I’m sad that Thanksgiving break is over, but luckily, Christmas break isn’t too far away!

I also made some Pumpkin Dessert, which Amy especially loves.

To kick off the holiday, I made Pumpkin Waffles with Apple Cider Syrup, (though I called them “Thanksgiving Pancakes” to the kids). I inadvertently made them into pancakes instead of waffles, but they still tasted amazing... especially the apple cider syrup!

Monday

Natalie acted in a Greek play with some of her 6th grade class. She was embarrassed to perform in front of people, so she mumbled her lines a bit, but had all of her many lines memorized. She has been super excited about this for a long time, and was glad we came. (Jon even got off of work for it.)

Tuesday

I’ve been wanting to do something for my visiting teach-ees, so Tuesday, I tended Tarryn’s kids for most of the day so she could go to the temple, get things done, and relax. Tyler was not intimidated by a 5-year old, and I was a little worried (for the 5-year old) when they brought out the boxing gloves! But he didn’t get hurt until Andrew came home and popped him a good one in the face. Yikes!

We spent about half of the day outside. It was a really nice day. I enjoyed being called “Sista Jen” by these cute, South African voices. And I’m glad I understood the plea, “I need to wee” at the right time.

My New Favorite Way To Shop With the Boys

When Adam and Andrew slid underneath the shopping cart like this I let them stay... and then made them stay because it was so nice that they were contained and weren’t fighting or getting into things. It made my trip to Target really productive and a little enjoyable even! (Generally, shopping with more than one boy is miserable for me.)

Wednesday: Pre-Thanksgiving Fun

Thanksgiving

The next morning, I found the kids playing No Mercy Marbles in the library. It was pretty cool to see them going at it again!

Friday

Fourth Saturday

To Jon and me, it felt like we had four Saturdays in a row this week! So weird. The “real” Saturday was another good one, with Jon getting more house projects done, and the kids and I decorating for Christmas. It did feel a bit early for that, but they love to help and are very helpful, especially with shuttling the bins and boxes to and from the storage room.

(Here’s Jon straightening my tree.)

Mark has been sitting on his own, though we need to be on guard since he’ll topple over at random.

The kids were excited to go on a short “Pilgrim Journey.” I made the girls’ bonnets really quick and printed up text of the journey.

The kids took turns reading about part of the journey and moving along the path.

We played No Mercy Marbles that night with just the four oldest kids. It was super cool to play a real game together! I bought chocolate filled Pirouettes for a special treat. Yum! (Andrew and Adam won, with Jon and Natalie close behind.)

Jon cut the boys’ hair assembly line style. I really should have put Mark in there ‘cause he’s overdue for one!

Mark got duded up in his cute clothes. The shoes didn’t last long and were too big, but they were so cute!

I made “turkey feet” rolls, and we headed up to Gary & M’Jean’s (and baked the rolls there).

Everything was so, so yummy! I need to learn how to make Gary’s stuffing!

Handsome boys! These guys ate more on Thanksgiving than they ever have at a family meal! I don’t know if it was the 2:00 mealtime or just the extra-amazing food!

Chess with Gary

Lego Mania with the cousins

The boys got a huge kick out of this little stunt on the trials bike!

The kids worked over Gary and M’Jean in Up and Down the River, with Adam winning at 130 points, Amy and Natalie next, and Gary & M’Jean tied in last place with 30 points! M’Jean made me laugh when she told us she really was trying to win! Adam also won at Marbles.

Something about Thanksgiving was extra nice. I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but the whole day felt really nice. It was fun to be with the Lunds.

Taste-testing Gary’s turkey before the meal.

Tessy and Millie swapped faces. Crazy!

Jon bought a new battery for the trials bike, and the boys have been getting lots of use out of it! It’s super cute to watch them give rides to Tyler, and to zoom around the yard again and again.

Friday afternoon, I took the kids on “Mom Walks” one by one, just around the block so we could chat. Adam was the least excited to go, but everyone else really liked it (despite the look on Andrew’s face).

Adam buried Tyler

I asked the kids to pause their video game playing in the basement to sort the sock box and put away their laundry. They’ve never done it so fast!

Gary helped Jon with the next step in building the cabinets in our living room. They got the basic shelves set and mounted the TV.

After M’Jean helped Rosalie unpack a bit, she came back and gave the girls piano lessons. Yay!

Friday night, we put the boys to bed, and let Natalie and Amy stay up to watch the 8th Harry Potter movie. Natalie has been waiting forever to see this last episode! She has read all the books twice, and Amy once. We had planned to rent it, but never could (online), so finally opted to buy the blu-ray box set. The quality is pretty amazing! I could tell the girls felt extra special getting to stay up late to watch a movie only with us!

Although it’s not December yet, I am really happy to be gazing at this tree all day, and especially when the lights are out!

The kids loved helping me put the less fragile ornaments on my Christ-Centered Tree (every ornament represents Christ in some way). (They have their own tree in the entryway.)

Last year I made a new, red ribbon to wrap around the tree. On this one, I wrote out The Living Christ in glitter glue (most of it... the ribbon wasn’t long enough for all of it). I love the color it adds to the tree... and how it matches my tree skirt! (The white one I originally made has Luke 2 written on it in silver glitter glue.)

Natalie