We're Full...Let's Decorate!

Shortly after the feast had ended, we didn't waste any time and started decorating for Christmas! Bryon went out and found a real tree and we all pitched in and dove through boxes to get the house festive. It was SO fun! Breonna and I worked on the kitchen, the men handled the tree and lights, Ash was busy kissing all the stuffed animals, and the rest of the kids handled the odds and ends. Overall it was an amazing group effort. In no time we had candles burning, music playing and Christmas joy everywhere you looked :*)

Finally!

 

At last Thanksgiving dinner was upon us. Unfortunately I was having some health concerns and decided to undertake a (what ended up being) 9-day water fast. Crazy? Uh-huh! Thankfully Bryon and Denae offered to cook the feast (and two versions at that: regular, yummy and fattening along with gluten-free offerings!). There was even a contest to see who's deviled eggs were the best (Bryon won!).

We also had the pleasure of having the Hillman's join us (Rob had been Asher's habilitator for some time--we love him!). We all had a lot of laughs around the table and even got around to sharing with each other what we were grateful for this year. We learned that the more family you can surround yourself with at Thanksgiving...the better!

Prepping for the Feast

 

 

 

 

Electronics abounded during the down-time leading up to our Thanksgiving feast. The table was astrewn with all the pre-Christmas sales going on as THIS year Jase and I were going to go shopping on Black Friday with Bryon and Denae (a first for us!). Once we had our deals scoped out we decided to visit Toys-R-Us for a netbook and other odds-n-ends. 

Well, we waited in line for over 2 hours that night...it was freezing! Didn't end up getting a ticket for the netbook, but as the our line started to enter the store a mob of last-minute shoppers tried to push their way in at the front of the line ahead of us! Well, we were all frozen in shock (literally!), but Bryon took decisive action. He rushed to the front of the line and, single-handedly, confronted the mob. Pretty soon we were all yelling at them to get to the back of the line. The so-called security guards were so thankful for Bryon's help that they gave him a ticket for the netbook and he gave it to us! Well, that would have been the end to a pretty great story, except that the netbook didn't work and no amount of computer savvy helped (Jase and Denae were both working on it for some time!). So, the next day, we got to visit the toy store again to return it. Black Friday next year? Um....no.

Freezing on Black Friday!

Real photographic proof that we survived the one (and only!) Black Friday shopping trip we'll ever go on!

Nora's 35th Birthday

Jason was super sweet and surprised me with flowers on my birthday--always a bonus point with me :*) We also were able to go out together to eat Mexican (unfortunately it was awful!) and shopping at the mall (super fun!). Another year down...