Visiting Kalei girl

Thanksgiving day we took those on Daddy's side of the family that had not been, out to see Kalei girl. Grandma and one of my niece's released balloons.  It was nice to go see her; it had been almost a month since I had been out there.  But it always drains me when I go.  There's a side story about C not wanting to go and then wanting to go and I hate that.  But that's not what this post is about.  So I"ll end here.  It was nice weather. And the next day we celebrated Christmas (see previous post).  Christmas:  the reason that one day I know I'll see my girl again..

I think this is the 1st picture of her stone here on my blog.  It's so perfect for her.

Thanksgiving

We had a houseful for the week of Thanksgiving.  Daddy's parents got here ........ Hold on, let me start with Monday morning.

I had a lot to do Monday:  shopping, finish cleaning, more baking, laundry.  'Bout 8 am I got a text from Daddy "Did I leave my wallet at home?"  "Yes"  "Could you bring it to me?"  "Really.  A one way trip is 45 minutes.  OK.  Here I come."   Good thing I had already cancelled school for the day. 

OK.  On to later in the afternoon, Daddy's parents got here around 4.  His sister and 3 of the 4 children (The oldest is at PCC; only 17 days til he is home!) got there after dinner Monday night (dinner was at yummy Squealers).   Tuesday was ........ hmmmm.  I don't remember what we did Tuesday during the day.  I know dinner was at O'Charley's and that evening was Rock Band (only cuz i asked Daddy what we did)  (Check at the very end of the post for video.  Video is not so easy to move in this here new blogger format.)  Daddy's brother and family got here around midnight.

Wednesday was our Thanksgiving.  But just as importantly, we went to Chik-Fil-A for lunch.  My one niece loves it and so does Daddy's sister.  So my niece treated her two favorite aunts.  Then some of us went to see Kalei girl.  Same said niece as above brought balloons for her and Grandma to release.(see next post)  After seeing K girl, we went home and got our big, yummy meal ready.  I never did have dessert that night.  I was too full.

Thursday was our Christmas.  After breakfast, we opened presents.  It was the year of gift card--for most of us.  I got some Rachel Ray utensils and baking dishes (side note:  they are heavy!)   Daddy got a new pair of crocs.  Hoss got a new donut shaped bone, which he promptly demolished.  We gave everyone else, well I can't tell you because my side of the family hasn't opened their presents yet.  (check back for a post on the story of those presents and pictures)  We also started a new tradition (ooooo, aaaah, yeah!)  Later that afternoon, one family left.


Well, these weren't exactly a gift cards.

Grandma opening THE present.

This is what the 3 younger boys did.  Not sure who or what he is supposed to be.



Their Kalei thank you card; again, a future post.

Friday was black Friday.  We left the house at (drum roll) 10:30.  And still got most of what was on our list.  And for lunch we had (drum roll again) CFA!  That evening was Wii Fit. (Again, video is at the bottom) I won't describe exactly what happened; I'll just say there was a lot of laughing.  A lot.

All the visitors headed home Saturday.  We cleaned.  And our little house breathed a sigh of relief.  Our trash men did not.

Martha Stewart

If you know anything about me, you know my love like tolerance of baking. So what did I do this past Saturday in preperation for our many guests?

1 box of brownies
2 boxes of Fun-da-middles (have you tried these?  Yum!)
1 pumpkin pie (mostly from scratch)
1 box chocolate chocolate chip muffins
1 box cinnamon bread
1 loaf banana bread (the only thing from scratch)

I still have  more things to do on Monday:  one more box of muffins, an apple pie (so not from scratch), and some Chex mix.  Whew.  I think I'll be all "baked" out for, oh about a year or so.

Disclaimer:  Daddy did mix up the box of cinnamon bread.  So I can't take all the credit.

Again........Really?

Remember this?  And this?  And this?

All right before company was coming? 

Well dumb me decided to do it again.  BUT it will not be finished any time soon.  BUT it was motivation to get me started and hopefully that will motivate me to finish after everybody leaves next week.  Oh did I not mention, that I'll have 13 extra people in my house next week for Thanksgiving?

This is our master bedroom.  I'm super excited about the color.  It's gonna make the room a little darker, but with some good lights--I think it will make it cozier.

BTW:  there are 10 walls in my room.  I now have 4 mostly done (I noticed one little spot that needs a touch up)

And sorry the picture is blurry.  I took it with my phone.

NCAA Hall of Champions

The Wednesday after we got back from FL, Daddy still had off work.  So we decided to go downtown to see the NCAA Hall of Champions.  I had a Groupon coupon (I really like that site):  $5 for Daddy and I to get in (BOGO) and C was only $3.  It was a good thing we only paid $8 to get in; it isn't that big.  But there are some cool things there.  We could have gotten through the entire thing in less than an hour; but we were there about an hour and a half.  After we were done there, we walked around downtown Indianapolis.  We walked down by the canal, which I had never been down to before.  It's really pretty.  Then we went and got lunch and headed home.  It was a nice field trip (when you homeschool, you can turn anything into a field trip).

They had little sections for so many different sports.

There was a gym that C had so much fun playing ball!

And Daddy is the winner!

My second favorite college team.

This was a simulation machine for snow skiing.  Man, that thing was hard!

This was a computer simulation machine for football and soccer.

I love the saying on this picture.

Downtown Indy by the canal.

Can you find C?

What a cute little boy!