Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Thankful Wall


We have a recent tradition for the month of November of writing things we're grateful for on leaves and posting them on our wall. It's been rewarding to remember our blessings and to see the children maturing ever so slightly in their remembrances as well.
Dad coming home from work has always been a popular blessing for the kids, but Boy Howdy also added being strong enough to open his own candy to his list.

Cheeks mostly just follows Boy Howdy's lead, but this year she became thankful for friends, especially those who came over to play for the day.

We also invited dinner guests to add their own blessings to our wall. I hope this becomes a long standing tradition of ours.

Saturday, November 26, 2016

Christmas Decorations

Each year, the kids are a little more involved and helpful in getting our house dressed for Christmas. This year, Boy Howdy finagled some of our ornaments for decorating the kitchen. He was SOOO pleased with his creation I just didn't have the heart to relocate them to the tree.

Thanksgiving visitors

This year for Thanksgiving, we wonderfully bribed my nephew Parker and niece Caitrin to join the Oregon Booren contingency. And even more wonderful, Parker brought his soon to be fiance Hannah with him so the family could get to know her better. So grateful for these cute adult babies. They were so fun to have here, so sweet with my little babies and so entertaining to take Black Friday shopping.
Funny story that forever stamps Caitrin into idol status - The college kids decided to go shopping with me the evening of Thanksgiving at the outlet malls about 30 minutes from our house. I was pretty sure it was going to be crowded but did not remotely anticipate the craziness that was the parking lot. Everything was full, the regular, the overflow and the make-shift overflow parking lots. My lazy attitude was ready to pack it in and head home, but Caitrin and Hannah convinced me to try one more time. We crawled slowly through the parking lot, in heavy rain, desperately looking for the tell-tale white back-up lights. Caitin found one car sitting idling with brake lights on, jumped out and ascertained their intentions for the evening by knocking on their window. No love. We continued on our slow search. Eventually we spotted a couple walking back to their car. Caitrin once again jumped out of the car to follow said couple to their vehicle and save their parking spot for us. Have I mentioned that it is raining heavily? Shortly after she exited, we found another car exiting just in front of us negating the need for Caitrin's heroic service. Poor thing was still waiting while we parked and got out of the car to hail her back. I am convinced she is necessary on any future parking emergencies. I've often talked about asking others if they were leaving or following someone to their car, but I've never gotten out of the car and followed through on my crazy talk. Way to go Caitrin. I will love you forever.