Filled to the Brim!

Wow!  What a weekend!

Of course, it was an extended weekend....and ours was filled to the tippity top with food, family, excitement and shopping!

Thanksgiving went great....other than morning Mass.  Peter was awful because he was so excited about going to my aunt's house and getting special cupcakes.  Kate was extra wiggly, loud and cranky....which is always so much fun:/

Pondering the situation in the "cry room" with Kate, while trying to avoid getting overly frustrated and putting a damper on the day(!), I had the thought that our family is just "messy".  While other kids are content to rest their heads on mom or dad's shoulder through Mass, our kids are not.  It's just hard that we have 3 wiggly ones....Luke isn't great although usually he isn't too bad either!  Peter is just Peter....and even after 12 years he is still hard in church.

God knows what our kids are like...so our job is to remain patient and work on encouraging better behavior in our little ones.  So.not.easy!

Thanksgiving dinner at my aunt's house went great.  Because my grandmother has terminal cancer, almost everyone in the family was there.  My grandmother had a good day and she looked wonderful!  That was such an answer to prayer.  She sat in the living room and was treated like a queen:)  Everyone took turns sitting in the seats around her spending time in conversation.  She even had an appetite!  She amazed all of us by polishing off a whole plate of food and desserts!  It was a gift for all of us!

Later in the day, Jay went by his parent's house with everyone except Kate, (who was napping), and Peter(who was overstimulated and needed a break.)  We finished the day at my parent's house flipping through sales fliers and eating leftover turkey....and a lasagna I made for Andrew.  (Something for him to be thankful for since he does not like poultry unless it is in the form of a nugget!)

Friday was another whirlwind day!  Jay took the youth group shopping for a family in need at 5am.  I left at 7:30...thanks to Mike babysitting until Jay got home at 9:)....to go Black Friday shopping with my mom and sister.  While I was gone for 11 blissful hours of shopping sans children, Jay spent the afternoon making hundreds of perogies with our kids, his mom, and his sister and her two kids.  By the time I got home close to 8pm, everyone was tired!  (I actually would have been gone a little longer, but Kate never got a nap and was melting down!)

Shopping was very productive for me and for helping my mom get everyone on her list covered.  Between Black Friday and previous online shopping, I am one present and a few scratch tickets shy of being completely done Christmas shopping!  It's always my goal to be done shopping before Advent.....so I'm happy with where I'm at!:)

I will save the second half of our weekend update for another post!  Stay tuned for tales of Christmas trees, failed Christmas card picture attempts, adventures with siblings, and other random happenings!

Happy Monday!