Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Last night Todd turned to me and said "man this is some holiday season. Unforgettable" it's barely started. Ugh. But the get togethers have been so much fun! We started off our holiday weekend Wednesday night, when my sister and her kids and my Mom stopped by for snacks and a fun evening of just being together. We had pizza and pigs in a blanket and played that game where you write a person on a peice of paper and pass it to the person next to you. They can't look and have to hold it to their forehead and guess who it is by asking questions...yah that game. We called it the ICarly game...still not sure why! LOL We laughed until we couldn't and everyone stayed good and late. What started out as a rough night ended up being a great night! Then on Thursday we lazed around, watched movies, I made mashed potatoes and got to Grandma Sweet's in time for dinner at 4:30...Grandma Sweet hosts all. of. our. family. holidays. A few years ago she moved from her much larger homes (finished basement, 2 living rooms and 4 seasons room) to a much smaller home (one living room and dining room and a small bedroom where the kids all try to hang out and catch some privacy). Lots of room for disaster when you're trying to cram 11 women, 6 men, one 13 yo, one 8yo, two 7 yo, one 6 yo, two 5 yo, one 3 yo, two 1 yo and 3 very immature 18 yo. The 3 very immature 18 yo claim the bedroom and we have to constantly drag the little kids out of that room because they're in there saying and doing inappropriate stuff...sitting and laying on/with each other, making vulgar statements and just being teenagers in general. Creepy. But it leaves NO place for the littles to play so we had all 9 kids 8-1 years old in the very small living room playing with toys...Ethan and the 8 year old wandered outside for a little while to play on the porch but other than that it was 4 straight hours and there were NO problems. No yelling, no fighting. nothing! It was incredible! All the stuff that could have gone wrong did not! YEAH!
Todd and Lane Michael left a little earlier than the rest of us, Todd went home to catch a nap before the big night of festive fun...we left the kids with my Mom at about 10 pm, went home to change and feed the dog then we went straight to the w.a.l.m.a.r.t. where we got almost ALL our Christmas shopping done. Completely and totally done for Lane Michael and Ethan! They even got everything on their list...that's not saying much though...they know that Santa only leaves 3 gifts under the tree, one from us and then they get each other a gift. This year Lane Michael asked for an MP3 player, a Nintendo DS, a BB gun and a pillow pet; Ethan asked for an MP3 player, a Nintendo DS, a BB gun and a bike...we couldn't have a bike waiting under the tree next to a pillow pet...but Lane Michael had originally thought about a scooter instead of a pillow pet, so we got him a very cool scooter (poor kid doesn't know how to ride a bike and refuses to learn LOL)...the kids still have to shop for each other, and we still need to do stockings and Ryan still needs food for his kitchen but other than that we're all set...Ryan is getting a play house and kitchen with food and maybe a grocery cart...should be a good year!
Anyway, back to the weekend, Friday was then a lazy day of napping with Ryan, Todd put up his deer stand with his helpers and an evening of sweet wonderful nothing (lol).
Saturday we were up bright and early Todd went hunting and we watched movies with my cousin and her kids for a few hours (we didn't watch any movies but the kids ran like wild people and we rearranged my dining room and looked to see what my hard wood floors look like under the carpet. Beautiful. They left and as soon as they did, the H family showed up to watch the big game (OSU vs Michigan - Go Bucks) we won. Of course! The H family left just in time for Todd to go to work. He got a small side job DJing for a man in Piqua on Thursday nights and as fill in, so he was being trained (phew what a day)
Sunday was church, quickly followed by my Grandma Sweet's birthday party...I went to the party with kids and Todd worked the shop so my Mom could go to the party (my Mom owns a furniture and home decor store here in Wapak - - best shop in Wapak).

I'm SO glad to be back to a routine! We're exhausted...the kids were excited to go back to school after 6 days off but Ryan was not ready...he enjoyed the hustle and bustle of the holidays! He performed for the family like they were his very own captive audience! Hysterical! So funny, they were taping him...he was doing the chicken dance! HAHA Love these boys!