Thanksgiving Weekend

Monday I took Caleb to parent teacher conferences, so my mom was reading over his report card. He is doing very well in school. He follows directions, stays on task, and tries to help others at his table do their work.

Alyssa coloring for the first time!

We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend. Caleb only had school on Monday and was very excited for his six days off school. Tuesday night my parents came to stay at our house. They arrived just in time for the end of Family Home Evening and orange floats for our treat. We usually have FHE on Mondays, but Keith worked late on Monday so we did it on Tuesday. My dad was helping Caleb complete a dot to dot for part of our lesson.

Wednesday Keith and I left the kids with my parents for the afternoon and went out to do some shopping. Wednesday night Jennifer and her kids came to stay the night. It was a full house, and we had a great time. Caleb and Parker wanted to do everything they saw their big cousins do. Thursday morning Keith played in the annual Turkey Bowl where the youth and youth leaders in the ward play the men. The men won this year, and all enjoyed hot chocolate and donuts provided by Keith after the game. We had Thanksgiving dinner about 2 pm. Our kids could not understand why we kept calling it dinner instead of lunch. Aunt Perky also came over to share the food with us. She brought a pie bringing our pie total to 6 (2 pumpkin, apple, triple berry, marionberry, and Berry berry Cool pies). We still have at least 1 1/2 pies left! I guess I may be the only one who has eaten my share of pie. In the evening we went to visit Greg and his siblings. It was fun to get together with some of my cousins that I have not seen for a while. On Friday my mom and I left about 8:30 to brave the crowds. We got a great deal on Clarks shoes. They are my mom's favorite (or at least in the top three) brand of shoes. We also went to Kohl's and Walmart. Walmart was the least crazy of the three, but I am sure it was worse at 5 AM. While we were shopping Keith, dad and the kids walked to Caleb's school and played on the playground. Other than Parker I think everyone enjoyed it. Friday afternoon I went to work. It was not too busy in the pharmacy, but it was good to work again after taking a few months off. I love being a pharmacist, and one reason I love it is the flexibility. I have just been filling in a little bit, but could work a lot more if I wanted. Saturday morning my parents headed home. It was a fun weekend and it was nice to be able to spend it with family. I wish I would have taken more pictures and asked everyone what they were thankful for as we sat down to eat.

Here are some things I am thankful for: family, supportive husband, hot running water, snow, bulbs (like tulips and daffodils), sunshine, ability to read, automobiles, swingset, public school, Keith's job, education, and computers.

When I was at work I was working with a technician studying Biochemistry, and it hit me that I am in a different stage of life. I am not a student in the formal sense anymore, but I am the parent of a student. I struggle with change, and have a hard time adapting when things do not go how I wanted them to go. When I find something I like I don't really want to part with it. Part of the reason we went shopping Black Friday was to replace a pair of black shoes I have had for at least 6 years. One of the soles was completely cracked, and Keith did a repair on the shoe several years ago. I like the shoes and did not want to replace them. We will see how I like my new black pair I bought to replace them.