Thanksgiving Weekend

We've been in Virginia long enough to have traditions and had a fairly "traditional" Thanksgiving with friends and family. Cory made an amazing cajun-fried turkey, and Dave made a moist, delicious traditional turkey.  I made rolls, pies, and sweet potato casserole, which are my favorite things to make for Thanksgiving.  We had lots of friends and family and had a lovely dinner.

The weather was plenty cold but the teenagers still played a game of basketball after dinner.  It's fun to have enough kids around that they can go play a game by themselves!  We spent the afternoon playing games and watching football.  

Friday after Thanksgiving the Chorale that I am singing with sang at the town center for the tree lighting ceremony.  It was fun to sing carols and be there when Santa arrived to light the tree.  

Natalie reading books to Michael

Natalie tucks Michael in for his nap many days without any help from me.  Once day I recorded her "reading" her favorite book to Michael.  So sweet!

Random memories

Michael has a fetish with having his toenails cut.  I had to snap this picture because many mornings he comes into our room bright and early, grabs the nail clippers, and tries to cut his toenails.  When he can't do it, we have to help him.  He can't stand to have a hangnail, torn cuticle, or anything else bothering him and he really loves it when we cut his toenails or fingernails.  For the rest of my kids, that was a form of punishment.  Glad someone likes to be well groomed!

My mom had major back surgery to fuse a disk in her back in November.  For Kara's birthday, she decided to go spend the weekend helping Mom recover, decorating her house for Christmas, and just being with Mom and Dad.  While she was gone, Dave decided to fill the house with balloons for Kara's birthday.  He enlisted all the kids and Brooke and Megan to help fill hundreds of balloons all over one room of the house and when she came home she got to search through the balloons to find her presents.  The kids thought it was the greatest activity ever, and they loved having the balloons to play with in the basement afterward!