Five days later and a holiday passed and yet, Mom still maintains her sanity

I made a wreath for a friend...

Camilla made a wreath too...

Camilla's wreath was super colorful and cheery (just like her!)

and Lee amused himself by torturing the children! ;0)

We had like the endless holiday weekend for Thanksgiving and I was so busy cooking up a fabulous gluten-free storm, that I didn't have time to take pictures of the actual day, but I got pictures of the days around it (yes, that does too count!) oh, and a video of Adree! ;0)

Thank you W.C.S.D. for leaving the kids home with me for 5 days straight, 5 WHOLE DAYS!!! Do you have any idea how long that is?! Alright, enough with the melodrama they weren't THAT bad...just the normal bickering and maybe a little more than usual whining. They were out of school all day Wed., all day Thur., all day Fri. and then the weekend too!;0) So what all did we do?

Wednesday. Since the kids were out of school I recruited them for labor purposes. They helped clean the house (that they helped dirty up BTW) they emptied trashes, cleaned the bathroom, picked up their rooms, picked up the family room, emptied and reloaded the dishwasher. They were quite useful actually...hmmm...;0) I got started with the food prep for the next day by making 3 pies too and a large batch of Jello-salad! ;0)

Thursday. The big day! Lee and I got up at 6:30 and got started with the feast. Lee is such an awesome good kitchen helper, I never have to worry about making the whole meal myself, he's always right there with me. Thanks baby!;0) Lee prepped the Turkey for the oven and made the stuffing and the gravy too. I made the mashed potatoes, the sweet potatoes, prepped and put out a veggie tray and salami and cheese balls and crackers too. Dick and Brenda (my ex in-laws) came over and ate with us and then we watched "Christmas Vacation" and "A Christmas Story" while we lay fatly on the sofa. Camilla and Steven and Steven's dad and little baby Illianna came over later in the evening and we sang karaoke too! ;0)

Friday. In years past when money flowed a little more freely, Lee and I would have gone to Vegas for Black Friday or at least gotten up to snag something the kids or us needed for the impending holiday, not this year though. Nope, this year Lee and I slept in pleasantly and Lee went to work. I got to work on the many Christmas decorations and stockings I need to make this year, so that we can put up our tree next weekend. Well, Adree had other ideas. As I was cutting out stockings, Adree brought me her poor clothes-less Madam Alexander doll and insisted that I needed to make her a dress...and shoes (what?!) as well. As ugly as the dress turned out (and shoes), it took up way too much of my time and I finally got stockings done at 3 in the afternoon. I ran out to fetch a couple of things from Michael's I needed and when Lee got home we took the kids to go see Megamind in the theater (it was really cute!). Lee had asked the kids to make him a list of three things they wanted for Christmas that day and when got home he and I scoured the internet to find what they wanted. We were up until midnight, but we got almost everything! Woo hoo! ;0)

Saturday. The big rivalry game of Michigan vs. Ohio State was on Saturday and since Steven is a huge buckeyes fan and Lee a Michigan alumn, Steven and Camilla came over bright and early at 10am to watch and share a little smack talk (of course!) Lee and I made sure to dress appropriately in Michigan apparel and even donned each of the kids in blue and gold as well. Not that I was overly interested in the game and since Michigan got slaughtered so ( 37 to 7), Camilla and I amused ourselves by making rag wreaths (thanks Sissy!). Camilla's turned out so bright and cheery and I made mine for a friend who wanted one and it turned out great as well! (She loved it!) Since, watching the game depressed Lee (he says Michigan has sucked for a while, he doesn't normally even watch) he insisted that we needed to watch the U of U/BYU  game too. He rooted for the Utes, Steven rooted for the cougars. They came out even with the Utes winning (that was a great game) and Camilla and I completed our wreaths and Lee barbecued turkey burgers, yum! It was a good day all in all and Lee and I (and Adree) sang a little karaoke for the rest of the evening!;0)

Sunday. Church, finished up what little Christmas shopping was to be done and a retro Pink Panther movie and a lot of rest from such a busy weekend.;0)
So, five days later and a holiday passed and another looms on the horizon. Mom is busy and barely maintains her sanity, but I wouldn't have it any other way! ;0)