Thanksgiving Part One {Thanksgiving Prep}

 Growing up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving was more important than Thanksgiving. It was during those hours of cooking, baking, prepping & primping that we bonded and celebrated the joys of family. Now that the littles are a bit older, they are ready to join in the family tradition. 

Early afternoon we gathered at YiaYia and Bopi's with Christmas apron's in hand ready to get to work. 

We took a few breaks for necessities like photo ops and dancing. 

By dinner time we had turned out an array of pies, cupcakes, cookies & raspberry shortbread bars. Thankfully reinforcements & pizza arrived around the same time. After a much needed break, food prep continued through out the night.

     

November Recap {Circus & Celebrating}

As November draws to a close, I can't help but think that the month just began. To kick things off I chaperoned Peanut's class trip to the arboretum. He requested that we share the "jumper seat" in the very back of the bus & this easily car sick momma didn't have the heart to say no. 

Later that same week the littles came home on a Friday afternoon to learn that we were headed to the circus. It was our first time taking them and to say they loved it would be quite an understatement. Bestie B & H's families joined us and we all enjoyed the evening out.

The unseasonably cool temps found us spending quite a few hours in the basement playroom. Finley was introduced to the magic of the bounce house.

And much more to his liking.....SNOW!

November also brought the celebration of our sweet M's Name Day. This year his feast fell on a Sunday so after Liturgy we took the littles and Grandparents out for lunch.

Hubby & I had the chance to leave the littles at home and enjoy some adult conversation at his colleague's wedding. It has been ages since we've attended a wedding sans kiddos!

The week of Thanksgiving the boys brought home countless turkey projects (3rd graders are too busy learning to produce cute keepsakes**tears**).

And finally, we are still awaiting the arrival of Baby P. This picture was snapped a few weeks ago at Mastro's when we were lucky enough to steal a night out pre-baby. All signs point to a December birthday for this little bundle.

Where I've Been & Our October Recap

After nearly 6 weeks away from blogging I am excited to be back. As much as I want to promise I'll return to a regular pattern of posts, life right now is pretty full and sadly blogging falls to the bottom of the barrel. 

About 14 weeks ago I started working out with a group trainer 3 times a week at 5:30 in the morning. The energy I use to devote to blogging is now been channeled into taking better care of myself. 

A good thing yes, but I miss recording the evolution of my family and home. So it is my hope to take baby steps back into blogging while figuring out how to keep all these balls in the air. Wish me luck!

Now that I've explained my whereabouts, let's flashback to October. 

To start off the month Peanut & Hubby spent a Father-Son weekend at the Dells. Peanut is still talking about all the fun they had together and has since painted the sweetest canvas of him & his daddy going down the "great-big water slides".

While the boys were away, Belle hosted her girl scout troop for a carmel apple party. The creations and concoctions were crafted in our kitchen and then carried home with each of the girls to enjoy later. (read: sugar high on their parents' watch)

As the weather turned cooler the leaves began to fall and Finley found a favorite pastime. This pup can get some air and though he looks down right vicious in the picture below he is about the sweetest thing ever. At the moment, he is currently curled up fast asleep at my feet as I type.

Shortly after a session of leaf jumping I found these three attempting to prune our crab apple. When I first saw them, even Finley had a hold of the tree branch.

We closed out the month with Halloween. The festivities included the club's party & haunted house (aka: women's locker room), school parties & parade (I took photos but can't find them...mommy failure), and trick or treating.

The Halloween rundown: 2 puppies, Baby Mario (Mario sans mustache), & Hermione Granger

The last game of flag football was Nov 2nd and I've tossed it in for good measure. Peanut showed a strong interest in offense and an extreme disinterest in defense. I'm eager to see how he progresses as a player in the Spring. This experience was thankfully much more positive than that of his soccer team earlier this fall (the team scored only 1 goal the ENTIRE season).

All our Halls are Decked, Thanksgiving plans have been put into motion and every Saturday & Sunday is dedicated to Nutcracker rehearsal......bring on the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! 

I can't wait to chronicle it all..... it's so good to be back.

Bestie A's Neutral Baby Shower

Earlier this month Belle & I headed to Michigan to celebrate Bestie A's baby shower. Since baby-to-be's gender is a mystery we went with a theme centered around books, plush animals and the colors cream, gray & yellow. 

Bestie J and I fell in love with these invitations and asked the seller to recreate them with a more grayed out version of a lamb. (We weren't feeling the black sheep on a baby shower invite.)

On the tables I layered the simple floral arrangement, plush animal & board book atop a gray & white striped sheet of scrapbook paper. As an added bonus, the centerpieces are now at home in the baby's library & nursery bookshelf.

In addition, each place setting was adorned with a coordinating menu,  yellow striped straws with gray chevron flag, and yellow polka dotted favor cup filled with almond rocca.

The gift table was the centerpiece of the room. We used tall branches in urns to add height and then softened them with tissue paper pom poms.  The pottery barn kids lamb was a gift to the baby and worked perfectly as a centerpiece.

Guests were asked to write a note to baby in a storybook located on the gift table.

Before the shower began I wanted to make sure I grab some shots of the guest of honor and her family. The remainder of the afternoon was spent lunching and watching A open a host of precious baby goodies.

It is hard to believe in a few short weeks lil Baby P, as we refer to him/her around the B house, will be here. I can not wait to hold you in my arms. And for the record, Thea Amelia says, "Baby Girl"!!