We started the extended weekend on Thursday, with the traditional Zinn family Thanksgiving breakfast of homemade caramel rolls. YUM! I went for a quick run so I wouldn't feel so guilty eating those rolls for breakfast, and it was so worth it! Then we headed over to Curt & Linda's for Thanksgiving dinner. Linda doesn't love cooking, and I'm not confident enough to tackle a turkey, so usually we go to the Mariott and eat there, but this year we decided to cater in from HyVee. It was very good. I made a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert, and Linda had lots of other goodies to eat as well. Unfortunately Mike's grandpa, Pa, wasn't feeling well, so he couldn't make it. We really missed having him there. The boys had a blast playing and hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.
We always take a family picture on Thanksgiving to go on our Christmas card. Here's one that didn't make the cut. If you've read many of my previous posts, you'll realize that we have a lot of pictures that were attempts for the Christmas card but that didn't make the cut. It's tough to get a good picture!
Mike and I left the boys at Curt & Linda's Thanksgiving afternoon and went to a movie. Then we had a night to ourselves (the boys spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's) and even slept in on Friday! After waking briefly at 5:40 sure that I heard Drew talking (funny how the mind is wired for routines like that), I managed to get back to sleep and was flabbergasted when I awoke and it was 8:40!!! I don't think I've slept past 6:30 in the last 9 months, and not past 7 in the last 3 years! It was awesome.
Sleeping in like that did not give Mike and me the chance to be first in line at any stores on Black Friday, but we did join the masses and hit up a few places with some success. We didn't find a lot in the way of Christmas presents, but I found some great deals at GAP (buy one sweater, get one free- I bought 2 & came home with 4!), and we got some good deals on stuff for our adopt-a-family girl at Kohl's. Parking was terrible most places we went, but the weather was nice, so we didn't mind walking a bit. And we didn't end up standing in line too long anywhere, which was nice because that's the part that really drives me nuts. After picking the boys up at Curt & Linda's we came home and promptly went on a walk/bike ride (Mike & me on foot, Drew in the stroller, and Zach on his bike) up to the movie store. It was such a gorgeous day out. We rented Madagascar, but haven't had the chance to watch it yet. Good thing it's a week-long rental.
Saturday we basically cleaned up the house, which looked like a hurricane had come through. Mike and Zach ran to the post office mail something that we needed postmarked by Dec. 1. While they were out, I got a call from someone at Kohl's saying that they had found a rebate form for the new toaster oven we had purchased the day before (we realized once we got home that we hadn't gotten to mail-in rebate form that would make the $100 toaster oven go from $50 to $30). So I called Mike and since he and Zach were close to Kohl's, they ended up just stopping by to pick up the form. Here's the funny thing- initially they were just going to go to Dahl's to mail the letter, so we let Zach stay in his pajamas and just have his slippers on, but Mike changed his mind at the last minute and went to the post office instead. Then they went to Kohl's with Zach in his pajamas, too. I'm so glad it was Mike with Zach and not me, because I think I'd be too embarrassed to take my kid into a store at 9:30 in the morning in his pajamas and slippers! Oh well. I am not sure if they got any funny looks or not.
Later Saturday we got to go to our friend Cooper's first birthday party, and then Grandpa Kevin, Grandma Cynthia, and Aunt Katherine came over. It was great to see Katherine, as we haven't seen her since early October since she's away at college now. We had some homemade pizza and leftover pumpkin cheesecake. Zach talked Katherine's ear off and got his dad, Grandpa, and Katherine all involved in a rowdy basketball game downstairs. It was a really fun night. We can't wait to see Katherine again when she's home for Christmas.
It started snowing lightly yesterday afternoon, and this morning when we woke up we had a couple inches on the ground. Zach was so excited to get out there and shovel, but we told him he had to wait until after church. So, after Mike and Zach went out and bought a new shovel (ours had broken), they got to work.
After getting the driveway and sidewalk shoveled, Mike and Zach started working on a snowman. Mike is a much better snowman builder than I am, that's for sure. Our neighbor Zoe came over, and she and Zach had a lot of fun playing together in the snow.
Here is Drew checking out the action outside:
Once the snowman was built, the kids came in for some hot chocolate and a little warm-up.
Thankfully Zach's snowpants and boots still fit him well enough to wear today, but we decided he might need new ones. His boots are a size 6, and the shoes he's wearing these days are size 8, and his snowpants are size 18 months, and Zach is about a week away from being 3 and a half, so yeah, it might be time for some new snow gear. Seriously, though, the pants are not as small as you might think- they're barely getting snug around the torso and are just the right length. They must have been made for 18 month-old giants or something.
2 comments:
You are so great at posting...and you said you wouldn't be able to keep up:-) (I'm the one who can't keep up) Was wondering..can you send me the recipe for your carmel rolls...they sound yummy:-(
I meant :-) at the end:-)
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