A relaxing Thanksgiving break

I'm so thankful for a lot of things, both big and small, in my life. But I'd have to say that at this moment (on the Monday after vacation, ugh!), taking time off from work and spending lazy days around the house with my family is at the top of my list.

"Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which color to slide down on the rainbow." ~Douglas Pagels, These Are the Gifts I'd Like to Give to You


coffee and blogs with a snuggly girl next to me on the couch? Yes please.

I took off Wednesday and Friday with no grand plans for the long weekend. Well, one grand plan: take the boys to see Wreck-It Ralph. We hit up the mall on Wednesday for lunch and some shopping before the movie, just the four of us.



The movie got 8 thumbs up. :)



I love that the boys begged us to look around the book store. Much to their disappointment, we left with only some multiplication flash cards for Aidan in an effort to save some gift ideas for Christmas. We browsed around places like the candy store, Crate and Barrel (and got some ideas for Christmas crafts!), and Urban Outfitters with hardly a complaint from them. (Side note: never going in that store again with young children who can read. Holy inappropriate everything, batman! We didn't stay for long, but I had to tell Aidan to look away from numerous books, posters and t-shirts. I should have known better.)



Gotta be honest, it was weird having a family fun day without our girl. She was greatly missed, but daycare was open and she's too young to not only sit through a movie, but sit through it quietly, so it was best to let her have fun with her friends and her teacher, Miss Donna. I don't think she missed us too much. In fact, as I was getting her changed on Sunday morning, she said "we gotta go mommy." When I asked her where, she said "to see my Donna." It would have been downright cruel to take away an extra day with her Donna :)



Thanksgiving itself was even relaxing (unlike last year), thanks to my amazing mom and in-laws doing the majority of the work. My mom hosted and did some side dishes, and my in-laws brought the turkey and some more side dishes/dessert. All Adam and I had to do was show up with the kids and something green, and we were good to go. I slaved over the stove for a good 10 minutes steaming some broccoli and making the green bean casserole. :)



And then for the rest of the long weekend, we pretty much just vegged. We ate, hung out with family, played lots of games, and watched way too much tv. (Although much of it was Nat Geo type educational shows--komodo dragons are no joke and chameleons are cool!) I literally wore sweats and didn't wash my hair from Friday through Sunday. Disclaimer before I start sounding too gross: I did shower and technically did put on jeans with my sweatshirt for a couple of hours on Saturday when we went out to eat. I also put on some makeup because I'm too vain to leave the house without it, so yeah.


Lorelai, on the other hand, wore her pajama pants outside to play.

I will say that I dusted some stuff, mopped the floor and Adam vacuumed (which is momentous in our house--shameful), and we did go outside for some fresh air with the kids. But overall, I was just lazy enough to feel kind of bad about not doing more. Not getting the house all decorated for Christmas (way to make me feel extra lazy, instagram feed, full of hard core Christmas decorating!), not going Black Friday shopping (wait, I totally don't feel bad for not doing that!), not cleaning my toilets (oops, my secret is out)...



But I'm not going to be too hard on myself, because it's not often that I get that much dedicated time to sit around and do nothing except spend quality time with my family. You better believe I'm going to take advantage of it when I can!





There's always next weekend for Christmas decorating. I figured, Thanksgiving was pretty early this year, so waiting one weekend is no big deal. Christmas shopping though...OMG, the thought gives me anxiety. Wonder how long I can put that off? What I need to do is curl up on the couch in my sweats and do all of my shopping online. :) Too bad I kind of missed the boat on cyber Monday deals and have no idea what to get anyone on my list...

Hope everyone had an awesome Thanksgiving break!