man to put up with all of us!  

Jenna helping Maggie with a reading lesson.

The year my Daddy died, we began the tradition of putting up Mom's Christmas tree when we gathered for Thanksgiving.  Back then it was Jennifer, Claire, Jessica and myself...Jared and Jenna would help too.  As the kids grew up, they would help.  As they have gotten older, they balk me on it but also joke about it. They know Aunt Rita wants pictures and we can't eat until it's done.  It's nice having big, strong males in the family.  They now go in the attic to get everything.  They have learned to fluff the tree and make sure all the lights are hooked up and working.  Peyton even pulled out Mom's sewing kit to fix an ornament for Maggie.  I think their favorite part of decorating the tree is putting the candy canes on so they can take them off.  My mom has always had candy canes on her tree...we loved it as kids and now our kids love it.

 We ate way too much as always...but tonight my heart is full!  So thankful for my family!

Fun at the park with church friends

 This morning the kids in our church met at the park for a playdate. It was a gorgeous morning to be outside.  Maggie loved playing with her friends.  (Caroline is no longer in the 'kids' group so she and Andy had a little breakfast date and did some shopping.)  Maggie was so excited that she has finally mastered the zip line.  She did a great job! Such an accomplishment!

Sweetness

 School for all the girls in this house is somewhat of a challenge these days.  Andy came up with a system to help all of us.  If the girls complete the chart, they get a reward.  While in Trader Joe's yesterday, they asked if their reward could be fresh flowers.  Well of course, I thought it was a great idea!  This morning, while getting ready for school, Maggie asked if she could share some of her flowers with her teachers.  I thought it was such a thoughtful gift and SO sweet!

Road Trip

 Last week I had to take our school laminator to be fixed.  It's about an hour and a half away from home.  They called yesterday to let me know it was ready.  The weather looked yucky but I KNEW I needed to get it taken care of so that the teachers could laminate Thanksgiving items.  We left mid morning.  About 10 miles out of town, the weather was horrible.  We were going about 20 mph and couldn't see a thing.  I was trying hard not to show the girls how nervous I was but it is probably the worse weather I have ever driven in.  We were about to turn around.  I asked Caroline to look on my weather app to see what the radar was showing.  She did an excellent job and told me we were almost out of the orange.  Sure enough about a mile later things lightened up and all was well!  SO very thankful for her help!

We picked up the laminator and then went to grab lunch at a fun restaurant a friend told us about.  It was Mexican and it was delicious.  Then we went to Trader Joe's to pick up a few of our favorite things!!  We weren't too far on the road when both girls feel asleep and slept the whole way home.  (This was stopped at a traffic light once we got back in town.)  Thankful for this time with our girls!  It was by far not the perfect day...we dealt with grumpiness and disobedience which made my heart sad.  But after some time to mellow, I sure am thankful for the memory!

New trick...

We are scheduled for rain, lots of rain, the next three days.  So this afternoon I told the girls they needed to get LOTS of fresh air.  Andy and I cleaned out our gutters while they played.  They created a new game...they hooked their swings on the same hook.  Mags was in front with C behind.  Given the wide support, they really had to work on balance.  They had a fabulous time and laughed a lot.  They couldn't really go very high because it wasn't easy to keep their balance.  Well they happen to get a little off balance and down Mags went.  Caroline's expression is priceless.  Thankful no one was injured and everyone laughed through it all!
 

Dates with the girls

This is the first time in 12 years that I have had to buy clothes for both girls...like almost a whole wardrobe.  We have been extremely blessed to receive hand me downs from friends and family.  This year Caroline has jeans and a few pair of leggings.  Maggie had some pj's and a few leggings that worked.  Thankfully I was able to order Maggie leggings on Target.com.  However, the 12 year old needed to 'look' at the clothes before we purchased.  So I asked Andy if he would hang with Maggie while I took Caroline shopping.  We both made a date with the girls and both girls were super excited!!

Maggie woke up at 5 am this morning and said "MOMMY, guess WHAT?  I'm going on a date with DADDY!"  I sweetly told her if she didn't go back to sleep the date was cancelled! :-) He took her to Krispy Kreme for a doughnut and then to Target to look at toys.  This is the first time in almost 8 months that she has gotten to enjoy looking at toys at Target.  She was THRILLED!

Caroline and I got a later start because 12 year olds require so much more time to get ready...gone are the days of picking out an outfit and putting on shoes and walking out the door...We started our morning at Starbuck's.  They have released their holiday drinks and you got a free cup with purchase.  The long was crazy long but we had no where to be.  We don't visit Starbuck's much so I stuck with what I knew...salted caramel hot chocolate.  I was proud of C, she stepped out of her comfort zone and tried a Peppermint Mocha Frappuccino.  She loved it.  I'm pretty sure this was her first 'real drink' from Starbuck's and she couldn't wait to send a picture to her friend Catherine cause "Catherine gets to drink Starbuck's all the time" according to Caroline. :-)  Score 1 for this momma being cool this once! :-)

We sat in the car to finish our drinks.  Several times, while waiting in line and while sitting in the car to finish our drinks, Caroline said "We don't have to rush...we don't have anywhere to be."  It was nice.  So often I am going from one thing to the next.  Which seems strange given the fact that we aren't doing extra curricular activities this year.  Once we finished, we headed in to Plato's closet.  This girl was in heaven!  She had to look at and touch every since shirt in her size.  We spent over an hour shopping.  She walked away with several cute shirts.  Now if the weather will turn cold so that she can actually use them!  

 Andy and I both had a wonderful morning!  So thankful to spend this time with our girls!

Happy Birthday Delores

 This afternoon we celebrated Aunt Doe Doe's 63rd birthday enjoying one of her favorite things...McAlister's.  She absolutely LOVED a McAlister's sweet tea, no ice, (cause you got more tea if you didn't request ice).  She always bought the girls a GIANT chocolate chip cookies, cause they needed a sweet treat in their life.  So tonight we enjoyed both and smiled.  We sure do miss her and wish she was still with us!  She and Maggie are kindred spirits and would have so much fun together!