Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

It's always so hard getting back into the groove after a long time off, isn't it? I know I don't technically get "off" since I'm a SAHM but whenever the kids & hubby are off, we treat it like a mini vaca and my usually routine goes right out the window. It's so nice, but it's also nice to get back to normal.

We had such a fun 5 days! Wednesday the kids and I did some errands and played then Brayden's friend came over. At night we watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving all snuggled on the couch.

Thursday was Thanksgiving and the morning started with lots of lounging then I managed to work out before we all got ready for my aunts. We had lots of fun and ate way too much! We got home around 8:30 and we all went right to bed.

 Friday we were up and heading out to get our tree around 9am. We went to a new tree farm this year and I really liked it! We fell in love with our tree and knew it was the one right away, well most of us did, Rick had to go do a little more of a search but ultimately came back and agreed this was the one.

 

 Friday night we headed to our neighboring towns tree lightning - it was such a nice night and the kids had alot of fun!

 

Saturday all day was decorating day!! The kids helped for a while and then they were over it, ha ha

 

 

 Saturday night we went for sushi with friends and while we were there Rick texted his brother and SIL to ask what kind we got last time (we went with them not that long ago to the same place) and it turned out they were eating dinner at Ruth's Chris right next to the restaurant we were at! So when they were done, they came over and had a drink with us - it was a fun surprise!

Sunday my Mom took the kids by her for the day to do Christmas crafts and that was my time to wrap, wrap, wrap!! I wasn't able to finish but I made huge headway and that makes me so happy! I also realized that I have too many gifts for Ella and not enough for the other 2, whoops! Good thing today is Cyber Monday :)

When the kids came home, we headed to the park since our weather was decent, then it was home to relax the rest of the night. 

Today I have a few errands to run then we all get to go to Brayden's school to watch/listen to him read his favorite holiday book and share about his favorite tradition. I can't wait!

Hope your Monday is great!

*linking up with B Loved Boston & The Sirois Family

Thanksgiving 2016 + My Favorite Weekend

Thanksgiving was a great one this year. We started our day off with going to see Moana as a family. Let me tell you, that movie is so so good!!

Later in the day we headed over to my Aunt & Uncles. They always have the best food! The apps and wine were flowing and the kids were having fun running a muck around the house. Thanksgiving dinner was so yummy and I was so happy not to be sick this year and actually be able to taste the food!

Friday morning we headed out to chop down our Christmas tree! This was the first year the weather was actually decent and the kids weren't crying saying they couldn't feel their hands and legs LOL

Typical Brayden face!

Usually someone is crying for whatever reason and this year was no different. Avery was crying because Rick walked towards another spot with Brayden to search for a tree, Ella was crying because she couldn't keep up with Brayden and then repeat.

on the hunt!

 It took us a while this year to find "the" tree - the lot seemed to not have very many good trees. We may be going somewhere different next year.

Ella and Brayden helped saw the tree and when it was ready to be pushed over, Brayden caught it.

 Avery was hilarious, she HAD to help carry the tree which meant we had to walk really slow and if she let go of it she would cry until we let her grab back on.

See, she's crying here because she didn't want to take a pic, she wanted to help carry the tree

Inside we had donuts and hot chocolate and saw Santa! (and overpaid for an ok picture)

Avery is not a fan again this year :)

Friday night we went to our towns tree lighting. It was our first time going and it was just OK. Not sure if we'll keep this up but it was fun to just be out and seeing some lights.

Saturday, Rick and I spent alot of time going through bins and organizing everything that's going back down to the basement (which is almost done!) Then later in the day we headed to my in laws to celebrate Thanksgiving.

 Sunday morning our elf, Twinkles showed up! He brought the kids an ornament and chocolate sticks. They were so excited!!

