New Direction

I need to get better about posting on my blog. I want to get back to making it more of a daily journal, no matter how boring it may be. This once or twice a week quasi-update isn't cutting it for me. So, now you get to hear about our week.

We went to a new restaurant for lunch after church on Sunday. We didn't realize just how new it was. New as in, we were their second customer, new. We missed being first by only a few minutes. It was a Bennigan's and now it's Killgore's. We got there around 11:30 and the third customer didn't get there until we were leaving.

They must've had every single employee there for opening day, because we were literally accosted by hostesses when we walked in. There were three of them and every single employee was standing around watching us as we walked in and while we sat and ate since no one else came in. We were asked how everything was no less than 30 times. I wish I had counted because it was ridiculous. I'd say 10 of those was before we even got our food. "Yes, my water is indeed excellent. Very refreshing. Thank you for asking." We got free t-shirts for putting up with them.

On Wednesday, I kept Samantha and her two big sisters, Emily and Natalie, since they were out of school that day. We had a busy day making stuff to surprise their mom with for Thanksgiving. I was proud of myself for surviving a trip to Target with all four girls. We did a little craft and made sugar cookies. The little ones got small chunks of leftover dough and Clara's rolling pin and spatula from her play kitchen and were occupied for a very long time.

Emily wanted me to take a picture of the ball of dough in mid-air.

We were able to get Clara down for a short nap after the girls' mom came to pick them up. Good thing, because we had a long evening ahead of us. We went to the mall to have pictures made with Santa and Clara did great!

We had them done at Picture People so that she could have some time to warm up to him without being rushed. On the way to the mall, we practiced talking to Santa. I told her he would ask her what she wanted for Christmas and it took awhile to explain that she could ask for a toy she wanted. She said she wanted a doll with a hat.

She was fine with Santa before we went into the little room with all the camera equipment, then she kinda froze up and clung to me and I was certain she wouldn't talk to him. Daddy had a little talk with her though and she did real well. Santa asked her to give him a kiss on the cheek, so she puckered and leaned in, but was having trouble locating a bare spot on his cheek because it was so covered with beard, so she leaned in and kissed him on the lips. I was a little surprised she got so up close and personal with Santa after saying she didn't even want to sit in his lap half an hour earlier.

After pictures, we went over to Glenn and Becky's for a little Thanksgiving Eve party. The guys played Rock Band, the big girls played with babies and talked, and the little girls played dress up all night. Clara fell asleep in Daddy's arms around 12:30 and we got home at 1:30. Clara slept until 10 this morning!

Chris and I slept in a little too. A little too late, perhaps. My pasta salad needed to chill for awhile, and I had to put it in the freezer until time to go just so we weren't eating warm pasta salad. Mmmm. I threw a green bean casserole together and then we headed to lunch with Randy and Danielle at his parent's house. We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner and wonderful conversation. Clara even enjoyed some time with a stand in Grandpa. She got to see a train and go fishing off the back deck. It was a very enjoyable afternoon.

We got home around 5:00 and crashed. It's almost 11:00 now and Clara hasn't woken up, so we'll she how early she rises in the morning. Ugh.

Hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving!