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Well, we made it! The girls were in the play this weekend and we had Thanksgiving with our family. 12 people and only 1 shower due to the leak/shower issue we still haven’t resolved since last week! Bailey’s Indian project got turned in on time (complete with an edible long house!) and she made a 110! It was a “miracle” we got it all done, but, all was well and now we are already flying through another week.
I keep saying that when I get to the next week, things will slow down. This week we are out of school 3 days and all the play stuff is over…we don’t even have to celebrate on Thursday since we already had our Thanksgiving…but yet, we are swamped!!! We packaged and delievered 54 Thanksgiving meals (a turkey and all the fixings!) from donations our church brought over the last 2 Sundays. What a huge blessing! I was glad to have our girls help deliver 2 meals tonight! Also, the church has to be decorated for Christmas…it is a new building and it is bigger than the other one. It takes longer when you have to figure out where to put things and we had to buy some new stuff too. But, we are almost done with that.
The big thing looming over my head is decorating my own house. I have Thursday and Friday to do it. Tomorrow,we are finishing up at church and taking the girls to Raleigh to see the “good Santa” as Avery says! I think with the girls’ help, we can decorate in 2 days. On Saturday, I have adult and kids Praise Team practices and I have to finish up details for the Christmas series we are starting Sunday.
So, by next Monday, I think I’ll be able to slow down. Yeah, right!!! 
Sorry I don’t have pictures from the play…we aren’t allowed to take them in the theatre and I kept forgetting to take them in the costume room (where I worked for 3 out of 4 performances!) But, hopefully, I’ll have a few photos of the Christmas decorations later this week!
Hope you all have a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for!
We went to Florence, SC today to celebrate Matthan (my nephew) on his 3rd birthday! We had a wonderful time and were so glad to see him, Michael, Vanessa and my mom and dad. He loves race cars, so that was the theme of the party. Vanessa had all the little kids make cardboard box race cars and then they “raced.” Except, Matthan and Avery were crying so Michael and Vanessa had to help them. There was a Jimmy Johnson car cake and a huge race car pinata that Vanessa’s dad sent from Mexico. All the kids had a great time and we were so glad to get to be there! I won’t put all the pictures on here and ruin it for Vanessa…you’ll have to check out her blog later to see the cool cake and pinata! Please pray for Michael…he leaves on a mission trip with NewSpring to Africa on Thursday.
This week we will be so busy! Miracle on 34th Street will be next weekend! So, we have play practice from 2-5 tomorrow (and our small group meets at our house at 5…LOVE having NO time to breathe on Sunday). Then, there is practice from 6-9 every night before the play begins on Friday. There is a 10 am show (for school field trips) and a 7:30 pm show on Friday, a 7:30 pm show on Saturday and a 3 pm show on Sunday. Since all our family is coming in for the play, we will celebrate Thanksgiving on Saturday for lunch. By next Sunday night, we’ll all crash as soon as we get home from helping clean up the set. Exhausting, yes…but worth every bit of it to see those girls shine on stage!!
Today was Thayer’s day off so he began some yard work that he’s been wanting to do for several years. We have a little over an acre lot, but only about 1/2 of it is cleared. So, he wants to push back the forest! It is hard work and goes pretty slow, but you can certainly see his progress. Of course, he is burning the trees and brush he cuts down, so I’m sure the neighbors are about as thrilled as I am with the smell and ashes everywhere.
Since it was such a great day, I helped him outside after I got home from school. The back yard had to be cut one more time and since our lovely dog is such a slob, you have to pick up all the stuff (pots, wood, etc.) he has chewed and left everywhere before you can do it.
Then, we took the net off the trampoline. I know, I know…safety. But, the net was dry-rotted and you can’t buy just a net. So, the padding is still around the springs and we’ll watch them more carefully. But it looks so much better than the net hanging down all the way around.
Now that we have installed an electric fence (to keep the dog in our chain link fence!), we were able to remove all the rocks, landscape timbers, chicken wire and any number of other items (including the dog house) that we had used to block all of Noche’s holes. It looks a million times better! I had to load up Thayer’s truck with the rocks to drive them back down to the drain 2 houses down where we “borrowed” them. While I was moving the rocks, I was so thrilled (yeah, right!) to discover a tiny snake that had started hibernating until I disturbed him and 2 black widow spiders. I despise both, so Thayer had to come to my rescue twice while I was running and screaming.
My arms and back are aching, but I do love to see how much better things look. Since we were so busy in March and April opening the new church building, we missed doing several projects outside that really needed attention. I still have one more thing to accomplish…Thayer trimmed the bushes in the front, but the “monkey grass” I planted three years ago has gotten too big and needs to be trimmed and separated. I had meant to do it in the spring. Oh well, it will still be there towmorrow…or in a few more weeks when my mom comes to visit.
Even though fall is very much still in the air, we spent today getting ready for winter! The dreaded day arrived when I had to change the clothes in the girls’ dressers/closets from summer clothes to winter. That process takes nearly a whole day. We have to make sure all the summer clothes are clean and take them out of the dressers/closets, get all the storage totes out of the attic, put the winter clothes in and pack away the summer clothes. There are always some clothes that we decide not to keep. Our donation to Goodwill is always huge after the change! Then, there are the clothes that Avery will not be able to wear by next spring/summer. I always hate giving those away, but we do not keep anything under the size she now wears. A lot of those clothes are ones that we have had for about 8 years! I have the hardest time parting with the things that have been passed down through all of them. There were several pairs of pj’s that I had to put in the donation pile today that about made me cry! And, since we don’t donate old panties, I had to throw about about 10 pairs of Barney, Blue’s Clues and Elmo panties that all the girls potty trained in.
We also had the pictures done today that will be our Christmas card…we took the girls to the photographer that did our family photo 2 years ago in Kinston, NC. She is fabulous! If you are on Facebook, you can get a sneak peak because she added 7 of the shots from today on my profile. I’ll never be able to pick which one I want once I get the whole gallery on Monday. I am so amazed at how beautiful and unique they all are. Each one is so different and special! Julia is looking like a teenager, and Bailey is already in that sort of awkward pre-teen stage. Madi won’t smile with her mouth open because of all the teeth missing (the tooth fairy has nearly gone broke in the last month at our house! Bailey lost 2 in one day and Julia lost 2 in that same week!). Avery is just Avery…she is so hilarious and had an absolute blast at the shoot today. She picked out her sassy little dress and insisted on that flower headband. She won’t even wear hair bows anymore, but would not let me leave Target without that headband. If you aren’t on Facebook, don’t worry…I’ll have your cards to you in less than a month!
I am being allowed to decorate for Christmas early this year. Thayer’s rule used to be not until after the Thanksgiving meal is over. Last year, I got to do a little the week before because I had gotten burned out decorating at church 2 years ago and almost didn’t finish my own house. Since I adore Christmas, I made a deal with him that if he wants me in charge of the church decorating, my house has to be completed first. So, this year, because the girls’ play (Miracle on 34th Street) is the weekend before Thanksgiving and we’ll be swamped that whole weekend, and we’ll be gone most of the Saturday before that for Matthan’s birthday (I can’t believe that sweet boy is already turning 3!), I get to start on Veteran’s Day!!! Since the girls and I are out of school, we’ll be getting a start on the decorating then. I know, I’m nuts!
