Thanksgiving and catch-up

I blinked and Thanksgiving is over and we dove right in to all things Christmas!  

We don't believe in rushing holidays over here... one at a time and no overlap!  We do believe in matching U of I hoodies... Aunt Shelly gave us Miriel's and it just happened to match mine, with the Chief, which I love.

 Cadence is the most willing of helpers these days.

 They like stuff.  I don't mind stuff if I don't have to look at it or step on it.  However, when your stuff drawer is completely full, it's time to clean it out!  (I cringe a little every time they come home with goody bags and filler gifts... they love it, buuuut.... why not one larger gift rather than a million cheap trinkety things? :P Such is life with little girls though.) 

 Sunday evening Shells wanted to hang out with everyone.  Matt and Lena were already in town, and Bob suggested we have everyone at our house so 'we don't have to go anywhere.'  Ha.  We're such introverts.  So we did, and we managed to feed them all on fairly short notice.  No leftovers though... in my world that's a bad thing because if you do have leftovers, everyone got as much as they wanted.  If you don't have leftovers, maybe someone would have liked more and didn't get it; I am Lydiann's granddaughter and that would be the worst thing ever. ha.  
I spy five kids in there somewhere.

 I have never really thought that Matt's boys and my girls look alike.... but I kept doing double takes when Logan was in the bouncy seat.  :)

 The kids were banished to the basement to play Hungry Hippo and we played a quieter game upstairs.

 Look we match!

 My favorite part of this ensemble is the rings over top of the gloves. 

Bob took a few days off before Thanksgiving so he stayed home with Emmy and Cadence while Miriel and I went to Goodfield to help Shelly pack.  I'm not sure that I got much done, other than helping pack her "Big Arts" and "Small Arts."  Ha. (mcmansionhell.com reference...)
We only do one Thanksgiving a year, so we didn't have any big family plans after church.  It was nice... the girls did this Thanksgiving craft kit and our pilgrims appear to have yellow fever... haha. 

 I thought of it too late and the Mr.'s F were already cooking their own thanksgiving dinner when I asked if they wanted to join us.  Honestly, I was a little relieved they said no, because I had no traditional food except turkey, and I was trying out some authentic recipes.  Some of them turned out better than others.  The turkey stew (Sobaheg) burned really badly while it was reheating so the whole house smelled and it tasted pretty bad.  We all decided that we like pumpkin with lots of sugar in a pie crust better than stewed pumpkin- too squashy tasting.  I thought the Indian berry pudding (Nasaump) was pretty good, buuuttt... the texture was unnappealing to anyone else.  It was cream-of-wheat like so I ate it for breakfast the next morning with syrup drizzled on top.  So.  Not sure if I'll be able talk them into an authentic thanksgiving again.  They may have been more excited to drink cider out of GLASS cups than anything else.  Oh, and they may have eaten more deer summer sausage than turkey.

 Friday we were going to all go help Nathan and Michelle load trailers, but Miriel started feeling feverish mid-morning.  So Bob went and we girls stayed home. We went to Koch thanksgiving in the evening with a sick baby, and she did pretty well, considering.    She didn't sleep well though, poor baby, so I didn't sleep well either.  Woot.
She was still pretty warm all day Saturday so we didn't do much.  The girls were dying to decorate for Christmas.

On Sunday, Miriel was still a little warm and Cadence was a little warm and also slightly snotty.  Bob took the morning shift with them.  Miriel was not happy to be left, poor baby.  She was very happy to see me at noon, and was finally starting to feel better.  

They made their own dollhouse out of cardboard boxes, the perfect toy.

Emmy got sick at breakfast on Tuesday. So she spent the day on the couch watching movies... and Cadence couldn't understand why she couldn't be with her, so she got way too much screen time on the other couch.  Emmy was keeping food down all afternoon, until bedtime. *sigh*  So she spent Wednesday on the couch too, even though she was pretty much better.  We went to get a tree after school.  It's the last year in business for our favorite tree farm.  Sad news.  And we were one of their last customers... there were less than 20 trees left.  

We HAD to decorate it right away. So pretty.

Cadence was so excited to get to go to program practice this year.  I helped in the kitchen so I got to watch them sing.  She stood on the risers, no problem, but didn't sing and was lifting her dress up towards the end.  :)
Friday evening was caroling.  Bob was not feeling well so I took the girls... we went to the nursing home so we'd only have to unload once.  Cecily has suddenly decided to be self conscious so she wouldn't stand in front, Emmy was feeling shy, too, Cadence was wild, and then Miriel decided she didn't want to be in the stroller anymore.  I'm not sure we contributed much, other than sheer entertainment.
Saturday morning was the Santa breakfast at school.  We visited the book fair and the older two did Santa's workshop while we waited patiently reading our new books. Or something.  

We stopped at the library for stories and brought home crafts.  While Cecily and Emmy were doing their crafts, Cadence was quietly gluing together a large stack of construction paper.  

Bob spent the morning raking up what is hopefully the last of the leaves.  We have been blessed with the best neighbors... 

Sunday evening was the Christmas program!  Matching dresses straight from china that look better at a distance... Say cheese!

When Daddy takes away your blanky for the picture.  hehe.

She gets has to wear my coat this year.  I don't understand why they are so opposed, It's not that much different than their peacoats.  

The program went well, none of them distinguished themselves.  Cadence was starting to get more comfortable towards the end of her song and was testing the bounce in the risers... thankfully they were done before she did anything memorable.
Cadence and I went to the dentist on Monday.  Apparently she wanted to take a little mirror home so they gave her a plastic one (in her right hand) along with new toothbrush and stickers.  So exciting!

Grandma Kathy ate lunch with us, then took the middles to the farm for a bit.  Miriel and Cecily and I went over after school for awhile.  
The rest of the week has been less busy, thankfully.
Enjoying watching "the guy who sings tractor tractor" on the Behold the Lamb of God live stream.

We hung a mirror at kid height in the bathroom so they can see themselves, you know, so they won't climb up on the sink when they need to wash things off their faces.  It seemed like a good idea, but now they take forever brushing their teeth because they are so busy gazing at themselves.  :P  

We baked some cookies and decorated them.  We've done a little bit of shopping. 
Blessings.