thanksgiving week
...yes, week! when your 1st grader has the entire week off for the holiday, you recap it :) fair warning: this will be long. our monday started off a bit rough when i decided i should probably keep ashford home from preschool because he had developed another viral(?) rash on his face. sighhhh. we spent the morning at home. i had the idea to have them sort and count a big bag of pom poms. they thought it was really fun and it kept them busy! win!
we managed to escape in the afternoon so azalea could get her hair cut and then she had gymnastics. thatcher left work early and met us there, so that was fun!
tuesday was a busy day. azalea had a dentist appointment in the morning, followed by her parent-teacher conference. it was so nice to sit down with her teacher and hear how she is doing this year. we were proud to learn that her reading skills are above where she needs to be. she does have some other areas to work on, but overall she is doing great academically. he said she is a joy to have in class, she gets along well with everyone, and rarely needs to be reminded to listen or pay attention. music to our ears! here are the kids hanging in the hall during the conference:
i took the kids to mcdonalds (the lure of the playland) for lunch, then we headed to a "lego cafe" called wunderkind in northeast seattle. i had signed up azalea for a jewelry making class that was being taught by a woman i know from the coworking space. ashford was able to play legos while i did my invoicing work.
this is my busiest week for my job the entire year and it definitely required some creativity to get my work done with little to no childcare. wednesday ashford went back to preschool (hurray!) and azalea and i had a fun morning together. we went to java bean and then the library. she is obsessed with the dangly clip on earrings she made in her jewelry class and has been wearing them a lot. they make her look 10!
after preschool pick up, we headed to an ice cream shop with a few of the other families from school. it was fun to get to know them a little better, since ashford just joined the class in october.
thursday was thanksgiving, of course! we mostly relaxed at home and made asmall feast for the four of us. i'll admit for a good part of the day i didn't have the best attitude. the kids were being difficult (bored, whining, fighting), and i missed being with our families and having somewhere special to go. we did some food prep in the morning, played board games with the kids, colored lots of turkey pictures i printed from the internet.
when we got home, it was back to food prepping and putting our 2.5 lb turkey breast in the oven. we ate dinner at 5pm and i wanted to make our meal time special. i used our nice placemats & cloth napkins, and put (LED) candles in the center of the table and turned down the lights. the kids thought it was so cool. in addition to our turkey, we made gluten-free stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, gluten free blueberry muffins, and bought cranberry sauce and rolls. thatcher also made a gluten free chocolate pie and i bought a pumpkin pie. everything was so delicious!
thanksgiving is one of my favorite meals, and even though my family might not agree about that (the kids at least tried a little of everything), we all had a really nice dinner. we ended the night curled up on the couch watching the smurfs movie.
friday morning we put up our christmas tree. the kids were giddy with excitement! (let's be real...so was i!)
after lunch (thanksgiving leftovers...duh!), thatcher took azalea to a game store/cafe in our neighborhood and i took ashford to the zoo to meet vanessa and ewan. the boys played in the zoomasium and then we looked at some animals. thankfully it was dry! it was also good for ashford and azalea to get a break from each other after a lot of togetherness all week.
azalea had a blast at the game store. it's a really cool concept where you can "check out" games and bring them into the restaurant to play. thatcher has gone there with friends a few times and azalea has been begging to go. we made pizzas for dinner and during dessert, we lit our new angel chimes we got from the nordic festival. thatcher had them growing up, so we are continuing the tradition. they are so pretty, the kids were mesmerized.
thatcher ran an errand after the kids were in bed and i watched love actually by the glow of the christmas tree. my favorite kind of night!
saturday morning we hung out at home. after lunch, we headed to swanson's nursery to go see santa. this is our third year going (and it's been the same santa every year). the kids were soooooo excited leading up to it. they talked about him nonstop and asked us a million questions about santa and the logistics of how he delivers presents, etc. we stopped to see the reindeer and the christmas train, before our appointment with the big guy. yes, you can make an appointment online. then you don't have to wait in a line. it's awesome.
when it was the kids' turn, they clammed up a bit and were starstruck by santa. this happened last year too.
we've been hearing for a few weeks that they both wanted a remote control car, but then ashford told him he wanted a tyrannosaurus rex and azalea told him she wanted a kite. i told them they have to stick with what they told him ;) here is a picture of the picture. they always turn out so cute!.
we got some coffee at the barn & field cafe and looked at the koi fish in the pond. the boys dropped azalea and i off at the grocery store on the way home to get ingredients for dinner. the rest of the afternoon we just hung out at home. thatcher's coworker (friend) sloan joined us for dinner. we've had him over a couple times before and it's always really fun. he is great with the kids. we made our asian pork, veggies, and coconut rice dish again. it's so good! and we had leftover thanksgiving pie for dessert. the kids hadn't napped, so they were tired by 8pm. sloan stayed a while later and the grown ups got to talk, uninterrupted.
finally...sunday we had no plans, so we decided to head to the city of bellevue after lunch. we heard there were some cool christmas displays near the downtown mall, but it turns out it's really just a parade that happens at 7pm each night. oops. we killed some time in the mall, so it ended up still being a fun outing. we grilled burgers for dinner and then played with the kids for a bit before sending them to bed.
i hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving. we are officially in by favorite time of year now and i'm hoping the time doesn't pass too fast! i have a little christmas shopping done, but really need to do more i next couple weeks before we go to minneapolis.
we managed to escape in the afternoon so azalea could get her hair cut and then she had gymnastics. thatcher left work early and met us there, so that was fun!
tuesday was a busy day. azalea had a dentist appointment in the morning, followed by her parent-teacher conference. it was so nice to sit down with her teacher and hear how she is doing this year. we were proud to learn that her reading skills are above where she needs to be. she does have some other areas to work on, but overall she is doing great academically. he said she is a joy to have in class, she gets along well with everyone, and rarely needs to be reminded to listen or pay attention. music to our ears! here are the kids hanging in the hall during the conference:
i took the kids to mcdonalds (the lure of the playland) for lunch, then we headed to a "lego cafe" called wunderkind in northeast seattle. i had signed up azalea for a jewelry making class that was being taught by a woman i know from the coworking space. ashford was able to play legos while i did my invoicing work.
this is my busiest week for my job the entire year and it definitely required some creativity to get my work done with little to no childcare. wednesday ashford went back to preschool (hurray!) and azalea and i had a fun morning together. we went to java bean and then the library. she is obsessed with the dangly clip on earrings she made in her jewelry class and has been wearing them a lot. they make her look 10!
after preschool pick up, we headed to an ice cream shop with a few of the other families from school. it was fun to get to know them a little better, since ashford just joined the class in october.
thursday was thanksgiving, of course! we mostly relaxed at home and made a
ashford was quite grumpy all morning ;)
it rained all morning, but in the afternoon the sun came out, so we decided to take a walk to the locks to get out of the house. it was a good reset for everyone. we even managed to take some nice (and silly) pictures there.
when we got home, it was back to food prepping and putting our 2.5 lb turkey breast in the oven. we ate dinner at 5pm and i wanted to make our meal time special. i used our nice placemats & cloth napkins, and put (LED) candles in the center of the table and turned down the lights. the kids thought it was so cool. in addition to our turkey, we made gluten-free stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots, gluten free blueberry muffins, and bought cranberry sauce and rolls. thatcher also made a gluten free chocolate pie and i bought a pumpkin pie. everything was so delicious!
thanksgiving is one of my favorite meals, and even though my family might not agree about that (the kids at least tried a little of everything), we all had a really nice dinner. we ended the night curled up on the couch watching the smurfs movie.
friday morning we put up our christmas tree. the kids were giddy with excitement! (let's be real...so was i!)
after lunch (thanksgiving leftovers...duh!), thatcher took azalea to a game store/cafe in our neighborhood and i took ashford to the zoo to meet vanessa and ewan. the boys played in the zoomasium and then we looked at some animals. thankfully it was dry! it was also good for ashford and azalea to get a break from each other after a lot of togetherness all week.
azalea had a blast at the game store. it's a really cool concept where you can "check out" games and bring them into the restaurant to play. thatcher has gone there with friends a few times and azalea has been begging to go. we made pizzas for dinner and during dessert, we lit our new angel chimes we got from the nordic festival. thatcher had them growing up, so we are continuing the tradition. they are so pretty, the kids were mesmerized.
thatcher ran an errand after the kids were in bed and i watched love actually by the glow of the christmas tree. my favorite kind of night!
saturday morning we hung out at home. after lunch, we headed to swanson's nursery to go see santa. this is our third year going (and it's been the same santa every year). the kids were soooooo excited leading up to it. they talked about him nonstop and asked us a million questions about santa and the logistics of how he delivers presents, etc. we stopped to see the reindeer and the christmas train, before our appointment with the big guy. yes, you can make an appointment online. then you don't have to wait in a line. it's awesome.
when it was the kids' turn, they clammed up a bit and were starstruck by santa. this happened last year too.
we've been hearing for a few weeks that they both wanted a remote control car, but then ashford told him he wanted a tyrannosaurus rex and azalea told him she wanted a kite. i told them they have to stick with what they told him ;) here is a picture of the picture. they always turn out so cute!.
we got some coffee at the barn & field cafe and looked at the koi fish in the pond. the boys dropped azalea and i off at the grocery store on the way home to get ingredients for dinner. the rest of the afternoon we just hung out at home. thatcher's coworker (friend) sloan joined us for dinner. we've had him over a couple times before and it's always really fun. he is great with the kids. we made our asian pork, veggies, and coconut rice dish again. it's so good! and we had leftover thanksgiving pie for dessert. the kids hadn't napped, so they were tired by 8pm. sloan stayed a while later and the grown ups got to talk, uninterrupted.
finally...sunday we had no plans, so we decided to head to the city of bellevue after lunch. we heard there were some cool christmas displays near the downtown mall, but it turns out it's really just a parade that happens at 7pm each night. oops. we killed some time in the mall, so it ended up still being a fun outing. we grilled burgers for dinner and then played with the kids for a bit before sending them to bed.
i hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving. we are officially in by favorite time of year now and i'm hoping the time doesn't pass too fast! i have a little christmas shopping done, but really need to do more i next couple weeks before we go to minneapolis.
Comments