Thanksgiving day and after

We celebrated Thanksgiving with friends this year. My parents decided to spend the weekend on a mini vacation and my newlywed sister and her husband didn't wish to make the 4 hour drive up. We were invited to two family's homes, but having temporary memory loss I forgot about the first invite and accepted the second. I messed up and felt terrible. Because the first friend is so sweet and understanding, she forgave me and moved on. I love her! We spent the morning cleaning up, watching the parade on tv, and giving the boys a nap in the early afternoon. We left around 3 and spent the remainder of the day with our friends. The turkey dinner was DELICIOUS, almost as good as my mom's. We ate until we could eat no more. I was encouraged with kind words by a wise Christian woman.

This was E.'s first thanksgiving. He loved all the food and had seconds! After dinner, E. was getting pretty tired. He didn't want to share a toy with S. He wanted to make a lot of noise around the sleeping baby. (who I got to snuggle and love for a little while) I told him to have a timeout. He screamed, a newer tactic he's been using for a while, mostly in public because he knows how annoying it is to everyone. We went upstairs away from people, and my husband comes up, 3 flights of stairs, to see what is going on. He could hear him from that far away. I was really embarrassed. E stopped screaming when daddy came upstairs, and sat somewhat quietly for a few minutes before coming to apologize. Later, when he was being disobedient again, I gave him that mama look, and he sat down on the kitchen floor saying "I needa timeout!". He was very tired by the time we got home at 8:30. He gets overwhelmed after more than a few hours of excitement. S. was a trooper, and I am so thankful he was being so easy going!

Today I woke up at 3:45 am. I met Sarah at her house for Black Friday shopping. I seriously considered not going, but she talked me into it. I have only gone BF shopping twice in my lifetime now. We had a good time. I spent more than I had planned, but most of my purchases were non toy, sensible items. S. is done, K. is finished, L., C., and E. are partway. I got J. a few things too! We are making Christmas a bit simpler this year, which I love.

This coming week is going to be busy. My mom has surgery for her cancer. I am going to go stay with her on Wednesday. Then, on Friday three fun girls are going to have a birthday celebration/adoptive mom chat fest/movie night/relaxing soak in the hot springs up in Canada! Hurray! Thankfully the cost of this mini girl's vacation is under $80 but to me it's priceless. My hubby is so wonderful for giving of his time so I can do this sort of thing occasionally.

Unfortunately I have no photos of our Thanksgiving. I am getting to be terrible at remembering to take pictures. I brought my camera...