One of my favorite weeks.

{Photo credit for the above ^^^ goes to my lovely sister Caitlin}

It's Monday.
It's snowing...three inches so far snowing.
It's windy...35 mph wind gust windy.


Our house is warm and cozy...
....baby sleeping peacefully in his swing.

.....boys laughing and doing who knows what in the basement, I don't think I want to know.
I hear the keyboard, I hear talking, I hear things moving around. It's loud{ish}.


...the girls and I are making Thanksgiving place cards in the dining room.
{we're using a Martha Stewart glue pen and Orange Sorbet Glitter..
because in my opinion...there's no point in using glitter if it's not Martha's glitter.
seriously.it's the best. and a bottle lasts forever and ever and ever.} 

{this photo ^^^also on my camera from my dear sister...
now I want coffee and the NY Times....even though I don't read the NY Times}

{Can a baby be overloved? If the answer is yes...then this baby most definitely is.}


This is one of my favorite weeks of the year.
I love, love, LOVE this week and the weekend that follows.

This week we get ready for Thanksgiving.
Things run smoothly because we do what I wrote here. 

Thanksgiving. {we are hosting for the 11th year in a row...we love it}
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!
Friday morning shopping.
Cutting down our Christmas tree!
My awesome husband's birthday.
Decking our halls.
Watching our first Christmas movie of the season.
Implementing the "Christmas Music Only" rule!..although sometimes I break that one.

and my favorite part?...Jeff is usually around all weekend.

{said with a heavy Chicago/Italian accent...."Hey, Don't look at me. I have mittens on." ^^^}

Hope your week is off to a great start.
Happy Monday.
XxOo

When Hockey Fails. Plan B.

Can we get a group shot?

Take 1....

Take 2....

....and Take 3.

Plan B...B for Bowling.
We had plans for a Sunday night hockey game...all of us pictured.
A mix up with the tickets...my sister in law's grand idea...a fabulous Groupon found...
....Bowling it was!

Cousins.

Like everyone else in the country...we have snow. Already.
Actually..it is snowing right now. Just flurries. Again.
...and the temperature? 14 degrees. -3 with the windchill.
Don't worry though...it's going to warm up to 18 tonight...and we have a high of 24 tomorrow.
Heatwave in November!

I'm about ready to break my "No Christmas movies before Thanksgiving rule".
So far I've {sort of} been strong. Does "Little Women" count?

{Sammy took pictures out the window early Sunday morning before church. ^^^}
The kids are elated for snow. My children want to live where it's cold year round. Crazy kids!


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I actually wrote all of the above on Monday. It's been sitting on my screen since then.
Life is a little crazy in our house. Good crazy. But crazy nonetheless.

Last week I was pretty sick. If you're a nursing mom, I have some information here you may be interested in. If you are a man...you probably wouldn't be interested in the link, so don't bother. ;)

This week I feel so much better.
We're catching up on things around the house. Laundry.School....all the good stuff.

Hope you're having a good week.
XxOo

"Mom, those puffy bags under your eyes...

....they make you look pretty."

I hadn't looked into the mirror yet! I have puffy eyes? Ugh.

Oh dear daughter of mine, pretty?...Ha!
I wanted to complain about the tired looking eyes...instead I simply told her.."Thank you."
It was first thing in the morning after all....and by first thing in the morning, I mean 10:00 am.

Things have {temporarily} changed around here.
My usually early start schedule has become more of a late start schedule.

I have been sooooo tired in the mornings. (Just look at my eyes! ;)
I could seriously lay in bed...husband next to me, baby in my arms...and sleep for days.

I always feel like I'm wasting the day if I don't accomplish everything early.
But really, we have no place to be...it's not a big deal if we sleep in. We'll still get to everything.
We home school...I can start teaching later if I want, that's one of the perks, right?

I need to stop stressing over the standard I've made up in my head.
and I need to stop looking at people's early morning coffee instagrams!

My sister posted a link to this article yesterday...it was really good.

Brothers in hoodies....the oldest and the youngest.

He sucks his thumb...we think it's adorable.

 

What are you up to this weekend?
We are having friends over for dinner tonight. I'm making lasagna.
It's going to be chilly around here...it's getting down into the 20's at night next week.
I foresee a lot of fires in the wood stove and a lot of baking in our future.

Been listening to this song and this song  all week.
Enjoy.

Happy Friday.
XxOo

Over the weekend....

He loved being held in this position...squishy faced and all.
I love the sweet, little giraffe slippers.

Sunday morning...pancakes and bacon.

"Okay..but do I have to keep the scarf on the whole time during church? I don't like scarves."
I pretended this did not come out of my daughters mouth.
P.S. I let her take the scarf off when she arrived at church...

 

Two of the boys cleaned up the yard...pulled the rest of the garden up...cleaned and burned leaves.
We actually still had broccoli and a few peppers growing and ready to be picked.
Outside is looking so empty.

Frankie's first time making Sunday dinner....pasta of course. ;)

The reason ^^^ having a crib with a newborn is a complete waste in our house!
Seriously...he's the most cuddliest little thing in the world!


It's November now.
I like November...A lot.

It's a chillier version of October...
Our wood stove begins to warm the house.
Mittens become necessity...I love mittens...{until March that is..}
We make hand print turkeys and read stories about Pilgrims.
We plan our Thanksgiving menu and make apple pies and pumpkin bread and beef stew.

And maybe, just maybe I love November so much because the holidays are right around the corner.
Also...just thought I'd mention...we will be cutting down our Christmas tree in 23 days!



Does anyone know of a job that my husband can work from home? and make millions?
I like him better home. Him leaving...one of the only reasons I really don't care for Mondays.
Otherwise..I like the start of a fresh, new week.

Hope your Monday was grand.
XxOo