Thanksgiving Week

This week sped by which was a good thing because being so far away from home on Thanksgiving was really bumming me out. It felt a lot harder being away this year than last year and I am not sure how I am going to handle next year without them. I think social media makes it even harder because all my friends were posting their big happy family Thanksgiving pictures and it just made me even more sad. I know I am so blessed that Tyler has a good job and that we are having all sorts of fun adventures out here and that we have so many good friends. But all that great stuff still does not make up for being far away from all your family. I think the weather being cold and gray really didn't help with my gloomy mood either.

Anyways I spent Wednesday and Thursday cooking like a fool. Wednesday I did the crescent rolls and pumpkin pie. The rolls I have done before and they turned out good again, they are just time consuming because they need lots of time to rise. I had never made pumpkin pie before and while the filling was easy to make, I had a fail with the crust. I hate regular crust so I did a graham cracker crust and I totally burnt it, black all over. So I did a redo with no crust and honestly the filling was less firm and not as yummy as my first pie. You live and learn though.

Thursday I made the mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes. I tried a new slow cooker recipe for the sweet potatoes and it was a huge success. So stinking yummy! So go me! Around 4 our friends, the May family, came over and we had a nice meal together. All the food was so good and we really enjoyed their company, the kids especially had a blast together. It was chaotic Thanksgiving which is exactly to be expected with 7 kids.

That night Benny FINALLY got brave and let Tyler pull his loose tooth that had been hanging on a VERY tight thread for the last few weeks. The tooth below it was already major growing so it was good we got it out. The Tooth Fairy was less on top of things and forgot to give him his money so he had to wait another night before she came. However, Steven doesn't think she forgot, he thinks that she just doesn't work Holidays. Wish we had thought of that!

Friday was a busy day! We hit some stores in the morning and got some good Black Friday deals (I got both the girls a Barbie in a Barbie car for only $10, they are going to love it!). I was actually really mad at myself for shopping so far in advance because a lot of the Christmas gifts I have already gotten for the kids were on sale for some really good prices, fail! 

Friday afternoon we put up the Christmas decorations. Last year we had bought a much needed new Christmas tree and new ornaments on clearance after Christmas so it was fun to finally get to put it up and see what it looks like. It was also nice to have a Christmas tree with all matchy ornaments for once. 

The boys got to put up our very sad looking old Christmas tree in their room (only 2/3 of the lights work). They also got to decorate it with all the sentimental ornaments. They had so much fun doing this and were so excited that they got their very own tree in their room.

So as to not leave the girls out, we let them put up our miniature tree in their room and decorate it. Lucy was so excited and I love how she clumped the ornaments together, ha ha! Also, I am not sure why she is showing the "Loser" sign in this picture. Oh that girl.

Friday morning we braved the cold weather and went down to Main St to watch the Milford Christmas Parade. Our friends from church were there as well and had a perfect spot saved so we sat with them. Though Lucy looks super cranky, she really wasn't. She loved waving at all the people in the parade and her and Penny were super excited to pick up all the candy that was being thrown (even the candy that landed in dirty puddles, blech). The boys also enjoyed the candy aspect and they enjoyed hanging out with their buddy, Gavin.

After the parade we went home and warmed back up and then me and Lucy headed out to do some more shopping. She was actually a pretty good shopping companion, minus the fact that she expected me to buy something for her at every shop we stopped at- me thinks that girl is a little spoiled. But it was still fun having her tag along. I really hate shopping alone so it was nice to have such adorable company. And getting good deals always makes me feel a little bit better so there was that. And also, now I can say that I have all gotten all our Christmas gifts. Only thing left is candy for stockings and then I am done!