I’m not going to lie, I am not a huge fan of Thanksgiving. I feel very meh about all the traditional food (except for pie #teampie) and if we aren’t going anywhere I end up doing A LOT of work for people who also feel very meh about the food. It ends up being much more about the tradition of making the food – being in the kitchen, letting the kids help, timing everything perfectly – than the actual food.

This was the first year I enjoyed having the kids participate in the cooking. I really WANT them to have good holiday memories of togetherness in the kitchen but sometimes I just want to pour a cup of flour without anyone dumping half of it on the floor. I am TRYING. I am allowing the floor to be flour-covered and the pie to be over-cinnamoned and my patience to be stretched thin in the hopes that they will one day face the same thing with their children and realize “Wow, my mother really loved me.”

In the spirit of accepting that the holidays don’t have to be perfect to be special, here are some photos from our Thanksgiving weekend. We went full Christmas on Black Friday – tree shopping trumps gift shopping – although I’m not happy with my current decorations. Caroline’s mermaid birthday is clashing with my previous princess/woodland fairy themes. I need a LOT more silver and pink. But in the meantime, enjoy pictures of dirty dishes instead.

/

The aquarium always does fun stuff for Halloween and we’ve been going since Evan was a baby. This year the costume dress up weekend was “Pirate and Princess” themed. Unfortunately, I spend a bazillion dollars on costumes that are not pirates or princesses but were TOTALLY aquarium appropriate…so the kids dressed up anyway.

Although they weren’t eligible for the pirate/princess costume contests, I can promise you Evan won Unofficial Best Costume, just based on the fact that EVERY person we saw commented on it. Because it’s AMAZING.

p.s. The weird spacing thing on photos with captions makes me crazy but I cannot fix it so try not to let it drive you crazy too.

She traded her mermaid crown for one she made in the craft room

LOOK AT THAT COSTUME

They loved all the throwing games to win “pirate gold”

I wonder if the seals are getting nervous about the shark staring at them.

There’s an art installation set up about ocean pollution. This one was adorable/sad.

He’s goldfish. FYI.

Evan saw the pirate and yelled “JACK SPARROW!” and the pirate said “CAPTAIN. It’s CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow!” This was like the 5th time we ran into him just walking around, obviously they’re BFF’s now.

This is the best I can do for family photos right now.

Sorry Linc.

Then we went home and painted/carved pumpkins, something we never managed to get around to last year. Painting is genius, since carving is such a PITA.

Considering this week was Christmas, it was decidedly uneventful. I mean, BESIDES Christmas. But we spent all of the 25th (and the 26th) in pajamas eating stocking candy and being as lazy as possible. Then I got the worst pregnancy headache of my life (aren’t you glad I announced so now I can complain about it all the time???) and barely moved for 2 more days, so there you have it. Uneventful.

Sunday:

At the casino for some shopping, donuts and examining a fake ice wolf

Sleeping beauty

I have eaten two of these in a week

Monday:

Watching the zamboni

Once she got the walker thing she did great

5 pm. THANK GOD the days are finally getting longer again.

Tuesday:

A Christmas cookie miracle!

Easiest baking ever

My favorite part of Christmas Eve

Wednesday:

Arming my children, one gift at a time

Presents bigger than the child herself

Blurrily playing their new Jake and the Neverland Pirates game

Thursday:

Christmas recovery: chugging water and watching HGTV

Wiggly tooth. He fell on his face. The dentist said he’s going to lose it and have a hole for a long time.

Nothing says “Happy Day After Christmas” like Taco Bell

Friday:

Two things in common: cuddles and technology

Using his new fan to dry Caroline’s nail polish

Saturday:

Apparently all the baby wants is fake Mexican food

Naps for those of us with migraines/exhaustion

I had a newborn session this week (an early Christmas present not due until January!) and another session scheduled for next week, and I’m surprised to find myself excited about it. I burned out a little after the fall and hardly picked up my camera during the holidays so I’m excited to get it out again. Plus I’ve got a pregnancy post to write and a What’s for Dinner post I never finished and like 10,000 words about the Walking Dead I’d like to write but will spare you because no one cares about a show that already happened even if I only just caught up on.

I should probably also get the kids out of the house before we all go nuts, but everyone is doing that so pretty much everywhere is full of parents with the same crazy look in their eyes counting the days until school vacation ends.  I’m hoping a Target run for some storage bins and and Icees for the kids will do the trick.

Back in August I saw a post go up on Facebook for the Essex Steam Train North Pole Express tickets. They’d only been on sale for like 20 minutes and the page was blowing up with people who couldn’t get on the specific train they wanted because they were already sold out. So I made a snap judgement, crossed my fingers that my husband would get first-half leave, and threw down a bunch of dollars for four tickets.

I would recommend it. Maybe not for a 3 year old, although Caroline loved it, but definitely for kids a little older who still believe in Santa. It was pretty magical, especially when our elf (every train car gets their own elf) found out it was Caroline’s birthday and had everyone sing Happy Birthday to her. I only managed to choke back about 85% of my tears, because magic.

And now here are a bazillion pictures:

Matching pajamas because I win at parenting

Snack before we board

THESE FACES.

TOTALLY WORTH THE TICKET PRICE

Looking at the North Pole

Dancing in the aisles

I wasn’t sure we were ever going to get Caroline off the train – she LOVED her elf

Merry, merry Christmas to my Christmas-celebrating friends! I hope you all have a lovely holiday full of magic and family and memories and cookies.

I survived party week! Now I have 10 days to clean up before Santa comes, takes one look at this disaster, and leaves with our gifts because I’m disgusting. I wouldn’t blame him.

Sunday:

Off to church

The Christmas tree farm has an adorable quaint tractor-pulled wagon to take you up the hill to the trees…or a heated mini bus. DUH.

Caroline Claus

Monday:

Trying to climb out the window at the pediatrician (wusses, it’s not even a flu SHOT)

Tree decorating

I’m the big one with the crown, the scribble on the left is E

Tuesday:

Snow day = cookies

They LOVE eating snow

Self portrait(s)

Wednesday:

Pretty

More snow eating

Thursday:

Sent him off to school in my slippers. I LOVE THE BUS.

My house really needs some Christmas lights. Maybe next year.

SO HAPPY her Mormor is visiting

Friday:

Bumpas are too tough to need coats

She was in a crazy bad mood considering we were shopping for her birthday

Storytime!

Saturday:

Castles for the Princess

World’s Tackiest Cake? The castle turns into a purse for carrying around the princesses. World’s BEST Cake!

Grandpas are awesome, because they read your new book 6 times in a row without complaining. Mommies don’t do that.

Besides the party and beating several levels of Candy Crush, I did NOTHING useful this weekend. It’s a good thing both kids love Caroline’s presents because it’s buying me a few days of recovery/time to get my photos together so I can share. Although Her Highness might be so spoiled at this point I never actually get a day off again. BRB, writing hate mail to the Navy.