Thanksgiving Weekend

I had a long 5 day weekend for Thanksgiving and we spent every second of it busy doing something. 

Thanksgiving day was spent with my side of the family. We had dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house, just as we do every year. It's always so nice to see everyone and spend time with family. At around 6:00, Jake and I and my brother-in-law, left to go do our annual Black Friday shopping at Walmart. This is our 3rd year of doing this and it's always so much fun. Normally my sister comes along too and we just leave all the kids with my parents back at my aunt and uncle's house but my sister is nursing and its just hard for her to leave Emerson this early for any length of time. So she stayed back and the three of us tackled our shopping list. We were in and out of there in record time this year, despite the crowds and long lines, somehow we were able to find everything we wanted and made it out of there in about an hour. We went back and spent the rest of the evening with family, eating a second helping of Thanksgiving dinner and some yummy desserts. 

We spent the next 3 days at the new house. We lined up babysitters for all three days and were able to get quite a bit done. The cabinets are all in (even more has been done since I took these pictures on Friday), the closets are all painted, the garage is all clean and organized and we cleaned up a big pile of brush that had been left over from the big backyard clear out we did earlier this Fall. We also made a trip to Home Depot to buy a new faucet and sink for the kitchen and we ordered our new Silestone counter-tops!!

We were also able to squeeze in a trip to our brand new Ikea!! They FINALLY opened a store here in St. Louis at the end of September and I was just itching to get there and do some shopping. I had seen a light fixture that I knew I wanted to get for Jackson's room at the new house and we browsed the rest of the store to see what else they had. We bought a little step stool for the kids and saw a lot of other things we'd like to have once we're in the new house! I can't wait to get a chance to go back when we have a little more time.

Then bright and early Monday morning we took Avery to Mercy Surgery Center for her ear-tube procedure. We had to be there at 5:30 a.m.!! It went well though and everything moved right on schedule. The staff was all so nice and after the 10-15 minute procedure and about 20-30 minutes in recovery, we were able to go home. Avery did well and the doctor was able to get her ears all cleaned up and the tubes in successfully. The waking up from anesthesia was a bit challenging, to say the least. They told us that some children are "cranky" after the anesthesia, but Avery was quite a bit more than just cranky. She screamed and cried and stiffened up for about 10 minutes or so. She hit us and pulled my hair... it was not fun and I was so glad when she finally settled down. I felt so bad for her, because I knew she didn't feel good and didn't understand what was going on. Thankfully she slept on the way home and was much better once we got her home and in her own surroundings. She was hilarious though, walking around like a little drunk baby. She was hyper and insisted on getting down even though she was still a little wobbly from the anesthesia. Ha. I had thought she'd be tired and snuggly the whole day, but not Avery. She was back to her normal, ornery self just an hour or so afterwards. Ha. I'm so thankful it all went well though and I'm very thankful it's over and behind us.

 (Avery's little hospital ankle bracelet)

So that's how we spent our long, Thanksgiving weekend! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!