thanksgiving week with unkie brandon!
i ended my last post by telling you that my brother was scheduled to fly in that afternoon...and the kids had no idea that he was coming. there was no school all week due to conferences. the kids and i had a busy day together on monday. i took both of them to the coworking space, because i was in the middle of my biggest invoicing week of the year! ashford went in the preschool room and azalea hung out with me. she played games on the tablet, colored with chalk, and then we went to the mall and target for a bit. it was the first time ashford and his buddy ewan got to be there together, so they were excited.
after school, we went to the zoo with vanessa and ewan. we only stayed an hour and the kids were super squirrly. at 4:00 i told the kids that a mystery guest was coming and we needed to go to the airport to pick them up :) they were so excited and of course wanted to know who it was. i told them they would have to wait to find out. azalea liked that concept, but ashford did not. he actually got pretty mad at me that i wouldn't tell them who was coming. ha! traffic was really bad and it took us over an hour to get to the airport (normally 35 mins), but they were very excited to see unkie brandon waiting for us. we went back to our house and made BLTs for dinner and relaxed with thatcher the rest of the night.
tuesday morning thatcher went to work and the kids and brandon and i drove to the mall in lynwood to go to the "funtastic playtorium" indoor play ground. i picked it because the kids could run around while i did my invoicing work. my brother got some christmas shopping done in the mall. win-win. we had lunch at chipotle in the food court. in the afternoon thatcher and i had azalea's school conference. thankfully my brother was able to stay with the kids. the conference went well. azalea is excelling in many area and has a couple she is working at. her teacher said she loves to chat with other kids, but always stops the first time she is asked ;) her teacher also said she cracks her up everyday with the funny/cute things she says. it's always fun to hear how she acts when we aren't around. we all went to dinner at the "boars nest" for bbq. two huge meals in one day. oops!
wednesday thatcher worked again. i did a little work in the morning and then brandon and the kids and i went to mighty o's for donuts.
next we headed to the science center. it was my brother's first time. they actually thought he was thatcher when we gave them our member card, so he got in for free ;) the kids had fun showing him all their favorite activities. we came home for the rest of the afternoon. more work time for me. thatcher came home from work early! we made pizzas for dinner and hung out the rest of the night.
thursday was thanksgiving! we kicked off the day by watching the "macy's thanksgiving day parade." i haven't been able to watch it for the last few years since we only have streaming tv. but my brother entered his cable log in, and hooked us up. i watched for about an hour and then enjoyed having it on in the background while i started prepping food. we hung out at home for most of the day, but we decided to take a walk to the locks in the early afternoon. of course it started raining right as we left (and it had been dry all morning). i made everyone take a group picture and they turned out really cute:
when we got home, our 6 lb turkey breast went in the oven. it ended up taking longer to cook than we anticipated, so we didn't eat until after 5:00. i usually take a picture of our beautiful spread, but i to be honest we were all a little hangry by this point so i skipped it ;) we also made stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots/green beans, blueberry muffins, and i bought rolls and pumpkin pie from the store. here is a picture of the awesome chocolate meringue pie thatcher made us:
friday morning it was time to take my brother to the airport. the traffic was much better this time. i let azalea come along, but not ashford because he whines a lot in the car. he was jealous that azalea "got extra time with unkie." so cute. then it was time to deck the halls! my favorite day of the year! things didn't go super smoothly, unfortunately. a section of our pre-lit tree didn't light up and changing out bulbs didn't help, so thatcher had to take them off (it was clipped in a million places) and go get a new strand from the store. once that was taken care of, i went to put our pre-lit garland on the mantle and discovered that those lights didn't work either! so off to the store i had to go!
saturday morning the kids and i went to see "the grinch" with vanessa and ewan at the theater in ballard. it was really sweet!
after the movie, we went to vanessa's house for lunch and hung out for a couple hours. thatcher joined us. when we got home, ashford fell asleep in our bed right away. he has had a cough/runny nose for a couple days, but he was clearly getting worse :( he slept for almost 2 hours. we had a lazy evening at home, which was perfect.
