We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We were fortunate enough to spend the day with good friends and it really doesn't get much better than that. We stuffed ourselves and then ate some more. I think I could eat mashed potatoes every day and not get sick of them...at least not the recipe I use.
Noah's first taste of mashed potatoes.
We started off the day like any American family should, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I have been watching it on Turkey Day since I was little and I love it every year. I especially love watching Annie and Megan while they watch it. They are just so fascinated with each float/balloon/musical performance. My only complaint is that NBC (the network we watched it on) spent way too much time interviewing stars from their shows. I hope that they don't plan to spend that much time doing it next year or we will be watching on a different network.
Carlos carving the turkey.
The kids modeling the turkey headbands they made!
I spent the rest of the day cooking while the kids spent the day nagging me to death. Isn't that the way it always is? I think I was nagged more over the long weekend than I have been in the last six months! By the time our company left and the kitchen was clean, I was exhausted. I fell into bed and didn't stir until morning.
Speaking of the morning after Thanksgiving....the girls and I spent it doing something to serve others. We rang the bell for the Salvation Army at our local grocery store. Of course, we did get to do it on one of the coldest days of the season yet. I believe it was in the low thirties while the girls and I stood outside full of Christmas cheer. The plan was that the girls would stay with me for an hour and then Carlos would come and pick them up while I finished out the last two hours of the shift. However, they ended up staying with me for two hours! They were so frozen by the time Carlos came to get them. The nice thing was that the gentleman who was going to relieve me showed up early and took over, so we were all able to go home and snuggle under the electric blanket and drink hot chocolate.
We let the girls put up and decorate their tree that afternoon. I put up a tree just for the girls to decorate this year. My hope was that it would keep them from nagging me to death while I decorated "my" tree and they could hang the ornaments where they wanted them. So, if they wanted to hang three ornaments on one branch it was fine. They really enjoyed decorating their tree and I had fun watching them.
I took the kids shopping on Saturday to pick out toys for the toy shop at our church. We were buying for children the same age/gender as our own so it was kind of neat. We will drop the gifts off at church this weekend and they will be set up in a Toy Shop that our church hosts. Families from the community, who are down on their luck and need a bit of help, will get to come and "shop" for gifts for their children in the Toy Shop. I think it's such a great idea. The girls and I will be volunteering in the Toy Shop one morning. I am really trying to find ways for our family to give back this holiday season. We are so blessed and I just want to share some of our blessings with others and teach the kids that there is more to life than what is inside the walls of our cozy home.
I decorated "my" tree on Saturday evening. Annie and Meg still managed to drive me nuts and nag me to death but I survived. I am fairly happy with how it turned out. It looks the same as it does every year. Next year I would like to go with a different tree skirt and ribbon just to change it up a bit. Carlos also put up the outside lights, so now our house is fully ready for the holidays.
We have a busy month coming up. The girls are going to be singing carols at a retirement home this weekend and I get to munch on cookies with my girlfriends during my friend, Leslie's Annual Tea and Cookie Exchange. It's always so much fun. My Dad and Stepmom will be visiting us the following weekend and we have all kinds of fun things to do while they are here. I am sure the month will fly by but I will try to blog a few times to keep you all updated on the happenings in the Herrera house.
Rosita, aka Rosie, is a white purebred boxer from Big Mac Boxers outside of Cincinatti, OH. Carlos has been wanting a boxer ever since I met him so we decided to go ahead and add to the chaos of our house. Rosie came home with us on Saturday night and has been getting plenty of love ever since. Annie is totally in love with her and spent most of yesterday with the dog snuggling or playing. Lily and Noah also seem to be some of Rosie's biggest fans. Megan is a bit more standoffish. I think it mainly has to do with the fact that the puppy diverts attention away from her and not so much that she doesn't like dogs. 
It's been challenging trying to take care of four kids and a new puppy but we are hanging in there. Last night was tough because Rosie is not a big fan of spending the night in her crate. I believe she woke us up more than any of the kids did as newborns! I know that Carlos and I are both exhausted this morning. I can only hope that in a week we will have her used to her crate and sleeping well.