I spent the morning decorating the house and once Avery woke up from her nap we decorated our tree and the playroom tree

 

 

 Avery's favorite thing to do was put the hooks on the ornaments instead of actually hanging them. Of course she was supervised while using the hooks :)

     

Once we were done with the tree, we settled in to watch Home Alone and eat some yummy reindeer chow we made earlier in the day

We were all so exhausted by the end of the night and Monday morning came so quick, not to mention we didn't sleep well because it was raining and our dog was freaking out half the night. To top that off Brayden woke up with pink eye in both eyes so he had to stay home. Thankfully we already had drops so he only had to miss school yesterday and is back today.

I hope you all had the best holiday and weekend!


*linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls for Tuesday Talk

Happy Thanksgiving 2016!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we are kicking off our festivities with going to the movies to see Moana then to my Aunt & Uncles later. I am so excited to be celebrating this holiday today with the people I love the most.  I am thankful and grateful everyday for them but it's nice to have a day dedicated to remembering that.

See you all back here on Monday!

Turkey Handprint Plate {DIY}

Hello there Tuesday! I don't know about all of you, but I am in the best mood this week! The holidays are here and we have so much fun stuff coming up!

Today I'm sharing an adorable turkey handprint plate the kids and I made over the weekend. Well, technically it's a handprint and a footprint plate.

I love making these plates, you can see the one we made for Christmas 2 years ago here.  I plan on doing one for each upcoming holiday, I need to get them done before Brayden's  hands/feet don't fit anymore!




Here's what you need:

• White plate (I found mine at the Dollar store)
• Gloss enamel paint (must be the gloss enamel kind)

For this plate, I did Ella's footprint first, let it dry, then did Brayden's handprints, let those dry, and finally Avery's handprints.  Once the handprints were dry, I went back over the turkey with brown paint to fill it in. The reason I did the foot first is because I actually tried this before and did the handprints first, then the footprint and the turkey looked more like a peacock - the feathers were not coming right out the sides. It was pretty comical looking and I figured since the plates are only $1, we would try again.  I'm so glad we did!

Once the brown paint was dry, I painted on eyes and a nose. Then I went around the plate and made dots. 

Then it was time to bake at 325 degrees for 30 minutes. The back of the paint bottles actually says to wait 4 days to bake, but I've never done that and my plates have held up just fine (I have one of just Brayden and Ella from a few years ago and it's still in perfect condition)

And there you have it, a super easy and adorable momento to celebrate the holiday and also remember how little your kids hands/feet are!

*linking up with Our Pretty Little Girls

Thanksgiving 2015

Happy Monday! I'm back from a blogging break that I didn't really take intentionally, it just sort of happened. We had a such a nice, long weekend and holiday (even though I've been fighting a nasty cold for over a week!)

Thanksgiving is at my Aunt Nancy & Uncle Kevin's house and it is always my favorite! I was so sad this year because of my stinkin cold I couldn't even taste the deliciousness they always deliver with the meal.  I still had a great time regardless of the fact that I was hacking up a lung every 5 seconds and the other time I was blowing snot out of my nose.

I'm thankful my cousin had her camera out so I could get some pics from the night :)

My gorgeous girl!

Me and my handsome boy :)

And then there was the let's try and get a family picture and literally Brayden wouldn't smile once....ahh gotta love the age 5!

My other gorgeous girl :)

Ella was standing up on the chair doing blast off, where she counts down from 10 and then says BLAST OFF! Girl was on point all night with her entertainment, she sang Let It Go and For The First Time in Forever several times :)

Avery was such a ham all night! She is at such a fun age right now

I printed out a couple of games which Brayden was so into.  Later in the night we played the annual Left, Right, Center game and it came down to Brayden and my Uncle Bob and they were both rolling safes for what felt like 10 minutes straight and finally my Uncle Bob was out and it was on Brayden...the rules can go either way but we usually play it where the last person has to roll a safe to keep the money otherwise the game plays on, well it was getting late and Brayden rolled a L but we still kept him as the winner and he was so happy!

This is the picture of a delusional overtired 5 year old boy who loves to gamble :)

And that's a wrap on Thanksgiving 2015, another great year and we have so much to be thankful for.