We had a nice Thanksgiving. I did not dare plan a big get together after last year. Once again the stomach virus has been going around during Thanksgiving. Thankfully, we did not get it this time. We did invite four missionaries and Heidi to come over and eat dinner with us and it was real nice. Cory and I cooked all day while the kids were at school. It's kind of a lot of work when you do all of the cooking yourself. It would be easier if you had a get together and divided the menu, or in the good ole days when your mom and grandma did all of the cooking. hee hee All of the food was delicious. We even made lemon merengue pie from scratch and it was soo good. It's my favorite pie. The kids didn't like it but for once I was glad. The grown ups liked it. The kids like pumpkin, apple, or cherry pie which we also had. I like those too. We cooked a big turkey, nearly 23 pounds. It surprisingly fit in our little oven. Cory made rolls the night before. They would have been better fresh from the oven but no time to cook everything at the last minute. We also made cornbread dressing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and sweet potato casserole (which was really good, never using the nasty canned ones again, fresh is best). Once everyone was here we sat down and prayed and ate and had a nice dinner and one of the missionaries gave a spiritual thought and then we prayed again and it was time for them to go and the kids to go to bed. It's kind of strange having Thanksgiving be a normal busy week but at least we had it. We also had a Thanksgiving lunch with work after church last Sunday. I brought Heidi and my friend Marisol and her kids with us. They are Americans too, just not associated with work. It was a good time too. The kids always love the raffle and come home with toys, just what we don't need. ;)
Marisol and I went to see Catching Fire Monday. It was so good. Ready for the next one. Friday night Cory and I went and saw Saving Mr Banks which was also very good. I am already a big Mary Poppins fan. I grew up with that movie and I wrote a paper about it in college. Now I like it even more knowing what inspired it. This coming weekend we are taking the kids to see Frozen and the following weekend we are seeing the second Hobbit movie. I love the good movies this time of year. I also want to see the Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
This week is fashion week here in Cheltenham. The kids in Avery's class entered the primary school recycled fashion competition. I volunteered to help them and so I was over there a lot the last week getting them ready. They have some cute creations made from rubbish. I hope they do well. The winning school gets 1000 pounds. The show is Tuesday night. I was so busy helping that I failed to take any pics but hope to get some at the show.
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| These hats are made from shoe boxes. |
Our primary program was the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We as a presidency are glad it's over. It went well. Avery did ad lib one time. His line was,"Heavenly Father knows each of us by name, We are all children of God." Then he added,"duh, of course we are." I hurried him away from the mic before he could say more. He likes to preach from the pulpit. I wish we had a podium and mic in the primary room here like in the states so the kids could get experience. We only have our music stand.
Now we are busy getting the kids ready to do the nativity musical for the ward Christmas party on the 14th. I'm also helping with Faith in God nights for 8-12 yr olds two Friday nights a month. It was only happening once every month or two before and no one was completing the program so I pushed to get a regular thing going. They don't have scouts at our church here. I don't love the BSA program anyway but do like them to have activities regularly.
I have been doing some glass etching and embroidery for people, even made a facebook page for my services. A friend asked if I wanted to advertise on his web site but I declined. I don't want hundreds of orders all of a sudden. A little here and there is good but I have other things to do. I am waiting for some vinyl to come in for various projects I'd like to do. I want to make some ornaments with the kids.
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| One of the teachers had me etch these glasses for her son's friends. They are so into nicknames here. I don't know if you can read them in this picture but they are Bean, Griffo, Hughesey, Morgatron, Westlake, and Hodgetts. |
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| I added Avery's name to his school sweaters. |
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| for some new babies |
I'm about done Christmas shopping, just waiting for the packages to be delivered now. I am taking a bus trip up to the Birmingham Christmas market next week with some friends. There is a big mall right there too. I went to the Gloucester Christmas Market with my neighbor Natalie last weekend. It was nice but I didn't buy anything but some tasty meat pies. I usually walk around and look at everyone's goods and think how I could make those things myself. It was cute to see most of the vendor's dressed in Victorian costume. It was very crowded. I hope they made lots of money.
Saturday we took the kids to see Santa and his reindeer in town. We waited for an hour but Avery loved chatting with Santa and they all loved the reindeer. I should have then taken them home but I didn't. We all went to do a bit of shopping. I hated it! Shopping with kids is never fun unless they have money and you are taking them to buy what they want.
