Scott and Steve (Laurie's husband) left on Friday morning for their annual hunting trip. They are down on Scott's family land in south AR and the kids and I are headed down this morning to join them for Thanksgiving. (Steve will join Laurie at her parents 30 min away).
I feel like since Scott has been gone - I've been running "Mom Camp". Just trying to have as much fun with the kids as we can!
We kicked off the fun with Harper's run Sat morning. Then we picked up one of Hollis' friends who spent two nights with us. Because if I'm going to be alone with three kids - I might as well add a few more kids.
Saturday night the weather was so nice so I took the kids to a park to play. They had the sign language alphabet on one side.
We played, ate and then went for ice cream.
Sunday we went to church and then I had a really fun rest of my day!
I had a sitter Saturday afternoon so I could meet some friends for coffee. This is Everett. He's my favorite boy on the internet. I can't get enough of his cuteness!
I had the BEST time with these girls. This is Three Kelly's and a Amy. Kelly Rucker is next to me. She lives in Austin but was in town. She runs the Mama Well instagram account (which you need to follow if you aren't). Every week, a different mom does a couple days of stories and it's so neat. The other 3 of us have been on there. Kelly Stuckey on the far left owns a salon and is such a beautiful person inside and out. And y'all may know Amy Hannon. She's a cookbook author and speaker. I adore her. I could have sat and talked to them for hours.
But I had to run after a couple of hours because I had a date that night with another group of friends for dinner. We rarely get together and this was just the day that finally worked. So my kids had another sitter that night but there were 7 kids at my house that night so they had a blast!
Sarah Kate spent two days with us and they had the best time. They wanted her to spend another night but after three nights of sleep overs I had to finally draw a line. I needed everyone in bed early. Of course - Will Holden was loving the house full of girls.
Monday afternoon, we met Laurie and the girls so we could take their Christmas Card picture. Anyone who knows me knows I hated coffee until recently and now I'm an addict. I'm actually an Onyx addict. It's my favorite. I took the kids along to get coffee before I met Laurie.
I love these three! They wear me out some days but they are also such great kids.
When did Laurie's girls become so OLD????? Aren't they GORGEOUS???
After we took pictures, we walked down to the square and got ice cream with our friends.
These two have been best friends since they were in our stomachs and they are turning into the sweetest young ladies. I love their close friendship.
Yesterday I spent half the day cleaning and trying to catch up laundry and then we went to see The Grinch. Will Holden was so excited. ha! I put them all in Christmas clothes because why not. Nothing in my house is decorated yet but we are ready for christmas.
This girl is such a book worm. She is CONSTANTLY reading. She took a book to the movies with her to read while we waited for it to start. I love her love for books.
After the movie, we walked over to Flying Fish. I had their gumbo for the first time and it was SO good. Except I've created another gumbo lover in Harper and she begged until she basically ate most of my bowl.
Sweet girls
Me and my little man
After dinner we walked around the square. Our square really is magical this time of year. We will make MANY trips downtown over the next month. I'm not a big "present" person at Christmas but I LOVE Christmas experiences. I want my kids to have great memories so I love doing all the things with them. They won't always want to do all of this so I'm soaking it up while I can.
Of course we emphasize the real meaning of Christmas above everything and they totally get it.
We walked over to our skating rink. I've promised them a lot of skating in our future.
And then we got hot chocolate and headed home. I love living in a sweet town where we can walk around and see people we know and feel safe.
We are excited to celebrate Thanksgiving! I hope you have a wonderful holiday!
