Thanksgiving - The Rest of Our Weekend

During the rest of our Thanksgiving weekend, we enjoyed fairly mild weather for this time of year. The kids spent a lot of time outside, riding bikes, climbing the tree in our front yard, playing in the back yard. Steve tried to finish up our remaining yardwork around the patio. Unfortunately, we could not extract all the old gravel - we will need to hire someone next Spring with the proper equipment. Although Steve willingly tried to remove the old clay and gravel with a shovel and wheelbarrow, it was too back-breaking, even for him!

Steve took Rosemary and his Camaro to the empty school parking lot to take glamour shots which he can use as part of his profile in the local 5th Gen Camaro Club.  First event coming up in early December: a Toys for Tots cruise, ending at the Speedway. Elliott and Rosemary love riding in Daddy's Camaro. They are both quick to spot other Camaros when we are driving on the road.

We met up with our friends to watch the local Hometown Holidays parade. The kids mostly enjoyed the firetrucks, snow plows, buses, trolley, marching boy scout troops and dance troupes. We were at the end of the parade route so they ended up disappointed due to no candy available by the time the parade reached our spots. Afterward, we enjoyed yummy sushi dinner with our friends. The weather was so warm - thousands of people seemed to out, lining the streets. Unfortunately, many of the local business still seemed empty inside. Hopefully next year we can try to shop more locally, to support family businesses.

Alina and the kids pulled all the Christmas tubs out of the basement crawlspace and began decorating. The older kids were playing outside when Gretchen awoke from her nap. She was in awe of the tree! Alina spent a few minutes showing her how to touch with "one finger" to be safe.

Gretchen helped hang a few ornaments on the tree. She loved carrying them. When she couldn't quite handle placing the delicate hook on a branch, she switched to being the best helper, handing the ornaments to Alina or one of the kids to put on the tree.

Before long, the older kids and Steve came in the house and began assisting. We had a downright frenzy as the kids attacked the box. Steve jumped in to referee, separating the breakable ornaments from the non-breakable.

We did have a few casualties with ornaments shattering on the floor - OOPS!. Alina took a few photos of her "Baby's First Christmas" ornament, just in case it ends up a casualty someday. Let's hope not.

Our two main decorators pause for a photo. 

The tree and the rest of our holiday decorations looked great! Christmas, here we come!