A Weekend of Decking the Halls

The very moment my Thanksgiving meal was digested it only meant one thing......TIME TO DECORATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was a bit overly proactive this year and had already packed away the fall goodies a couple days before Thanksgiving to make room for the spare room full of new Christmas goodies I'd picked up here and there around town over the past month. Who needs Hobby Lobby when you have some fabulous stores around town? Well, ok maybe that was a bold statement. I did still need good ol' Hob Lob I'll admit (a cart filled to the brim...but who's keeping track), but I was surprised at how many beautiful things I collected from stores downtown here in Woodward. As I mentioned in my Thanksgiving post, I conned Riley into helping me grab the Christmas tree and "stuff" from the attic on Thanksgiving morning so that I'd be fully prepared to dig into everything that night when we got home. I was beside myself with excitement to decorate this year. This marks our second Christmas in this house but the first to actually decorate. Last year we had a beautiful tree up for Christmas thanks to Nanny and Kylie who moved our tree on the day that we moved the week of Christmas. Hectic, hectic time that didn't allow any time for getting our decorations so we settled for the pretty tree alone and I was left yearning for this Christmas in our home. It's HERE, it's HERE!! FINALLY! Some would say I went a wee bit overboard. Others would say I'm just downright insane (these "others" would be Riley). And I'm okay with all of that. Decorating makes me smile. Smiling makes me happy. And being happy makes me feel good. So if decorating is what it takes to get me through another holiday without momma then so be it! Let the decorating begin!!!!!!!!!!

I got busy Thursday evening with a very full belly but worked until bedtime trying to burn off some of that pumpkin cheesecake. I stood there ho-humming about where to put a couple of snowmen and where to hang some red bows when Riley said "why don't you sit down for like two seconds and then start again tomorrow?" He obviously doesn't know me well enough after eight years. I was high on Christmas and stayed that way the rest of the weekend. Friday morning Hallie and I had a very important task to accomplish. It was hilarious to see how excited she got when I told her we were going to put up her little pink tree in the playroom. Proud momma moment.....I have created another decorating maniac!!! She had a great deal of enthusiasm as she watched me fluff out her tiny branches and place her new sparkly tree skirt around the bottom. She helped by handing me each ornament one by one saying "here go mama....here go mama....here go mama..." each time she placed a ball in my hand. Sweetest. Moment. Ever. Well actually the sweetest part may have been watching her face light up when I placed the star on top of the tree. 

Yep, she's mine!!! That's my girl!!!

The girly awesomeness was a good way to mask the fact that our girl was not feeling too hot that morning. Or actually it was that she was feeling TOO HOT.....

Laid up on the couch with a mysterious fever.

She spent the first few hours of the day feeling just plain yuck due to what was most likely some pesky molars breaking through. She ate like normal and seemed to be okay so I just let her lounge around and pretty soon she was fever free and ready to go. I used the semi-quiet time to continue decking our halls.....

Riley spent the day fully immersed in shed building so we saw very little of his pretty face that day. Around 3:00 he loaded up his huntin' wagon and took off for deer country. Oh wait, I guess our neighborhood might be considered deer country seeing as how we spotted a buck in our front yard the other day. Let me rephrase....he headed out to his tree stand at the farm to get himself a buck. I had accomplished a ton that day by the time Hal awoke from her nap. She was extra sleepy due to that morning fever so I wasted no time with the decorating and threw up up the last tree, Mr. Nine Footer.While putting her down for a nap I used a priceless line that I may use from time to time when she is not feeling the whole nap thing....I told her "when you wake up Aunt B and Uncle Spence will be here." She snuggled up and fell asleep right away. Piece of cake. Immediately after I snatched her out of the crib from her nap she knew exactly what she had to do: get fancy. She had guests coming after all! She insisted on dolling up in her new outfit that she had been eyeing in her closet.  She strutted her stuff around the house posing until they arrived....

Work it, own it ;)

My original plan was to make dinner and eat in but the installation guys took longer than expected putting in our new microwave (Nanny's stocking stuffer to us...quite an amazing stocking stuffer if I do say so myself) so we moved on to Plan B. Our foursome went out to dinner at Carlitos where we laughed nonstop at Hallie's shenanigans. Luckily she was in a stellar mood which is rare these days. Spencer ended up treating us all to dinner which he received a big hug for! Just us girls made a run to Walmart to grab some more picks for the tree. Of course we couldn't leave without making a quick run down the toy aisle. Lil Red made sure to touch every toy and poke every button and name every character on the shelves. There's nothing quite like seeing a child's eyes light up so bright with excitement. My favorite part: being able to walk away from the toy aisle without carrying her kicking and screaming. She's perfectly content with walking away without the twenty toys she claimed as her own. ;)

Once we arrived back at the house B, S and H watched as I planned my attack on Mr. Nine Footer....

Sister helped me fill the tree with ornaments and Riley (who had just returned home) grabbed the camera and snapped some pictures per my request. These are just a few of the questionable shots he got.....

Ummmm no.

Still no.

There we go!

