Last Day

My parents went home this evening, and both Mac and Leiden had school, so the day was pretty quiet.  I needed to run to the store, so we all piled in.  Mimi was SO lucky to have all these extra adults around.  I let her get the tiny shopping cart and wheel it around.  Whew.  Glad we're home.  She was frightful wielding that thing!

We have so enjoyed having you here, Mom and Dad!  The invitation to come stands anytime!  We love you!

Farewell Dinner

Brad had a work dinner tonight, so the rest of us went out for a last hurrah before my parents leave tomorrow.  The restaurant was super dark, but Leiden looks cute!  We went to TGIFridays, which the girls love.  Mac was in rare form, climbing all over the place and going under the table.  Not sure who wound her up!

We'll be sad to see Grandmere and Bapa go tomorrow, but we've had a great time!

This week turned out to be a great week for my parents to be here.  Leiden was asked to give a talk today, so they were able to come in and listen to her.  She can read like a pro.  She did such a good job giving her talk.  We're so proud of her and so glad she's learning good things.

Leaves are Falling All Around

Our Thankful Tree came down yesterday, as Christmas went up (which I have no pictures of), and the leaves were pretty cute.

Here was the rundown.  Brad is thankful for chocolate.  That's it.  Over and over the whole 3 1/2 weeks.  I'm not sure he took this too seriously. 

Leiden was thankful for:  cake, friends, learning at school, healthy foods, art supplies, family, Jesus and Heavenly Father, church, ice cream, and a warm bed.

Mac was thankful for:  stuffed animals, Heavenly Father, pencils, puffballs (?), refrigerator, flowers, snowmen, and mommy.  Mac's were cute because she tried to write so many of them and drew pictures for almost all of them.

We made some assumptions about Mimi and wrote these:  blankie, thumb, hats, and watermelon.  I'm pretty sure she would agree with us if she could.

This was a fun activity over these last weeks, even though I forgot to get the leaves out for the day about a third of the time.

Black Friday

While everyone was out shopping at midnight, I was home asleep in my bed, as it should be.  Pretty soon there won't be a Thanksgiving at the rate we're going.  So, later on this morning we braved the crowds at the Mall of America.  Mac was super excited to go on the log flume, and wanted Bapa to go with her.  Brad took Mimi for her first ride on it.  Leiden was not interested because she doesn't like the 'tummy drop'.  So we waited, with the camera posed, for the others to come out.

This sequence is really hilarious. There they are!

Look at my dad's face!  And look at all that water!

Mac was literally soaked.  Her hair was all plastered to her head and her clothes were all wet.

She loved it, though.

But then the shivering started.  She was freezing!

Leiden stuck with much more sedate rides.  They went on the Barnyard roller coaster with my mom.

And the obligatory ride on the merry-go-round, which Mac calls the 'miracle round'.

And a little ride on the swings.

The girls went on the ride that takes you up and drops you down while my mom and I ran to find Mac a dry shirt.

My parents insisted on getting the girls faces painted, which the girls were thrilled about.  Leiden makes a fearsom tiger!

Mac makes a beautiful monarch butterfly.

And Mimi could barely sit still long enough to get a tiny bit of face painted.

Mac really had a great time with Bapa today.

Later tonight we headed out for the first night of the Hollidazzle parade.  The girls got light wands, which Mimi used to torment the little girl sitting next to her on the sidewalk.

It really was a perfect night to be out--it was something like high 40's while we were there, so no one was freezing.  The girls' painted faces attracted a lot of attention.  One of the parade people was dressed in a fish costume and he came up to Leiden and pretended to kiss her with his giant fish mouth, saying that he was the fish that got to kiss the lion.  Awesome.

Really busy day, but lots of fun.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was an absolutely lovely day, with temperatures in the 50's.  The girls went outside with my mom to do animal races.  Mac has her coat on, and Leiden is in a skirt with bare legs.  Hmm.

Brad's moustache before it was shaved off.  He went with my dad to play in the turkey bowl this morning, and then spent a few hours working on last minute yard stuff.  The lawnmower came out for probably the last time and most of the leaves are off the grass, now.  I'm astounded that we're here at Thanksgiving and it's only snowed an inch that didn't even stick.  Hopefully this all doesn't make winter last until June.

I ordered these cute little napkin ties a couple months ago on Etsy and was so excited to tie them up today!

Here we all are, before the feast.  Super traditional--turkey, mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, and turkey gravy.

With pumpkin pie for dessert!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  We have so many things to be grateful for.

Culver's With Special Persons

We took a lunch trip to Culver's this afternoon.  We love the butterburgers and of course the concrete shakes.

Later this afternoon we took off to Leiden's school, where they were having Special Persons Day!  (My parents really came on a great week.  Leiden is giving a talk in church on Sunday, too!)

They sang songs to us,

and Leiden got to show them around her school room and introduce them to her teacher (which actually didn't work out too well.  We weren't sure if she didn't want to use her names for my parents--Grandmere and Bapa, or what).  She showed us her journal, which was actually really fun for me to read.  Her teacher has them write each monday about what they did over the weekend, and then other entries during the week, but I was amazed at the sentences that she was writing--and her creative spelling!

Then it was off to the lunchroom to have 'tea'. 

After lemonade and cookies the event was officially over, but Leiden wanted to walk around the school and show us around.  Leiden was so happy to have visitors for Special Persons Day!

The Bearded Man

Brad has been growing his facial hair all month in honor of Movember.  His biggest complaint is that it is super itchy.  I don't mind it at all once it's past the scratchy on my face stage.  It comes off on Thanksgiving, but tomorrow he'll be just a mustache.  That was the deal with the guys at work.

They're Here! They're Here!

After much waiting and anticipating on both ends, they're here!  Grandmere and Bapa have arrived.  And in style!

And panache.

They got here at about 12:00 PM, so Leiden came running off the bus stop, completely bypassing Mimi, who was running to hug her, and jumped into Grandmere's arms.  Mimi felt rather left out.

Next a run to Bapa

We are so thrilled when people come to visit us!  The added bonus of having people come to you?  Their undivided attention.  They don't have to go to work, or to temple assignments, or any other obligations.  It's a wonderful thing to have my parents here for a week.  Woohoo!

The Turkey is Defrosting!

Thanksgiving is coming this week, and I hope to have the turkey defrosted in time, so it's coming out 4 days ahead.  I HATE having to defrost in the sink, so here's to hoping!

It's a big bird--over 21 lbs.  (That price is not what I paid for it, though!)

It barely fits in my refrigerator.  And now, unfortunately, there is not very much room for everything else!

We're so excited for Thanksgiving, and my parents get here in two days!  Fun times ahead!

Crazy Hair Day

In Walmart today, Mac kept running away from me, weaving in and out of the racks.  She came out from the down coats, and this is what I saw:

Whoa.

Mimi has stopped playing with her ball toy so much.  She does every once in a while, but then she found out that it blows air out the top.

That's super fun.

Whew!