Time To Decorate For The Holidays!

Pretty much as soon as Thanksgiving is over, I'm ALL IN for Christmas. 

Steve has always been "respect the turkey" so I don't put up Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving.

But the day after? Let's goooooooo!

We actually did my mom's house the day after Thanksgiving. She doesn't have a lot (I brought it all) because she doesn't want it all. If it were up to her, she'd likely have less than this! Haha.

But she does agree that once it's up, it's beautiful and we love it. 

Love love love. 

Thanksgiving

We had such a nice long weekend. (Minus a day of shittiness for me - side effects from the booster shot - more on that later). 

The kids were off since Wednesday and I've been off since Thursday.

The kids spent the night at my mom's Wednesday night and we picked them up Thursday before heading to Steve's parents for lunch (and Thanksgiving meal #1).

Wednesday was quiet at work and we ended up "closing" the office around 2pm. I headed over to my mom's to start cooking my sides.

But first....

Sleeping in. Ava came down for some snuggles.

I made stuffing, squash casserole, green bean casserole, and mashed potatoes. Mom made TWO turkeys! She found a deal on a fresh, young turkey right before Thanksgiving, so she HAD to get it. Luckily for us, that means we get lots of leftovers! 

Thursday morning Steve and I headed out to get the girls and go to his parents for lunch.

After visiting for a few hours and eating our first Thanksgiving meal, it was time to head over to mom's for dinner and Thanksgiving meal #2. 

My cute mom in the background

I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with my mom cooking. One of my favorite activities and memories growing up!

Yikes! The wrinkles. 

All in all, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's super convenient that our parents live within 5 minutes of each other. It makes visiting both sides very easy. 

I'm so thankful for my family and being able to spend time with them.

Now, on to Christmas! 

Friendsgiving

I've ALWAYS wanted to do a Friendsgiving get together during the holidays.

It never works out and there's always just TOO MUCH GOING ON.

So we got on top of it early this year and it's next weekend!

We are frying two turkeys and of course all the trimmings and desserts.

I'm already thinking of decorations and all of that.

I ordered a 7ft tall pre-lit tree so it'd be extra festive. 

The hosts are frying the turkeys (and I think smoking one) and I'm bringing some sides. Emily is bringing appetizers. I'm also going to bring a cookie tray.

We'll have so much food! 

Steve is taking the day off since it's a Saturday and I'm SO glad we'll all get to hang out. Steve's schedule is annoying when it comes to things like this. Most people want to hang out Friday/Saturday evenings and Steve's always working. Granted his schedule works out great for the rest of our life including the girls school schedule. 

I spent Friday afternoon cooking. I started around 3pm and stopped around 10pm. 

I loved every second of it. 

Homemade cookies for the win!

Gluten free cookies

Gluten Free Oreos, dipped

My house smelled amazing

Chicken Pot Pie - Again! 

This was an earlier pic. I lost my phone for much of the party, so not a lot of pics. 

Love me a good barn party

one of our friends brought these freaking things lol. 

The babies are now old enough to drive my old ass around

My babies

In she goes!

The famous Fried Turkey.

A little 4 square

There was so much food! It was so nice to see my people and enjoy such good appetizers, food and desserts. These kids grew up together and I love watching them play. 

My girls happen to be the only little girls of the group, so they did say to me "I wish there was just ONE more girl in this group"...ugh. I feel ya girl. But, they do a great job keeping up with these crazy boys!

Now, one more Thanksgiving to get through (and with leftovers!) and then it's time for CHRISTMAS. 

School Projects

Mila got the opportunity to earn extra credit. 

They are learning about Native Americans and how they lived.

Mila chose to do the Longhouse project.

I did the exact same thing when I was in 4th grade and I remember it very clearly! I loved doing that project. 

Steve decided he'd help her with that project and as I was looking over the worksheet, saw that she could also do a recipe book featuring the 3 Sisters. 

Of course, I signed us up for that, too!

We have known about these projects for a few weeks now. 

We immediately went out to get our supplies.

Then...

They sat.

Until the friggin' day before they were due.

Jesus, help us.

I really didn't want to teach Mila to procrastinate, but we've just been busy! 

So yesterday we had to hunker down and get shit done.

And let me tell you. 

She freaking ROCKED IT OUT.

We had Home Alone on the TV while she and Steve got going on the Longhouse. 

Tongue depressors for the structure.

Mila found cattails outside and peeled the outer layer off to use as the siding.

We got these miniatures from Michael's Craft store a few weeks ago.

Lol. Ava and her cookie and the way Mila is looking at her. 

So proud of this girl!

Used real twigs for the roof structure and a piece of burlap as the top.

I'm SO PROUD OF THIS KID. 

The inside - the floor is made of rock/gravel, she made bunk beds with "animal fur", and she even made a pot over a fire in the back. This kid. 

Simultaneously, while she was waiting for her hot glue to dry, she was running back and forth making her 3 Sisters Recipe cookbook.

We actually did do the corn recipe the day before - this is something they actually love eating. 

We ended up making a casserole dish, which I normally make for Thanksgiving, but got lazy and I Didn't want to take more pictures of it. 

Next up - green beans! 

Neither of my kids like green beans. 

Assembling the book!

Just a sampling of our format! She did great!

I'm very much looking forward to doing more projects with her and Ava. We will have to remember to start them early and work on a little at a time so we're not spending an ENTIRE day doing this. That being said, we really enjoyed spending the time together making these two projects. Family time! And they didn't watch tablets all day! LOL. Winning!