Thanksgiving 2020

We had a simpler Thanksgiving this year. The day before Thanksgiving we did some baking. Samuel always want to make pies with me, and he requested an apple pie, so we made it on Wednesday morning. 

Another Thanksgiving tradition we have is making turkey cupcakes. I let go of a lot of control this year, and aside from baking the cupcakes and making the frosting, the kids took over the rest. Elisabeth enjoys cooking and baking with me, and she loved the independence I gave her this year. 

That afternoon, we had to drop off a meal at some friends who live near the mall, so we decided to spend some family time walking around the mall. While we were there, Elisabeth asked to get her ears pierced. She had been asking about it for a few weeks, but we never planned on getting it done that day, so it felt sort of impulsive when we said yes. We had no plans of piercing ears that day, but we did it, and it was a great experience. 

Elisabeth was so brave and excited. She picked out beautiful earrings and sat so still while they pierced them. 

She looks even more beautiful (and grown up) now with the bling in her ears. 

We shopped a little more at Claires for some new earrings while the boys when to Gamestop.

Wednesday night we finished up some more Thanksgiving prep. We were very sad to not get to celebrate Thanksgiving with my grandparents. I can't remember the last time we weren't with them on Thanksgiving. We missed having them with us, but we still had to make Granny's famous red and green jello salads. 

Thursday morning was more relaxing and calm than usual, and we sat and watched the parade as a family. 

These four are certainly on my thankful list on Thanksgiving and every other day too. 

The kids finished up the cupcakes during parade commercials. 

They were proud of them!

We headed over to my parents' house for lunch. I asked each of the kids what Thanksgiving food they wanted for lunch to make sure we had all their favorites. When I asked Katherine, she said she wanted strawberries :).

I'm a pretty decent baker, but pies are my weakness. I think this one turned out okay, though!

Katherine is a big fan of the turkey cupcakes. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon playing games. We played codenames, sleeping queens and ticket to ride. We all enjoyed the slow pace of the day and the quality family time. 

We came home with full bellies and happy, thankful hearts. Thanksgiving 2020 will be one that we don't forget. 
 

Life Lately

We've had fun in November. We're enjoying the slower pace of life and treasuring our time as a family.

These kids have had fun riding their bikes a lot with the beautiful weather. They had their own bike competition and posed for a victory photo, ha!

We had SO much Halloween candy. After Halloween we did some math activities with it- weighing/measuring, fractions, word problems. All the math combined with the sugar. 

Katherine and I were watching the kids at PE, and she climbed on my leg and asked for a horsey ride. Then she said, "Woo hoo, it's just like the rides at Silver Dollar City!" It's the simple things for her :).

Sometimes she asks to snuggle and for me to lie with her while she takes her nap. It's so hard to tell her no!

She's my last, and I knew these snuggly naptimes are numbered. 

Our local library has been closed since March aside from curbside pick ups, and the kids had been asking to go to a library that they could actually go in to pick out books. There are a few in our area that were open and the kids asked to go to the big library in downtown Tulsa. They had so much fun walking up and down the aisles picking out their own books (We took so much for granted before all this mess). Afterward, I surprised them with a treat since we were close. 

All the libraries have closed down again, so I'm glad we got to go at least once since it will probably be awhile before we can go again. 

These two tried to build the tallest tower they could out of our magnatiles. It was fun to watch them work together!

Sometimes our playdates end up looking like this-

Elisabeth had a double birthday party day- Elise's party in the morning and Audrey's in the afternoon. She was certainly living her best life on that day. I'm thankful for her sweet friends. 

Katherine likes to do school with Elisabeth sometimes. Cute girls!

We had another fun play date with friends. The boys were having friends over, so I invited some sisters from Katherine's gymnastics class, so the girls could have friends to play with too. Everything works better when everyone has a friend, ha! Elisabeth and Elah baked cookies, while these Little Girls played football outside. 

For the first time, we participated in Operation Christmas Child. The kids had so much fun shopping and packing their shoe boxes. They were very thoughtful in their gift ideas. It was such a great experience all around. We can't wait to do it again next year. 

I bought the kids some kinetic sand, and it's been a big hit. They play with it almost daily. They've even had their own sand baking championships. Here's the most recent cake winner. 

Another day, another nap snuggle. I can't get enough of her. 

The kids were so excited to drop off their Operation Christmas Child boxes at church. 

I had the kids do a little Thanksgiving STEM activity for school. They had to create a tool to harvest the pumpkins in the most efficient way. Nathan did a great job!

I took Nathan on a date in November. He asked to go shopping at Barnes and Noble and eat dinner at Sho Gun. 

I let him pick out a couple of new books before dinner. 

We had such a good time at dinner. Nathan is a big fan of steak. I'm a big fan of one on one time with him. 

Samuel and Elisabeth are doing great at gymnastics. They're improving every week. It's fun to watch them learn new things. 

Samuel made a lemonade stand. He even tried to spell the letters with his tinker toys. I'm always impressed with his creativity. 

Elisabeth learned about the game of MASH and asked me to play it with her. She's growing up so fast, and I'm loving the sweet girly moments I get to have with her. 

We were finally able to play on the new playground at the zoo and spent pretty much the entire morning playing. On our way out, the kids finally actually remembered there were animals at the zoo, ha! I can't blame them, the playground is fun!

We had a really great visit with our good friends who moved out of state this summer. I wish I would have videoed the kids' reactions when I told them who was coming over for dinner. There was lots of screaming and jumping up and down. These boys are great, great friends to my boys. They got to swim at their hotel and then came over for pizza and play time. 

Elisabeth was so excited to spend the evening with Grace, and I was so excited to catch up with Melodie. We can't wait for them to visit again!

I convinced Matt to let us set up the Christmas tree the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was a fun night. 

Our tree is full of special memories- ornaments from our babies' first Christmases, all our vacations, sentimental homemade ornaments. Every time we decorate it,  we're reminded of precious memories.