A bit of this and that

We did enjoy a wonderfully refreshing vacation. The kitchen claimed more of my focus than the camera, so I don't have a lot of pictures, but here's just a few.

The kids enjoyed lots of special time with Daddy. Along with books and Legos and such things, they also helped him putter on various small projects. :o)

We enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner with some friends from church (alas, no pictures!) which we followed with dessert at our house so that the adults could play games and fellowship while the kids napped in the afternoon. It worked wonderfully, and we enjoyed a fun day from start to finish!
Prior to receiving the Thanksgiving dinner invitation, I had already begun planning our own Thanksgiving menu including my first ever turkey. :o) So, rather than forgo it (since all of the ingredients were on sale!), we decided to do a second Thanksgiving dinner on Friday, and we invited some other friends from church to join us since a full spread for just our small family is a little overkill. :o) Another fun evening of fellowship. :o)

We started decorating our Christmas tree (a multi-day process!) on Saturday evening-here's the kids hanging the first ornament. :o)

And the tree at the close of that first night--they did all of the decorating! (Notice the height of the ornaments???) :o)

On Monday, Hannah had her first date . . . with Daddy! :o) They went out for breakfast and then followed that with Christmas shopping. Hannah definitely enjoyed her special time with Daddy. :o)

Mommy and Peter followed suit. Our plan did not originally include breakfast out. However, though he may not talk much, Peter is VERY aware of what's going on and is well able to communicate his desires. As I attempted to prepare our breakfast shortly after Hannah and Daddy left, all of the standard fare fell short (i.e. every choice of cereal which he usually enjoys was met with adamant shaking of the head) and every attempt to fill his bowl was met with disappointed cries of "No! No!" As he began combining this with urgent pointing to the door and out the window it finally dawned on me what he wanted. When I suggested that he might also like to go out to breakfast like Daddy and Hannah I received a HUGE grin with gleeful clapping of hands and repeated exclamations of "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" Then he began saying "Weee! Weee!" and I asked if he wanted to go to McDonald's for the slide. BINGO! :o) So McD's it was. :o) He was quite the star among the group of retirees who filled nearly half of the available tables Monday morning. :o)

And such was our vacation . . . simple and refreshing and full of family, friends, and fellowship. :o) What a blessing!