We are coming to the end of our Thanksgiving Break.
We had such a nice, relaxing four days as a family.
Oh how I love spending time with my family!
(One thing I did this year to instill a bit of thankfulness in Chase's life, was create a "thankful tree". I think that is something that will be easier to relate to as she gets older. We just hung tags on these branches of things we are thankful for. It was exciting at first (after we established being thankful for more than lamps and odd things), but none of us were great at adding to it.)
Thursday morning both John and I got some exercise, separately. I went to the gym, he played in our church's annual Turkey Bowl. They had a lot of fun. Chase and I watched the Macy's Parade together while he did that. It is still not my perfect idea of a tradition with Chase...but it will be soon! The problem is, they have so many Broadway acts that sing and dance and all Chase wanted to see was the floats and balloons! It was not as good as in years past. But, I did see a guy that I used to babysit for singing in the Naval Academy Glee Club, and that was a real treat!
For dinner we headed over to the Carters. Another dear family joined us. I baked a pumpkin pie and a chocolate amaretto cheesecake, made a salad, an appetizer, and John made the green bean casserole. All were great additions to what everyone else had made...2 different brined turkey breasts, apple sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, peas, carrots, rolls, along with several cheese appetizers. Apparently we all think alike!!!
The girls had fun playing, as always...they even enjoyed the dinner...until Chase bit her tongue and then she was DONE!
Friday we relaxed around the house in the morning, then we went to visit a dear friend getting cancer treatment in the hospital. It was perfect timing because they don't want little kids there due to germs, but his family was there playing games with him out in the common space, so we were all able to visit. Chase did well considering she'd never been in hospital circumstances like that before, kind of scary if you think about it. Then we went over to La Jolla and walked around. It was a perfect day. Sunny but a little cooler. That night John got inspired to pull out the Christmas decorations. That was a miracle! I normally do them alone, but he was excited because he knew Chase would enjoy them. That is quite a job...and we have a small house and tree! I can't imagine living in a huge house with a huge tree! But our house looks so beautiful now and we can enjoy it before going out of town. John even put up lights outside for the first time.
Saturday, both John and I had our annual eye exams. John's vision got a little worse, mine stayed exactly the same. Then I got a little alone time. I took Steph to get a pedicure for a birthday treat. That was nice, but they were quick. We love our sparkly red toes!! Then we shopped in Tuesday Morning a bit...then she left and I went and did some Christmas shopping. It was nice to have some time to myself. J and CJ finished decorating and napped. Then we had family movie night and Chase watched "Rudolph" for the first time. She enjoyed it.
Sunday was our usual outing to church, including music practice, teaching Sunday School, singing, worshiping...we always love being with our church fam! Then we relaxed in the afternoon, I did a little crafting, the Chargers lost (apparently they suck?!) and then headed back to church for a special service of prayer and praise.
It's always bittersweet coming to the end of a long weekend or vacation. But our countdown to Christmas break can commence! Before we know it, we'll be getting on the place to Nannie and Poppy's house!
Oh how I love spending time with my family!
(One thing I did this year to instill a bit of thankfulness in Chase's life, was create a "thankful tree". I think that is something that will be easier to relate to as she gets older. We just hung tags on these branches of things we are thankful for. It was exciting at first (after we established being thankful for more than lamps and odd things), but none of us were great at adding to it.)
Thursday morning both John and I got some exercise, separately. I went to the gym, he played in our church's annual Turkey Bowl. They had a lot of fun. Chase and I watched the Macy's Parade together while he did that. It is still not my perfect idea of a tradition with Chase...but it will be soon! The problem is, they have so many Broadway acts that sing and dance and all Chase wanted to see was the floats and balloons! It was not as good as in years past. But, I did see a guy that I used to babysit for singing in the Naval Academy Glee Club, and that was a real treat!
For dinner we headed over to the Carters. Another dear family joined us. I baked a pumpkin pie and a chocolate amaretto cheesecake, made a salad, an appetizer, and John made the green bean casserole. All were great additions to what everyone else had made...2 different brined turkey breasts, apple sausage stuffing, sweet potato casserole, peas, carrots, rolls, along with several cheese appetizers. Apparently we all think alike!!!
The girls had fun playing, as always...they even enjoyed the dinner...until Chase bit her tongue and then she was DONE!
Friday we relaxed around the house in the morning, then we went to visit a dear friend getting cancer treatment in the hospital. It was perfect timing because they don't want little kids there due to germs, but his family was there playing games with him out in the common space, so we were all able to visit. Chase did well considering she'd never been in hospital circumstances like that before, kind of scary if you think about it. Then we went over to La Jolla and walked around. It was a perfect day. Sunny but a little cooler. That night John got inspired to pull out the Christmas decorations. That was a miracle! I normally do them alone, but he was excited because he knew Chase would enjoy them. That is quite a job...and we have a small house and tree! I can't imagine living in a huge house with a huge tree! But our house looks so beautiful now and we can enjoy it before going out of town. John even put up lights outside for the first time.
Saturday, both John and I had our annual eye exams. John's vision got a little worse, mine stayed exactly the same. Then I got a little alone time. I took Steph to get a pedicure for a birthday treat. That was nice, but they were quick. We love our sparkly red toes!! Then we shopped in Tuesday Morning a bit...then she left and I went and did some Christmas shopping. It was nice to have some time to myself. J and CJ finished decorating and napped. Then we had family movie night and Chase watched "Rudolph" for the first time. She enjoyed it.
Sunday was our usual outing to church, including music practice, teaching Sunday School, singing, worshiping...we always love being with our church fam! Then we relaxed in the afternoon, I did a little crafting, the Chargers lost (apparently they suck?!) and then headed back to church for a special service of prayer and praise.
It's always bittersweet coming to the end of a long weekend or vacation. But our countdown to Christmas break can commence! Before we know it, we'll be getting on the place to Nannie and Poppy's house!
