Our Thanksgiving . . .

I am far from a perfect mother, but when my kids are home from school, I really do try  my best to give them some attention.  We play games together (but not pretend ones, because I'm really bad at those).  Sometimes we'll watch a movie together.  We'll even cook and clean together.  Over the holidays you will see periods of absence on my blog.   Those are times when I am traveling, visiting with family and friends, or playing with my kiddos.  While I do enjoy blogging, I enjoy living my life with my family even more.  As you know, I'm not a review blogger.  I do post reviews and giveaways when they come my way and I think they are something you might like, but I do not answer to anyone on this blog.  It is mine.  I post what I want, when I want.  Thanksgiving happened to be a time when I didn't want to take the time away from my kids to post.  We were having too much of an amazing weekend.  Here are a few highlights:

My kids didn't have school on Wednesday, but Doc did have to work.  Peanut, Pumpkin and I thought that would be a perfect opportunity to go Christmas shopping for Doc.  Originally, they wanted to get him a dog, but eventually decided that maybe he wouldn't appreciate that gift.   (I don't know if I've mentioned it in the past, but Doc is very anti-pet . . . it goes along with his neat freakishness)  Eventually, each girl was able to find something that he needed in a style that reflects their own personalities.   I think he'll get a chuckle out of what they finally selected

On Thanksgiving, we went for a nice family walk followed by lunch at that fancy schmancy restaurant I was telling you about.  After lunch we went to see Tangled (Thanks MyBlogSpark and General Mills).   Doc had never been to a movie with the girls, so it was definitely a fun experience.  He had never seen the kids snack pack before, and actually wanted one of his own.  :o)  Pumpkin is a girl that laughs out loud during movies.  I couldn't help but steal a glance and a smile at Doc each time she'd burst out laughing - too cute!  The only problem is that she is now having nightmares about the "mean girl" in the movie.  Ugh!  Have I sheltered them too much?

Friday, Saturday and Sunday were filled with Christmas preparations.  We decorated, baked, wrapped and even went to our local tree lighting ceremony.  We had such a great time!  I didn't even get upset when the kiddos spilled stuff all over the kitchen while helping bake cookies.  I don't think I can't count the number of times I said, "It is okay.  Baking cookies is messy." with a smile on my face and a broom, mop, rag, in my hands.   If I haven't mentioned it before, I am probably pretty low ranking when it comes to the list of moms with patience.  I'm also a bit of a control freak.  This weekend was so relaxing that I didn't even care that one of our teddy bear cookies had three heads while another looked more like an elephant.  I didn't make the kids decorate the cookies the way I would.  I didn't say a word (because I didn't mind) when they mixed the peppermint sprinkles with the chocolate chips, and nonpariels.   This was supposed to be a fun family weekend, and it was.  We might have just created a new Thanksgiving family tradition.