sunday morning azalea had a birthday party for her friend maggie from school. we hadn't gotten a gift yet, so she and i left a bit early to stop at "top 10 toys". the party was at "chuck. e. cheese" in lynnwood. i had not been to one of those in at least 20-25 years. and it looked exactly how i remembered it :) azalea had a ball running around with her friends and playing all the games. they also had pizza and cake. thatcher and ashford had their own little adventure (thankfully ashford was feeling better). they went downtown and road a double-decker bus, ashford's request :) we ran some errands/hung out at home in the afternoon and i ate my 846739568th helping of thanksgiving leftovers for dinner. the kids' christmas pajamas came in the mail, so they had to try them out. they were big fans!
this week was pretty darn near perfect. the kids had their moments of too much togetherness (so did thatcher and i, let's be honest), but there's something about thanksgiving weekend that feels so magical. maybe it was the fact that we didn't plan a single meal after thursday, spent tons of time just relaxing with christmas music playing, and the kids actually slept in (7 am, people)!
now we have a couple days back in reality before thatcher's parents come on wednesday! it's the first time they have come together, so we are really looking forward to it.
thursday was thanksgiving! we kicked off the day by watching the "macy's thanksgiving day parade." i haven't been able to watch it for the last few years since we only have streaming tv. but my brother entered his cable log in, and hooked us up. i watched for about an hour and then enjoyed having it on in the background while i started prepping food. we hung out at home for most of the day, but we decided to take a walk to the locks in the early afternoon. of course it started raining right as we left (and it had been dry all morning). i made everyone take a group picture and they turned out really cute:
when we got home, our 6 lb turkey breast went in the oven. it ended up taking longer to cook than we anticipated, so we didn't eat until after 5:00. i usually take a picture of our beautiful spread, but i to be honest we were all a little hangry by this point so i skipped it ;) we also made stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted carrots/green beans, blueberry muffins, and i bought rolls and pumpkin pie from the store. here is a picture of the awesome chocolate meringue pie thatcher made us:
friday morning it was time to take my brother to the airport. the traffic was much better this time. i let azalea come along, but not ashford because he whines a lot in the car. he was jealous that azalea "got extra time with unkie." so cute. then it was time to deck the halls! my favorite day of the year! things didn't go super smoothly, unfortunately. a section of our pre-lit tree didn't light up and changing out bulbs didn't help, so thatcher had to take them off (it was clipped in a million places) and go get a new strand from the store. once that was taken care of, i went to put our pre-lit garland on the mantle and discovered that those lights didn't work either! so off to the store i had to go!
it was all worth it in the end. the coziness of our house decorated for the holidays makes me so happy. and to top things off, we introduced the kids to "home alone" that night. they loved it!
saturday morning the kids and i went to see "the grinch" with vanessa and ewan at the theater in ballard. it was really sweet!
after the movie, we went to vanessa's house for lunch and hung out for a couple hours. thatcher joined us. when we got home, ashford fell asleep in our bed right away. he has had a cough/runny nose for a couple days, but he was clearly getting worse :( he slept for almost 2 hours. we had a lazy evening at home, which was perfect.
sunday morning azalea had a birthday party for her friend maggie from school. we hadn't gotten a gift yet, so she and i left a bit early to stop at "top 10 toys". the party was at "chuck. e. cheese" in lynnwood. i had not been to one of those in at least 20-25 years. and it looked exactly how i remembered it :) azalea had a ball running around with her friends and playing all the games. they also had pizza and cake. thatcher and ashford had their own little adventure (thankfully ashford was feeling better). they went downtown and road a double-decker bus, ashford's request :) we ran some errands/hung out at home in the afternoon and i ate my 846739568th helping of thanksgiving leftovers for dinner. the kids' christmas pajamas came in the mail, so they had to try them out. they were big fans!
this week was pretty darn near perfect. the kids had their moments of too much togetherness (so did thatcher and i, let's be honest), but there's something about thanksgiving weekend that feels so magical. maybe it was the fact that we didn't plan a single meal after thursday, spent tons of time just relaxing with christmas music playing, and the kids actually slept in (7 am, people)!
now we have a couple days back in reality before thatcher's parents come on wednesday! it's the first time they have come together, so we are really looking forward to it.
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