Thanksgiving week!

Today I think I have slept more than I have ever slept since I've had kids. It all started w/ a cold that crept up on me Wednesday night. Thursday, Friday and Saturday I felt yucky in the morning and right before bed so, of course, I pushed it all those three days which put my body in complete shut down today. I didn't wake up until 10:00 am and then I took another nap from noon until about 3:00. I am still feeling very weak and tired (how can that be?), but I am hoping I will be back to my old self by tomorrow...lots to do with our Christmas party coming up this Saturday...Yeah!

So here, once again, is a rundown of the week!

Monday was just another day, except for a nice surprise from Ben...a new camera. It's the brand new Cyber-shot Sony. With an iso of 3200 and 8.1 mega pixel, it smokes our old one big time!!! It's definitely a great fix until I get the "big" one!:) I love how small it is! I just slip it right in my purse and off I go! I love Technology! Monday night we had our FHE on showing gratitude to Heavenly Father. I cut and colored a picture of a turkey (without feathers). I had cut the feather's separate and let the kids write the ways to show gratitude on them. Then they got to tape them on the turkey. The kids enjoyed doing that.

Tuesday was Aubrie's field trip to the Food Bank. Her teacher started a canned food drive at her school, and for the past month the kids have had their jobs of going to their assigned classroom and picking up the cans and organizing them in boxes. Tuesday the Sheriff Department brought a rig and loaded it up and followed us over to the food bank. The kids got to unload the food into huge boxes and got a short tour of the Food Bank. I'm glad Aubrie got to experience that opportunity of service! I can't think of a better field trip than one of service!

Wednesday Aubrie and Boston had off of school. Ethan still had preschool and surprisingly had no problem going. While I was gearing up for Thanksgiving, I decided I was going to take the kids to California Friday morning. I hurried around doing laundry and making the casseroles for Thanksgiving that night, so I could pack and get ready for our trip on Thanksgiving day. That night my Mom and I got sick and that blew those plans right out of the water. Looking back I'm a little relieved, b/c as fun as that trip might have been, it would have also been very short and CRAZY!!@!

Thursday morning we set up all our Christmas stuff and Ben put up the Christmas lights. A day early, I know, but there was really nothing else to do since I made all the food the night before!:) We headed to Ben's parents around 3:15 and ate dinner around 4:00. I brought a new appetizer, cream cheese covered in this raspberry chipotle sauce served with crackers, YUM! By the time dinner was ready I was pretty full! YIKES!! I enjoyed the left overs the next day, though! After dinner we took the the kids to the park in Ben's parent's neighborhood. After about an hour we came back home and everyone else followed, for dessert, games, etc. Julie and Brian showed up, too! It was great seeing them. They have been living in Utah for the past year and just moved back the beginning of this month. The kids were excited to see their kids and they played in the backyard the whole time they were here. After everyone left, the twins and Krista stuck around for some hot tubing and cards. We were up until midnight, I definitely felt it the next morning!

Friday was Ben's 35th Birthday! He got to spend it golfing with his brothers. He took Aubrie along, she loves driving the cart!! It actually was a little cold that day, and since they had a late T-time, I'm not sure they even got to finish their game. It's a tradition for these boys to play the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I need to start some tradition where I go and do something really fun w/ my friends for 6 hours!!! When Ben got home, we headed to the Outback to celebrate his birthday. Sophia was still sleeping when we were ready to leave, so my Mom said she would stay and watch her since she was still not feeling well. It was so weird going out w/ just three kids! After Outback we went to Lamps plus to finally buy lights for our posts in our yard, 6 months later!!!! I then got a call from my Mom that Sophia wasn't doing well, she cried when she put her to bed which she never does!!! So we rushed home to take care of her. She has a cold, too, and I think it's throwing her off! After I got her to bed, I pulled out the traditional cake I make for Ben every year (Lemon cake w/ orange frosting) and we sang Happy Birthday! He didn't have anything to unwrap b/c his gift from me is a new wedding ring. Since he still hasn't gotten his finger sized I have been unable to purchase the one he has been eyeing online!!! He buys himself almost anything he wants anyway, aside from the Mercedes he has been wanting so badly, but that's not going to happen!!!

Saturday we ran errands; Ben had some birthday returns! He made out pretty good, after the returns, with a new Polo dress shirt and the new Cologne I LOVE so much, RSVP! I'm not sure if that is my present or his? Hee! Hee! We had to go to the mall to get that, which was a little crazy!!! The parking lot was PACKED and we also forgot the stroller. Luckily the kids behaved themselves, after bribing them w/ a stop at the pet store and the toy store. After our errands I met my Mom at Micheal's to get some flowers to do some more Christmas decorating. While my Mom and I worked on the house, Ben worked on the electrical for the post's outside. The kids caught up on some reading and piano. Boston's reading is really coming along. I'm sure he will be reading Junie B. (if I let him) by the end of the year. I wish they made better books for boys to read!

We'll that's the week. I'll leave you with an "Ethan funny". When we were at the Outback, the kids all had their jackets on and Ethan looked at us and said, as he was putting his hands in his jacket pockets, "Look I have two hand holes in this jacket". We finally realized that was his name for pockets. Enjoy the pics!