Thanksgiving 2015

Amelia' s turkey hand she made at preschool

We hope you all are enjoying a lovely Thanksgiving day with family and friends. We sure are having a great day so far. I'm counting my blessings and say thanks to the Lord for my family and our health. I realized this year more than ever that being healthy is most important to us and all we need since neither money nor fame could buy that for us. Also, I'm thankful that I was chosen to be the mother of these two (crazy) kids. They often drive me bonkers but I wouldn't want to have it any other way. I love my children to the moon and back. And I'm thankful for this guy, who keeps me sane and loves me more every day despite my many flaws. Love you, too!  

I love traditions and so it is no wonder that we even established some family traditions for this holiday. Every Thanksgiving Day we start off with a small breakfast and then I get some food preparation done so that we all can sit in our pj's and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on TV. 

While Daddy takes care of the little ones, I cook the meal and prepare the table: 

We usually eat around lunch time so that we can all eat together before the kids go down for a nap. Derrick always carves the meat, we say our prayers and then we dig in. Our Thanksgiving feast this year included honey roasted Brussels Sprouts (they were so delicious even my husband had seconds), turkey breast, cranberry orange relish, corn, mashed potatoes, sweet yams, gravy and stuffing. It was a most delectable meal or as my lovely husband said: "The best one yet!" (He says that every year so either my cooking must get better or he is just charming)

And then we take it easy for the rest of the afternoon: naps, some football, a little walk and more food. 

This is, for sure, one of the best holidays; being with the ones you love and eating as much as you can. Thanks to the Lord! And a happy Thanksgiving to all of you. 

Let our lives be full of  both 

Thanks & Giving!

Christmas Parade

This afternoon, our town held their annual Christmas parade. It seems a bit early on in the season, but they have been doing it for 71 years and it seems to work out well. Entire downtown shuts down for this parade as well as the schools so the kids can participate. The best part is, I set up our chairs a couple of hours ahead of the parade (since I saw others doing it) and when we got there right when the parade started, we had a great seat. This would have never been possible in South Florida...our chairs would have been gone by the time we got back.

Our friends Lisa and Dori joined us to watch the parade

It was my first time attending a Christmas parade and I may have been as excited about it as the kids. There were 130 entries ranging from floats to cars to horses to bands, gymnasts, boy/ girl scout troops, businesses and churches. It took an 1.5 hour and ended with Santa's arrival.

Acrofitness, a non-competitive street tumbling place for children, had tons of children showing off their skills and did an awesome job with their float.

Mrs Claus...

We even saw some familiar faces in the parade (Amelia's teacher, our pastor, Ms. Katherine and her son and a few more)

The biggest float:

There were a few bands (mostly high school bands) performing in the parade but this one was our favorite:

There were also some mascots, a reindeer and some princesses:

And a couple more cool floats:

The grand finale: Santa with his reindeer has arrived.

We all enjoyed this parade a lot (the kids loved that they handed out candy) and I can't wait what else this town has to offer during the holiday season. I'm pretty sure I will blog about it.

Thanksgiving Feasts

Yesterday, our church hosted a Thanksgiving harvest after their 11am service and since we were all dressed up, I figured we get a couple of pictures taken for our Christmas card. Unfortunately they are a bit blurry so we have to find another picture for the cards. But here is the newest family picture:

And some more from in front of the church bell:

 

And then it was time to enjoy a delicious feast with all the trimmings: ham, fried turkey (my first try and it was good), green beans, corn, bread, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and more. Plus lots of yummy desserts. This gathering with our church family was very nice, from great company to great food. Thank you Fairview UMC for providing this meal.

Today, Amelia's preschool hosted a Thanksgiving Feast at school. All the children were dressed up at either Indians or Pilgrims and performed some Thanksgiving songs to the parents before they had their dinner. It was adorable.

My little pilgrim and her friends:

Here is a video of them singing:

Last week, I helped one morning with making these cute t-shirts. Each girl designed her own t-shirt by stamping it. Here is Amelia working on hers and then the finished product.