Ok, no again. ;)

We were sad to see them go but I was pooped and Hallie was all ready for bed. She was pretty pumped to have had Aunt B around for her bathtime fun and she wasn't complainin' any as B and S helped put her to bed. She had plenty of hugs and kisses for them before she laid right down for some dreaming. She gifted dear ol' mommy with an extra hour of sleep and woke up in the bestest of moods. That morning (Saturday) consisted mainly of hide'n'seek. A LOT of hiding and a LOT of seeking. I was legitimately stunned by how good she was at finding hiding spots. Granted they were two-year-old sort of hiding spots but this momma was pretty impressed....

"Betcha can't find me..."

Sleepyhead found her way into the laundry basket but wasn't hip on the idea of putting the lid on top of it to hide from her dad....

"I may be a good hider but I can't deny the slight case of claustrophobia."

The urge to dress up continued on into Saturday as she found another new dressy outfit that she just had to wear. I must say I'm quite a big fan of purple and red on my Lil Red...

After making some pumpkin pancakes that morning I began preparing a lil something to pop in the oven later for lunch. I knew we'd have more than plenty so I invited Nanny, Papa and Aunt Ky over for some chicken noodle casserole and dessert. And by dessert I mean that we all shared one leftover slice of pumpkin cheesecake. ;) We all had a great lunch around the festiveness at the table eating off my new Christmas plates. It's the little things that get me so excited!

Elfy decided to join us for lunch too!

Saturday was a big day for Oklahoma.....Oklahoma football, that is. Bedlam had crept up on us again and I was nervous as usual how Riley and I would fare by the end of the day. The bedlam baby wasn't sure what to think about all of the hype that day......

She was only pictured that day in her OU cheerleading outfit but I must mention that I did, in fact, dress her in orange for the first half of the game. She was sleeping in her crib during that time but nonetheless I was trying to keep things fair. Post-nap time was when we busted out her crimson and cream, grabbed a snack and watched a super, crazy, intense bedlam game that is now my new favorite of all time. Check out Lil Red's enthusiasm about football.....

Ok, maybe we need to work on teaching her how exciting football really is.

I guess it's obvious who came out on top based on my chosen adjectives. ;) I'm proud to say that each year that passes we seem to become a little more mature when it comes to handling bedlam day. It's only taken us eight years!!! Riley only wore his sad pants for about an hour. It probably took just that long for his ears to stop ringing from my hysterical screams after the last play of the game. I was able to share some joy with my fellow Sooner fans Ryan and Jai who stopped by on their way home from a party next door to check out how the Christmas decorating was coming along. We ended the night with a Duck Dynasty marathon and a lil bit of blogging.  

The long weekend inched by very slowly which made for one very happy momma. Hallie and I finished up some last touches on the Christmas decorations, spent some much-needed playtime with Gman and celebrated Riley getting a big buck. In her spare time she's been working hard at "personalizing" our Christmas cards...if you are reading this and you have scribbles all over the card you receive then you can just consider yourself lucky enough to receive a personal "holiday greeting" from Lil Red. ;) 

As for Riley and I, we are enjoying every twinkly light, every big red bow and every bit of quiet time we can steal in the evenings before this holiday season gets out of control with parties, shopping and just plain busy madness. It's a little bit easier to relax at the end of the day surrounded by such pretties.....

Harvest Love & Give Thanks

Above is my sweet baby's "thankful" list. I'm so glad I made the list right next to markers. I didn't make a list but you can bet that Hallie would make the top of my list as well....along with many, many other people! With an enormity of things to be thankful for you'd think I would've had a smile on my face and a heart full of gratitude. Well, more like a heart full of attitude. To be honest I have been stressing out about it. I'm not sure if it was the thought of shoving a week of work into three days or the fact that I would be celebrating the holiday without my dad or sister this year. But now that the weekend is almost over and I ended up being blessed with unexpected visits from both dad and sister I've got to admit it was a spectacular weekend after all. I must say I was being a Negative Nancy for no reason at all. Here's a bit of what our Thanksgiving day consisted of....

The turkey, er, I mean rooster was crowing a little too early that morning. This has been a disturbing trend that she has started the past two weeks. It has had me in sort of a tizzy longing for the days of sleeping in til 8:30. Hallie was super happy as I'd suspected since I told her that when she woke up that morning we'd be going to Nanny and Papa's house. She hadn't forgotten and was ready to get dressed immediately. No time to spare! She had some turkey to eat! But she didn't seem to argue when I told her we had a bit of time to play that morning before we left. She got busy wrecking the playroom while I prepared a corn casserole and cranberries and finished the topping for the pumpkin cheesecake I'd make the night before. Watching Hal chow down on breakfast just stirred up my appetite that much more. Riley headed outdoors immediately upon waking to work on his shed. His tiny apprentice had fun dancing around on the shed platform until she realized that the sound of the saw was something she could do without. Hallie and I posted up on the couch that beautiful fall morning and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. There's just something about tradition and history that makes it so special to watch it with my daughter. She was mesmerized by all of the familiar giants friends she saw floating above the streets of New York City. I somehow managed to convince Riley that it was time to get the Christmas tubs down from the attic. My unplanned tactics worked rather well if I do say so myself. I simply pulled the ladder down, climbed on up and waited for him to say "babe, you're going to fall, let me help!" Ok, if you say so babe. ;) His words were "I don't want to get it down now because I don't want to get all sweaty and have to take another shower." I rolled my eyes thinking "whatever, it's not that hard." So up I went and down the tubs and trees came. And finally ten minutes later I trudged down the ladder looking like a sweaty mess. I swallowed my pride and admitted that the attic job was not so easy. But I was overjoyed to have it done and I immediately got to work lugging the tubs inside to check out the season's goodies. Pretty soon it was time to get our turkey on. Hal was lookin' cute in her Thanksgiving outfit. Well that is until she stripped the matching hat and shoes off and traded them in for some messy hair and her frog boots....

