Austin's been on a "unemployment" week (not really, he quit his job at BAH, which was such an answer to prayers, because he got a job at a new company! The week off to relax was a bonus!) and we took the week off with him.
This was the strangest "vacation week" our family has ever taken. We stayed home. We slept (copious amounts) and we watched TV. A lot of TV. I hate the television and keep it off all week so 7 days of TV was crazy! There was a bunch of rain, but when there wasn't, we rode our bikes and played with chalk....I read some books to snuggly children but generally speaking we stayed home and were lazy.
It was incredible.
We're such a go-go-go kind of family, so this was a completely unhealthy, but much needed vacation!
On Thursday we had Thanksgiving at my mom's house. Kevin and his girlfriend went to have dinner with her family, and with our resident "THINGS MUST STAY AS THEY ARE!!!!!!!" member of the family out of the picture, I enjoyed being able to experiment a little with some new dishes and have to say that the new pumpkin pie recipe was a rousing success. It's from Paula Deen, so it's dreadful for you, but it was yummy! You can check out the recipe from her HERE, and I added a little cinnamon and nutmeg to mine, which was quite nice!
Saturday we went to the local drive-through lights show with my family, which was frustrating to me because I really want to reclaim Christmas from all the (sorry) BS to make it more like our observation of Hannukah, which is distinctly a sacred celebration. The lights didn't bother me, but the hot mess of a carnival at the end ($3-$5 per ride! win a santa toy! buy buy buy!) was offensive to me. I love living close to my family, but sometimes it makes it really hard to celebrate holidays the way I feel is right for our family. My mom is a Christmas fiend and loves presents and Santa, which isn't bad, but it's what I feel a calling for my family to head towards.
Sunday my baby turned 8. EIGHT. I don't know what else to say about that. I just can't believe how the time flies. Riley wanted to spend the day exploring a cavern, and he looped back to Luray, which is fine with me because it's my favorite. He and Logan were totally enthralled, Savannah was completely unimpressed! It was a good workout, though, since I had to carry her the entire 1.25 miles over quite the incline. The 64 stairs at the end were fun, too! She's getting heavy!
I'm super excited for Advent to have started, and I'm really excited that I get to weave this season into our learning. I keep mentioning that we're not homeschooling for religious reasons, but the more I'm able to take advantage of the fact that I can weave our faith into our lives more and more, the happier I am :) We'll still spend some time exploring the other festivals and holidays happening this month because my little comparative religion minor (Riley) just needs to know everything about religions. He's a history major, in case you were wondering. ;)
I'm excited! Happy Advent!
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