The kids had all of this last week off from school which was a nice break. Joseph lost yet another tooth (the Tooth Fairy is feeling a bit ragged at this point, haha), we went on walks, and we just relaxed around the house. Thanksgiving was nice because we invited a friend of Paul’s to come (he doesn’t have family close by). Abigail was so excited and asked him so many questions and showed him all of her favorite things. He was very patient with her, which was greatly appreciated. The day after Thanksgiving we put up all of our Christmas decorations. This morning, Abigail woke me up, forlorn, because Santa had not come to fill her stocking. Poor kid! We had a couple of discussions about putting up decorations early so that we could enjoy them, but it wasn’t really sinking in. I just finished making her a countdown chain, so hopefully that visual will help. 😀
Play wrestling. 🙂All ready for church. I love bright colors so much!One of my favorite cozy outfits. I love that it’s cooling down enough to wear them!Taking a break while walking around the neighborhood.This is my new hand pie maker.You can make a full hand pie by putting down a circle of dough down on the white part, using the scoop to put in some filling, putting another circle of dough on top, and then putting the gray part on top of that. When you press it all together, the edges get sealed together. The white part can also be used to cut out the perfect sized circle. If you want a half-moon shape, you put a circle of dough down on the gray part, use the scoop for filling, and then you flip it shut (it hinges) and push to seal. It’s awesome!I made blueberry hand pies. I used store-bought pie filling, but made the crust. Once they were put together, I cut a slits for them to vent and then baked them in the oven.Once they were cooled, I made up a glaze to drizzle across the tops of them. Yum!I also used my hand pie maker to make Abigail a crust-less cheese sandwich. 😀She kept asking me for underdogs…I love her giggle-shriek when she swings back after I let go. 🙂I made pecan pie from scratch for Thanksgiving dessert. I used my food processor to make the crust dough and it turned out so good!All cooled and ready to chill in the fridge.The Tooth Fairy got a little creative because she knew Joseph would get a kick out of a pirate tooth.Our Thanksgiving feast! Paul smoked the turkey and it turned out soooooo good. I made the rolls ad sides (except the cranberry sauce…we got that out of a can, haha.I made fresh whipped cream to go on top of the pie. I’m kind of proud about the fact that I made everything in that bowl, haha.Decorating her tree.Decorating his tree. It’s in his room to keep it safe from sister. 😉Some fun new decorations (the trees, angels, and little truck). I love the black and white gingham!I also got this little plaster tree and these cute little birds.My piano set-up. Some wall decorations. I love my palm frond reindeer!Some other wall decorations. I love my grinch sign!Oh! One last new decoration this year: this light-up lantern.It has a cute winter landscape inside.I love having our tree in the middle of the room. 🙂One of my favorite quotes from The Grinch…The outside lights.Abigail was really excited to see it all lit up. I love the bow on the garage door.Paul tried to get a close up of our toy soldiers (you can kind of see one of them in the previous pictures), but got a bouncy girl instead. 😉One of my favorite sights. 🙂One more shot of my new lantern. I really like it when all the overhead lights are off. It puts off such a warm, pretty light!She was excited to get the Santa hat out again.Our countdown chain. 🙂
We’re one week closer to my favorite time of year! I love the week leading into Thanksgiving (the fact that the kids have the entire week doesn’t hurt, either) and all of the preparation for getting the house all decorated for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. This last week was rather chill. I think the only note-worthy thing that happened was that Joseph lost another tooth (and is already wiggling yet another loose one rather vigorously). Today, Paul took Joseph to the movies, so Abigail and I popped up some popcorn and were going to watch a movie on our own, but then she opted to watch YouTube videos instead, haha.
This is what happens when the Tooth Fairy has a burst of creative juices and decorates the money envelope. I told him to smile for the picture, but he had just been woken up…and he is definitely my child (in that mornings are not his favorite), so this is what I got. He perked up a bit more when he saw the quarters. 😉Sometimes I feel like I spend most of my day in the car…running errands, ferrying kids back and forth, and the like. It’s just the season of life I’m in, I suppose.When the tortillas you get at the store are still warm from just being baked, tacos for dinner (in this case, breakfast tacos) are a must!Checking out the sunrise on one of our morning walks.I sure love this brown-eyed girl!We sure live in a beautiful world!Yet another awesome thing about my pressure cooker: I baked these potatoes in less than an hour!Baked potato and broccoli for dinner. Yum!By some small miracle, I was the first one awake this morning, so I decided to use up the super-ripe bananas and make mini banana bread loaves.I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on them before I baked them. They were so good!She was super-excited to be able to have popcorn and watch a show. Plus, since it’s a lazy Saturday, she got to stay in pjs, which she also loves.
Our week got off to a bit of a rocky start. Abigail was complaining of a “sore stomach”on Sunday morning, but I wasn’t sure what was going on quite yet. Right before church, I felt her forehead and she was really hot. 🙁 She stayed home with Paul while I took Joseph to church. In the evening, she threw up a couple of times. Luckily, once that was done, she managed not to throw up anymore. Her fever stayed around until Monday night, so I kept her home both Monday and Tuesday. She was back to normal on Wednesday, so life was good. In other news, Joseph lost his first molar and I hosted book club (and made tasty food for it, as you’ll see). Today was a fun day, too. Paul had a day-trip up to Dallas for a meeting (he flew up this morning and is currently flying back as I type this), so I decided to fill up our day with something unexpected. We decided that it would be fun to go to IKEA and walk around. I grabbed a couple small things I needed and the kids each came home with a new stuffed animal, haha. Once we got home it was business as usual (laundry, laundry, laundry…it always seems to catch up to me on Saturdays), but I did break in my mini-loaves pan and made some mini-loaves of pumpkin bread, which was fun.
She spent a lot of Sunday on the couch with a bowl close by.Much of Monday was spent the same way. Luckily she started to feel a bit better by Monday night. I kept her home on Tuesday only because she hadn’t been fever-free for a full 24 hours yet.Wiggling his loose tooth. I think it fell out the next day at school. He brought it home in a plastic bag.I made fresh rolls for book club.I also made apple cider doughnuts……and used my blender to make……pumpkin pie hummus!The spread for book club: doughnuts, M&Ms (the book was set during WWII, so I wanted to have a candy that was specific to the time period), rolls with butter and homemade strawberry jam, and the pumpkin pie hummus (with ‘Nilla wafers and gingersnaps…I bought both of those, haha). Oh, and look at my pretty butter dish!I decided at the last minute that I wanted one and luckily Walmart was able to provide me with one that was very reasonably priced!I love the sky in the mornings when we go for our walks!Stopping for a water break at the halfway point of our walk.She wanted to take “silly selfies”.This is one of my favorites. She can be so fun!My geraniums have just exploded the last little bit!This was on the grass in front of the kids’ school…it made me tear up a bit. I love how much San Antonio loves our military!It was rather chilly on Friday morning. There was even frost on the tips of the grass.I used a pancake mold to make fun-shaped eggs for the kids one night.My mini-loaves pan. I love that it bakes eight loaves at once.Look at those cute little loaves! I want to say that they’re about three inches long each.