Still cute I suppose ;)

"If you smile for the camera I'll let you keep the frog boots on"

The boots stayed on and in turn so did the smile she that I'd requested. Having Nanny and Meme May around only helped with the happiness....

Hallie got busy doing what she does best. She hunted down the new Thanksgiving themed toy that Nanny bought....

"Hmm, I guess the pilgrims didn't wear green frog boots..."

The table was set and the family had arrived. Nanny always does such a wonderful job without decorating and setting the table....

The girlies were looking mighty sweet in their matching outfits loving on Nanny...

Katie, Kylie and I attempted to get some good shots of the two turkeys outside before they were covered in their Thanksgiving feast. This proved to be as difficult as you would imagine posing a one and two year old would be....

"Hey Carmen, let's totally not look at the camera...pretend that you don't hear the moms."

"Good job, keep looking away...."

"Surely they'll give up soon..."

The silly gals started rocking the bench back and forth discovering how awfully fun it was to let their heads bang against the back of it. But still no eye contact with the camera....

I soon gave up on getting the perfect shot of the girls and figured any picture of them smiling was good enough for me....

The smile continued once they came inside from frolicking in the yard. Yes folks, it was chow time....er, I mean time to eat Thanksgiving dinner. The girls were latched into their chairs and ready to pray....

"Hey Hal, do you think I'll like turkey? It's my first time"

"It's simply delicious!"

I got such a kick out of the girlies sucking down their drinks and digging through their plates full of an assortment of foods....

The eight of us filled up the table and had a fabulous, delicious scrumptious, perfect lunch together. Did I mention that it was delicious?!?! Luke deep fried the bird this year and it couldn't have been more juicy and flavor-filled. I couldn't help but save a little bit of room for the pumpkin cheesecake I'd made the night before. It had my mouth watering with anticipation all morning....

This did not disappoint.

Before long the girls were starting to become a bit delirious once the turkey coma started to come on. They hopped up on Nanny's bed and rolled around like wild monkeys, I mean turkeys....

These smiles are just priceless....

After cleaning up and saying goodbye we began our second leg of the holiDAY. We parted ways with Riley who spent the afternoon working on his shed and going hunting. Us girls drove to Meme Donna's house to spend the afternoon/evening with Lisa, David, Dara, Sharon, Johnny, Eric and Meme. The Detrixhe clan was a bit sparse this year for various reasons but our little group had a great relaxing time. Even though Hallie had chosen to forego her afternoon nap she was on her best behavior and silly as ever. She gave a nap a shot with Dara but it was short-lived and soon she was stringing her box of toys all over the house. The guys watched the Cowboys game while the girls chatted in the kitchen and grazed on leftovers. Ok, maybe I was the only one grazing but it sounded better to say all of us did. Hallie and Dara were the best of buds as always....

Lil Miss was mighty filthy by early evening and made quite the fashion statement walking around on the porch minus her shirt with her pants pulled up to her chest....

Always searching for food or drink

"I'm down on my luck....got a shirt I could borrow? Or better yet, got any food I can eat??"

Lisa and Hal played horsey on the porch....

Hal made the rules and told her how it was gonna be...

Finally she showed some signs of wearing out and went back to the bedroom and snuggled up for what I thought would be some shut-eye.....

She was only foolin' us because she was back up in a matter on minutes begging for some dinner. Lisa spoiled us all by making some yummy noodles with some of the leftover turkey. YUM! We loaded up on leftovers for dinner (isn't that the best part about the day?!)....

Meme was all smiles with her great granddaughter running around all day. These two together make my heart smile....

We were missing grandpa and mom this year. It was the first Thanksgiving without him and the second without her. It just seems wrong all over again. While I'm managing the sadness of missing special loved ones I am trying my darndest to make the holidays EXTRA special for Hallie. I can't believe that we've had three Thanksgiving with our little turkey. What a blessing she has been to the family over these past two eventful years. A bright ray of sunshine in the midst of a lot of change. A true blessing. It's hard to put the love I have for family into words so here's how I see things.....

GOD + FAMILY = THANKSGIVING. 

Simple as that.