Things that make me happy

I have no idea why, but I have always wanted to get personalized Christmas stockings for the family. But, I am way too cheap for something so impractical.  Until this year . . . when I realized that my dream of cool matching Christmas stockings and my cheap nature could coexist.  With a big sale combined with a coupon, these very nice velvet stockings were only $8.50 each.  And they bring me so much happiness, hanging together over the fireplace.  I might just keep them up year round!

Star of the show

 Well, at least in our eyes Aubrey was the star of the show!  She was in a community production of Gypsy the week before Thanksgiving.  She did a great job dancing and singing as a "newsboy" and a "ballet girl."

Aubrey has discovered that she really loves to act, sing, and dance.  She is fearless about performing in front of an audience.  She was excited to get a small part in this production and hopes the experience will prepare her for more roles in the future!

On opening day we gave her a dozen hot pink roses. Aubrey had been really, really sick the two weeks before the show. We wondered whether or not she would have a voice and would feel well enough to be on stage.  But, by the time the play started she was feeling almost back to normal.

Grandma and Grandpa Springer and Brandon were all in town from Utah and were able to attend the show. Brandon's friend Lauren came also.

  After the show, she opened an American Girl book from her grandparents.

Grandma and Grandpa Springer visit

I feel lucky to have wonderful parents who are also fantastic grandparents for my children. Grandma and Grandpa Springer visited for a week around Thanksgiving 2010. They are great guests - willing to help, easy to please, and interactive with the kids. It is a privilege to have such a great  relationship with my parents - I appreciate their advice and insight, and I thoroughly enjoy the time we spend together.

The week prior to Thanksgiving was a busy one, with the kids still in school and many rehearsals and performances of Aubrey's play. Despite the tight schedule, we found time to visit, shop, and do some fun activities.

For Family Home Evening we played a "super-competitive" game of How Well Do You Know Your Family.  Family members drew a sometimes wacky, sometimes serious question out of a bowl and answered it.

We experienced really cold weather while we had visitors - about as cold as we get here in Vancouver.  We even had ice, threats of freezing rain, and some snow. We even had a "late start" day on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving due to icy roads.  There was not nearly as much snow as Bailey wanted, it was still fun!  Here are the girls after running around outside as the first snowflakes fell.

Now, this is exciting.  Mom and Dad quite willingly drove with Joseph and me to Chown Hardware in the Pearl District of Portland, where they have absolutely every door handle, knob, faucet, etc. I thought it was really cool. Dan was glad that he was spared this particular home improvement shopping trip. I was looking at door hardware, in preparation to buy new doorknobs for the house.  

Afterward we dashed through the rain to eat Thai food at a nearby restaurant.  Yum!  Joseph was unimpressed with the decidedly non-McDonald's offerings, so I distracted him by letting him text his Dad a message.

 

Next we drove across the Willamette to OMSI, our favorite science museum.

Later that night, Bailey and I roasted tomatillos, garlic, and jalapeno peppers to make our very favorite tomatillo salsa.

Sometimes I despair because our house can never seem to stay clean. Mostly we owe that fact to our very creative and inventive youngest child.  He is always creating "worlds" which require large numbers of toys and "guys" (toy figurines) spread out over an entire room.  We're glad he likes to entertain himself so we patiently step over the messes every day.  Here Grandma snapped a picture of him making a city.

 We are so glad Grandma and Grandpa could visit us - we love to have company!

Thanksgiving 2010

We were privileged to have a full house for Thanksgiving this year.  Brandon was home from college for the week (hooray!) and Grandma and Grandpa Springer also spent a week with us. It was the perfect Thanksgiving - small enough that we could visit with each other, but large enough to feel festive.


Preparing for Thanksgiving
A month or more before the big day,  Bailey, our resident organizer and food expert, perused her favorite food blog sites and my recipe books for dinner ideas.  Eventually, she and I put together a menu of foods for Thanksgiving dinner and created a schedule and food assignment list.

We did much of the food prep (rolls, pies, and jello) the day before, so Thanksgiving Day was remarkably "unstressful."

Setting the table
I have always wanted to have festive dinnerware, so this year I found a great deal on beautiful reddish-orange plates (the color is called "paprika", which just sounds delicious!) Aubrey was in charge of setting the table, an assignment which she took very seriously. I had suggested a simple fold for the cloth napkins, but that was not fancy enough for her artistic sensibilities.  So, she googled and then followed directions to create a piece of napkin art.

Joseph thought his napkin made a great hat.

Mom and Dad were extremely helpful in getting the turkey cooked and ready for serving, and Mom made a great gravy and stuffing.
 
Time to Eat!
Dinner was served at about 1:30 p.m. We had a great time visiting around the table. Notice what Joseph was eating for the big feast.  Yes, that's right . . . a banana and sunflower seeds.  Someday we hope he will realize what he is missing out on!

After Dinner Activities:
Grandpa and Brandon worked on replacing doorknobs in our house.  We are switching all the door hardware, and Grandpa taught Brandon how to do it (this will be a great money-earning "job" for Brandon during Christmas break!)

Dan researched extensively the after-Thanksgiving sales.  He is an expert shopper and was a man with a plan . . . . until he, I, and Brandon tried to go to the Toys R Us sale, which started at 10 p.m. on Thanksgiving night. Over 3,000 people showed up for the opening, and it was a madhouse.  We gave up and went home without buying a single item, and he lost all his enthusiasm for battling the crowds.  Whew . . . we missed out on some great deals, but I didn't really want to be out shopping on Black Friday anyway! 

Brandon read his 2009 scrapbook, which I just had printed.

Aubrey set up a Life Game (which lasted until late into the evening). As usual, she absolutely creamed her competition (Joseph and me). She has figured out all the little known secrets about the game.  Such as . . . did you know that you can buy stock in "numbers," and then whenever someone rolls that number you receive dividends?  Seriously.   She also played some beautiful Christmas music for us on the piano.  We all enjoyed a very relaxing Thanksgiving evening.

We tried to take family pictures and pictures of the  kids for Christmas cards. Overall, it didn't go well.  I will not comment further!

This year I am especially grateful for family. Family is what it's all about!  There is nothing better than having everyone home (and extra family visiting), making big messes, laughing, and creating happy chaos. Sometimes we drive each other crazy, but I am insanely grateful for each person's unique contributions to the family. I love you all!