Cousin Gift Exchange

Friday morning JJ and I went to a job interview together. It is fun, exciting and stressful to think that the year 2012 and Graduation time is coming soon! We have been waiting for this exciting time for a long time and it is fun to prepare and think of the possibilities our future holds. I know that JJ has worked so hard and he will be able to find something that he will enjoy doing.  We have been thinking about this job possibility for the past little while since we were contacted and it was exciting to get to go together and see and hear the possibilities.  We loved the practice and fell in love with the community and town. We can definitely see our family enjoying life there and we are going to continue to pursue this job opportunity and we hope things will work out there. 

That afternoon we relaxed at home and JJ did some studying for part 2 of national boards.  The weather was so nice we enjoyed playing outside and the cousins loved running around and playing together. 

 That evening we had the cousins do their gift exchange for Christmas.  Since it isn't my parents year for Christmas and we were all there over Thanksgiving we had the kids open their gifts up. Charlotte had Tyler and she got him a new truck, he loved it and wanted it opened right away so he could play with it.

 Tyler had Charlotte and he got her this stacking rings, she was so excited and squealed with delight when she opened it!

 Jayne had Garrett and she got him a pair of spider man slippers, he was so excited and put them on right away!

 Garrett and Lucy combined their gifts and they both gave Jayne and Olivia princess walkie-talkies, the girls loved them. Maybe we should have opened them and wrapped each one separately, it was hard to only have 1 thing to open for 2 girls.

 Olivia had Lucy and she got her some princess slippers, Lucy has been asking for slippers for a while and she was so excited to finally have some!

 The girls love their walkie-talkies and had fun using them around the house !

 I made my Mom a recipe book. They aren't recipes that I made up, just ones that I make a lot and so I compiled them into a book and had it printed.  I have been working on it for a while. I made the list of recipes I wanted to include in it and slowly I have been working them into my weekly menus so I could make them and take a photo of each one to include in the recipe book.  I am happy with the way it all turned out! I added some of my notes to each one and made sure to have all the weight watcher points with the ones I knew. 

Black Firday Shopping

Thursday night we headed out at 10 to get some good deals at Walmart.  There were luckily only a few things we were after and we didn't really "need" any of them.  We all wanted a set of their sheets, they had a set of sheets 600 thread count for $20! What a steal, and what a hot item.  It was crazy and the police had a little laugh over the crowd for some sheets.  We made friends with the ladies around us and we all agreed to help each other and make sure we all got a set.  There were a few there that were breaking some rules and were pretty rude.  Once it was time to go for it things got so crazy.  It is hard to know exactly what happened but there were people on the ground, including Christy and sheets going everywhere! Luckily we each got a set of what we wanted and no one got hurt! I also managed to score some PJ's for the kids and a few movies.  JJ also asked that I pick him up some aftershave--because why not while I was there! It was an adventure we will all remember.  We made it home around midnight, just in time to go to sleep. My Mom stayed up and went to Kohls and then my Mom, Natalie and JJ got up and went to K-mart around 4:45 in the morning. My Mom barley slept at all but we all got the things we wanted for a great deal!

*yes, yes I went shopping on Thanksgiving, but I really do feel sad that we are now starting our shopping on Thanksgiving.  I thanked the lady who checked us out at Walmart and she said well I guess I will get to eat my Thanksgiving dinner another day!

Turkey Craft

While the boys were gone shooting we decided to do a craft with the kids. Natalie and I had talked about doing something with the kids on Thanksgiving and so she brought down some feathers to make Turkeys.  Natalie looked up all the correct information about Thanksgiving and told the story to the kids.  It was cute and nice and simple. 

 After the story we went into the kitchen and we made Turkeys with paper plates. We traced each kids foot to use as the Turkey body and then glued it onto a plate.  We then glued the feathers around the turkey body.  We then glued on a mouth and some legs and drew on some eyes.  The kids really enjoyed it and it was so cute to see how they each made their so different. 

 Tyler is such a cute kid, he loved having all the cousins there to play with! He would just get so excited to play with them and he loved to follow them all around and try to keep up.

 Jayne was so cute with her Turkey, she drew eyelashes on her turkey's eyes and drew a dress on the turkey's body.  She loves to color and she loved this activity.

 Here we all are with our finished Turkeys, they all turned out so cute! Garrett was napping during the activity, I am sure he would have loved it but it was also nice to just be able to do it with Lucy. 

Thanksgiving Day

After pictures we came back home and finished up the preparations for Thanksgiving dinner.  I was put in charge of the dinner rolls and chocolate pie.  I am not the best at making bread and so I asked my sister Courtney to help me with the rolls. She agreed as long as I would help her with the sweet potatoes.  I usually make those anyways so I said sure.  We started our rolls Wednesday night after running to the store for all the things we were going to need for pies and such.  Mostly Courtney worked and I helped her where needed.  I helped her cut and roll them out in the morning, I just did as I was told.  I ended up doing the sweet potatoes by myself so it was all even.  It was fun to get to spend time with Courtney one on one running to the store and baking together.  Lucy and Olivia sat so nice together just coloring in Lucy's little notebook while everyone prepared the food.

Natalie and Garrett, it has been over a year since we have seen them!

Dad with the turkey, my parents made 2 turkeys this year! There were lots of us there and they wanted to make sure they had plenty of leftovers. I am sure they will be eating turkey for a while, we didn't even touch one of the turkeys.

All the yummy food, everyone did such a good job making everything

We ate and ate until we couldn't eat anymore! Here are the kids all enjoying their Thanksgiving meal.

As soon as we were done eating the boys rode back down to the Hardt farm to go shooting. They had a fun time, Jordan was so excited to go.  He ate two plates of food so fast and started to get things loaded up so they could head down. 

 I am pretty sure Jordan is excited to have some Brother-in-laws so he has some guys to hang out with. They had a good time. 

Family Pictures

For Thanksgiving this year we headed up to St. Louis to be with my family. It has been a long time since we have had this many home together. Thanksgiving morning we headed down to my Dad's cousin Rich Hardt's farm.  We snapped a few pictures for my Mom and Dad's Christmas card and plus it is always nice to have a good picture.  We sure missed Kelsey and Todd who were on vacation in Hawaii.  I know they had fun but we thought about them a lot!