Saturday, November 26, 2011
A Happy Thanksgiving Week
Phew! Thanksgiving turned out nicely.
I took a few shopping trips in those last 3 days before Thanksgiving, hoping not to return to these stores until after Christmas. The kids wrapped their presents for each other (and so far have done well in keeping secrets) and I finished my portion of Christmas gift preparation (buying and wrapping). That feels nice. Jon has his own contributions to make, but he has a different time table than mine.
Before Thanksgiving, we also enjoyed lunch out with Garafa, wives, and the kids-not-in-school. I met Joe’s wife at last, and it was nice to have us all together for the first time.
Saturday morning, I convinced reluctant Natalie to come with me to a baptism for a girl in our ward. I’m the Primary counselor over baptisms, and the family needed a pianist and chorister. Natalie is embarrassed to be in front of people, but after a pep talk, a little begging, and some practicing with me, she did a great job leading the music for her first time. I think she even enjoyed it.
The rest of the day, the kids and I took down the Thanksgiving decor (which didn’t take long), and putting up the Christmas stuff (which took most of the day). I am in love with the ambiance of Christmas tree lights and love the feeling of Christmas approaching!
I’m sure thankful for many things, especially my family. I hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving morning, I finally got around to taking portraits of the kids, though I want to redo the girls’.
The day before, along with cleaning the house, I cranked out a few quarts of applesauce - not much, but yummy and worth it, nonetheless! (My back was spent at the end of the cleaning and canning day, though.)
Speaking of contributions... the girls are so creative! Amy felt that there were not enough Thanksgiving decorations around the house (fair enough), so the day before, she whipped out a bunch of cute drawings and taped them around the house - very cute. Natalie made her own Thanksgiving table to display on her desk. Love it.
We opted for the no-stress Thanksgiving meal at Cracker Barrel. Molly and Devin joined us. It’s so nice to show up, sit down and eat a good meal, get full, leave the mess, and come home to a clean house. I do love a home-cooked meal, but I didn’t (nor did any of our in-town relatives) feel up to the task of making it all.
Back at the ranch, we spent the rest of the day with Molly and Devin, Rosalie, Tess, Barney and Mary and families. Games included Ticket to Ride with the older kids and Molly & Devin (using partners), and Nerts. We hung out and chatted for most of the day and watched a movie that night with Jon’s fancy shmancy new receiver.
Fun continued the next day since Molly & Devin slept over. The girls played Revenge Rummy for their second time ever on Friday. (It’s another Heap family favorite game... yeehaw!)
Barney and Mary also came over to watch a football game with Devin and Jon.
That night, Barney and Mary joined us at The Shops at Riverwoods to check out the lights. It was really pretty (and cold)! The boys stopped at every fire (there were tons) and loved the water fountains, too. The girls and Tyler were fascinated by the electric violin being played outside.
We took a free carriage ride, which was extra exciting for the kids (their first time). When we came home, Jon demonstrated his new basement sound system to me while the kids danced around like crazy. I love those fun, impromptu family times!
Jon has been working on two rock walls in front of our house for a while now. Between bad weather and family events or work taking up his Saturdays, he hasn’t had much opportunity, but has been hitting it hard the last little while.
Yesterday, he finished the biggest wall. Tyler was very eager to offer moral support!
I am so impressed by his nice work and how perfectly level it all is (his heavy-duty level was key for that part). He did a great job and is hoping to finish the smaller wall before winter comes!
