Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Well here it is in the very, very early morning of one of my favorite holidays--Thanksgiving. For me this holiday is all about the 4 F's--food, family, fun and football! But for all of this fun it is still a holiday which means some degree of planning and stress. Lucky for me not too much stress since I've got my mom helping me out (as usual), plus my new sister-in-law is being inducted into the holiday festivities by us making her help cook...LOL!!

We decided a couple of years ago that Thanksgiving would be at my house and Christmas would be at my mom's house, so that not one person is responsible for setting up all of the holiday dinner plans. Besides that, we've always split what needs to be done between the two of us--one person makes the ham, the other makes the turkey, and so on and so forth. So last Sunday of all days we decided to go to Wal-Mart to get our holiday groceries. All I can say is ugh....

Upside to all of this craziness is the food and the family time. I love getting together with my family on a holiday...nothing is better. Sometimes my parents drive me nuts but my little brother is there for me so we can roll our eyes at eachother and just laugh. Now I've got a new sister-in-law that I get to induct into the family and all of this craziness, which is so much fun. She's not had much experience in cooking for large groups so this will be fun! Cooking for larger parties is all about timing--as long as you know what has to be done by when then you can plan accordingly. It may sound easy but it kills me how many people don't understand that!

The one thing that I know that will be awesome every year is the football. Being a Texas girl I very much look forward to watching the Dallas Cowboys play every Thanksgiving. They are my favorite team and it is the one day of the year every year that I always know they will be playing...you can take the girl out of Texas but you can't take away her Cowboys!!

So to all of you out there I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving! Be sure to enjoy all of your food, family, fun and of course Dallas Cowboys Football!!

Bedtime routines and interruptions

So here is how bedtime works in our family…usually.

Our normal bedtime routine involves several steps, as I’m sure most families do. First we brush our teeth—which consists of my daughter attempting to brush her teeth while I brush mine, then me going back over hers to make sure they actually get clean. Next it’s time to try and go potty one last time before bed. After that we go to her room and put on her pajamas, which of course she picks out herself…lol. Now comes one of the most important steps of all—story time!

I don’t know how we decided on the number of stories we read each night to her, but somehow it evolved into three stories. I think that was the amount we originally started with, but as she got older and all of her story books were short, the number slowly grew and grew until it became “we’ll read until we get tired of it”. After a few weeks of that I decided to invest in some newer more detailed stories, and the number went back down to three. At times though that sneaky little girl tries to see what she can get away with!

Today was just like any other day—ate dinner, played around for a while, and then it was time to start our nightly routine. We brushed our teeth like normal and then Lilly picked out her pajamas. Then the little monkey wrench got thrown into the mix. I’m not sure how it started, but somehow the three of us got involved in a stuffed animal fight. First it was just my husband and I throwing one or two at each other in response to smart-mouthed comments we had been dishing out. Next thing I know Lilly has started picking up all of her stuffed animals and throwing them at us as well! Sean goes and runs into our bedroom which leads to the dog following him up onto the bed. I go in there next because Sean is just dying laughing at the dog going all crazy running in circles on our bed.

So there we are, me, my honey, and the dog lying on the bed trying to calm down, when next thing I know here comes Lilly with more stuffed animals. I immediately grab a pillow to protect myself, but nothing happens. I look up to see her bringing out all her stuffed animals and piling them up in the hallway on the floor. That little girl is building an arsenal and getting ready to attack!! So Sean sneaks over to the bedroom door while she goes back into her room to gather up more toys and starts throwing them back into her room which results in squeals of laughter from our little girl.

It was after all this that I decided, okay, we’ve had our fun and it’s time to calm down and seriously get ready to read stories before bed. All of that laughter and family fun was the perfect way to end the day!