Finally, time to pray and eat:

 





Elliot and his friend snacked some too:

Proud Mommy and her two babies:

What a fun morning it was. I'm thankful that Amelia enjoys going to preschool every day and that she has a teacher who cares and loves the girls and teaches them not only academics but also life lesson. 

A week in Uproar

Over the past couple of weeks there have been several terrorist attacks (Russia, Mali, Syria) across the globe and the world has been in an uproar and distraught since the latest attacks in Paris over a week ago. I still can't believe how people want to hurt other people so badly and why they have to bring so much pain and suffering to the world. Especially during this season of thanksgiving. Shouldn't we all be thankful for having one another and sending love and prayers to each other?!? 

          God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble; therefore, we will not fear. (Psalm 46:1-2) 

I found this bible verse and think that despite all the terrorism going on in the world, there is always hope; hope in God and that we should not be afraid but rather stand up and trust in him.

In other news, we had lots of things going on this past week and were out and about a lot. Last Sunday, Amelia was invited to one of her classmate's birthday party. The girls had fun playing and Amelia was so happy to help her friend unwrap her gifts. Happy 5th Birthday, Leona!

Then on Monday, the kids got their flu vaccines (and Amelia got also another vaccination). Here is a picture of them before the nurse came in. They did well and the tears only lasted a few seconds because when you are a toddler, a lollipop can fix almost anything.

While Amelia is in school, Elliot enjoys going for walks with me and paint. Every time I try to do a craft project, he joins in on the fun and paints his little heart out. 

This week, the weather has been all over the place. First it was cool, followed by warm and muggy weather, then it rained one night and on Friday, a cold front moved in, just in time for the weekend. Despite the fact that the daytime highs are in the low 50s, I enjoy this colder weather much more than the warm and muggy weather or the heat we had in Florida during the holidays. This weather gets me all excited and I'm so ready to decorate the house for Christmas....but not before Thanksgiving. One holiday after the other, please. On Tuesday afternoon, we made a spontaneous bonfire in the backyard and ate dessert (S'mores) before dinner. It's probably the last time this year that we had an outdoor fire, so we really savored it.  

After picking up Amelia from preschool on Wednesday, I took them straight to the playground and then the library. The kids love being outdoors and usually play every afternoon in the backyard, but this was a nice little change-up.

This is how my boy looks when he has fun in the backyard. He loves the dirt. By the way, this was his third outfit of the day as we had two potty training accidents prior to that. Nonetheless, I was tired of cleaning him up, even though he looks mighty cute even when he's dirty from top to bottom.

The librarian gave us a craft to take home and so we got busy and made a turkey necklace and a loopy-legged turkey. Amelia and Elliot were proud of making these crafts almost all by themselves. (By the way, this is Elliot new "cheese" smile:))

On Friday, our MOPS group had a farewell lunch at Chick-fil-a for a fellow mom and friend Betsy Jo. This fast-food establishment is great for kids: they love the food, free ice-cream, the mascot and the playground while the mommies can chat a bit.

Luckily, we didn't had to say our goodbyes to Betsy Jo and her kids right there as we enjoyed having them over one last time for dinner that night. The girls had a last play-date that ended in tears as Amelia realized there and then that her friend Eva will be moving on Sunday and she won't be able to play with her again. Poor girl. Leaving friends behind and letting them go, can be tough. I know how that feels. But luckily friendship doesn't count miles because it's measure by the heart!

The girls had one last chance to see each other though as we met up at the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony on Saturday evening. This was the first Christmas related event we participated in this season and there are many more to come. Due to the crowds, the kids were not able to ride the choo choo train or visit with Santa, but they enjoyed chasing each other around the tree. It looked beautiful all lit up. And then, for the last time, we hugged our friends goodbye and wished them all the best on their new adventure. We will miss them, that's for sure.

Hopefully, this will be a much calmer and less fearful week so people can relax and enjoy Thanksgiving. Despite all what's going on, we have so much to be thankful. Follow along as we celebrate Thanksgiving and the start of Christmas season.