Because a thankful heart is a happy heart

Is it seriously December already?  Time is flying by!  It’s feels like it’s been forever since I blogged and we’ve done so much that I hardly know where to start.

We spent all of Thanksgiving week in Arlington with our family and friends.  It was so great.  I am so thankful for our families that support us and love us and for our friends who do the same.  We are so blessed!

The kids were happy as little clams getting tons of grandparent/aunt/uncle attention, and getting to play with their cousins several times.  I am so glad that they have cousins to grow up with.  I have such fun memories about my cousins, and I’m so thankful that Connor, Logan (and eventually Camryn) will have the same.  Especially since soon we are going to have a brand new baby in the family!  Madison, Abby, and Max (pictured below) are going to have a brother in the next few months!  Cindi and Matt started the adoption process quite some time ago, and just a few weeks ago they got the call that Sam was waiting and ready for them.  They will go to Ethiopia sometime in January to bring him home.  I can’t wait to meet him and watch him grow up with these crazy kids.

I really did not do a good job of taking pictures of everything and everyone.  Patrick and Noel came in from California, and I don’t have one single picture to prove it.  But, take my word for it.  We had a blast!  I love them.

My mom and I lost our minds and went to Toys R Us at midnight on Thursday night.  It was insane!  We did score some great deals, and I know it’s crazy, but I really do have fun with the whole Black Friday shopping experience.  Of course, it really put a damper on the fun with Camryn woke up at 5:15 on Friday morning, which was only an hour or so after I had fallen asleep for the night.  I may or may not have had a complete meltdown…I seriously have the best husband ever who takes over when I lose it.  And thank goodness for Derek’s parents who let us sleep in not once, but twice!  It was great.

At my parent’s house, the kids worked all week long raking this huge pile of leaves.  And of course, a good pile or leaves just begs to be played in.

One night we got to hang out with our friends Ryan and Maggie.  We went out to dinner, all 9 of us, and it was really fun!  We only spilled one drink and broke one plate, which is a victory in my book considering Connor is the oldest of the kids.   (And the drink may have been my fault…)  After dinner, we made s’mores in the fireplace which was of course a huge hit with the kids.   And the grown ups.  S’mores are the best!

Let’s see…what else…I had lunch with Juli Beth and we went to see New Moon.  It was a really fun girl’s afternoon.  We ate tons of good food at our two Thanksgiving dinners (with my family on Wednesday and Derek’s family on Thursday)…I know there is more but my mind is going blank.  I do know this.  We had a really great Thanksgiving.  We were away from home for  8 days, which is a long time!  But it was perfect.  It was also great to come home, get back into the swing of things (who am I kidding…I’m still trying to get back in the swing of things!)

I am so crazy excited about Christmas.  I’ve been busy all this week decorating, getting the last few gifts purchased, planning our Christmas trip to Arlington, thinking of fun things to do with the kids.  I love this time of year so much.

There is more to say…so much more.  But this is it for tonight.

And after proofreading this post I rally can’t believe that I am going to publish it.  Hello, most disjointed blog post ever!  I just felt like I could not move on to other things until I blogged about our Thanksgiving trip.  Done.  And if you read this, um, sorry for being so lame and disjointed and boring.  At least someday when I’m old and gray I’ll have something written down to remember Thanksgiving 2009.