Nov 2014: Thanksgiving Week festivities

So much happened during the week of Thanksgiving, that I decided to just do it all in 1 post in the interest of saving time. A few notable things: 1) Michael was gone this whole week leading a mission trip for my church (what an incredible husband). A few weeks after planning and reserving flights for the first ever Jamaica Mission trip for my new church up here in Aitkin, we found out we were expecting and that Charlye would be born a short 10 days before the trip was to take place (If you remember, we didn't exactly "plan" this pregnancy...but we sure did welcome it!). 2) Because of this trip, instead of attempting to be a mother on my own to 3 kids as I was still recovering from giving birth, I decided it would be best to head to my parents' house in the cities for the week for a bit more help:) So we got to do lots of stuff this week that we may not have otherwise gotten to do if we were working and/or up in Aitkin.

Thanksgiving was a blast! For many of my family, it was the first time they got to meet Charlye, so she got lots of snuggle time in with people on Thanksgiving! Turkey was great...company was great...just an overall great day of eating food and being thankful for so many things!

 

 

The day after Thanksgiving, my aunt Terri and cousin Kelsi offered to take all 3 kids for a few hours so I could get some shopping in...what a blessing this was!! (I think I was in shock the entire time I was gone that I was out...ALONE...with no kids!). They got to hang out with cousin Ryley and Rhett! 

 

Here's me in shock that I was in the car with no kids...

 

And then the weekend after Thanksgiving we always have our annual Simon Girls' Christmas outing. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend this event, as it was baby Sophia's funeral day, but my family took Adelyn and Olivya with them for the day as they went and saw The Grinch at the Children's Theater and then out to lunch afterwards. I was able to enjoy some coffee and breakfast with them before they headed out for the day. What a great family I have! Here's G.G. (Great Grandma) with all her great grandkids!

 

And that following week, my cousins Andrea and Sara took Adelyn on her first sleep-over along with Sara's daughter Sydney! They went up to Duluth and got to see all the lights at Bentleyville, spend the night in a hotel, and even get a little bit of pool time in too! (I had to steal my cousin's pictures of this since I wasn't there). Adelyn talked about it for days afterwards! She had so much fun!

 

And my favorite was when Adelyn got home from her sleepover, she kept saying that she missed Charlye so much and she needed to give her lots of snuggles to make up for her being gone:

 

 

A great week. So much to be thankful for! Was great to be with family and friends over this week but also was great when Michael touched American soil and was back with us again;) Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

November 2013: Traditions: Thanksgiving & Simon Girls' Xmas Extravaganza

It's been a whirl-wind past few weeks, so let's take it back to where we left off, and that's right around the Thanksgiving time! I had to preach on Thanksgiving Eve, so we couldn't head down to the cities until late Thanksgiving Eve...(Random note...I am NOT a fan of wearing the clerical collar (for reasons we can discuss during a later post perhaps), but the Sr. Pastor I work with believes every pastor should wear one, so I have chosen to not pick this battle and wear one when I am leading worship and NOT wearing my alb (the robe that we wear).)... Anyway...like I was saying, after church on Thanksgiving eve, we headed to the cities to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with my mom's side of the family.

And what a great celebration it was!! Everyone was there...yes, everyone! That's all the Great Grandkids...

And all the grandkids...(that's the group that I'm in)...

And all the "kids", their spouses, etc.! Everyone!!

We even snagged a couple of pictures of my family while we were in picture-taking mode! My favorite part of all holidays is spending it with my amazing families! 

Thanksgiving this year was held at my Aunt Mary & Uncle Ward's house, and we all celebrated by enjoying one another's company, eating WAY too much food, watching some football, and finding out that my cousin Kelsi is pregnant with her 2nd child!!!!!!!! (Read Ryley's shirt!). It was definitely a great day of giving Thanks! Even Olivya got to enjoy some "Turkey Dinner". 

Yep, it was a great Thanksgiving!!! Happy Turkey Day Everyone!

Then, the Saturday after Thanksgiving, it's tradition that all the girls on the Simon side of my family get together to have a "Simon Girls Christmas Outing". This year, we all headed to the Children's theater to see a great rendition (hilarious and kid-friendly with plenty of adult humor) of Cinderella!

Both Adelyn & Olivya did GREAT for the entire 2 hour play!!! They were both in awe with the music and the lights and the action (oh, and Olivya slept through 1/2 of it! ha.)

We all went out to lunch after the play and had yet another great year celebrating Christmas together! 

After a weekend like this, I can't help but to be in the Christmas spirit. I absolutely love (and am a sucker for!) Traditions and I love all that this next month brings! Bring on the Holidays!!!