Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!

Wow, what a LONG weekend!

This year Jeremy and I decided to forget about running around trying to spend Thanksgiving with both our families. So, we decided to do Thanksgiving at my mom's house with my family, Christmas Eve with my family, and Christmas with Jeremy's family. Next year we will do the opposite. It was such a good idea and I'm so glad we have finally decided to do that after 5 years of running around.

We decided on my mom's house for a couple reasons. One, last year my mom was in the hospital for Thanksgiving, and two, my grandma and her husband from Iowa were in town. We had a great time being able to relax and hang out without eating and running to the next house to eat again. One of my aunts and 6 of my cousins were not there, but it was still good to see the family that was there.

Everyone left my mom's house around 7:00 so we decided to swing by Jeremy's cousin's house to see if anyone was still there from their Thanksgiving feast. Jeremy's grandparent's were gone already and a couple of his cousins didn't come, but otherwise, everyone else was there. It was fun hanging out for awhile. No pressure to eat again since it was all packed up and put away (except some sweets that I managed to find room for, of course). We weren't there long since Andrew was real tired and I was needing my inhaler pretty bad (allergies this time of year...).

We were able to take our niece, Tessie, home with us since Kristi was going to go shopping at 5am for Black Friday. Plus, we had plans for Thanksgiving at Jeremy's grandma's house on Friday morning at 10am. So, we basically went home and straight to sleep and then got up early, got ready, and left for Grandma Rose's house. Tessie and Andrew got to play a little bit at home before we left, but not long. 10am is early when we have to leave from Coolidge at 9:15am which means I have to wake up at 6:30am to get myself and the kids ready and fed.

Thanksgiving at Grandma Rose's house was pretty cool. It was mostly Filipino food so it wasn't like another Thanksgiving meal (although that would have been fine with me, of course). Jeremy's Aunt Marcel was in town from California with her two boys. It was good seeing them again since it is usually a once a year thing. We also go to see his Uncle Fernando and his two kids that we don't see very often either. We met his girlfriend, as well, who made a lot of the yummy food. We spent most of the day outside at the park next door to her house. It was super hot outside, but fun!

Since Jeremy's grandma's house is right across Elliot Road from my parent's house, we took Andrew there to lay him down for a nap before my cousin Josh's engagement party at 6pm. In the meantime, Jeremy and I went to Target and spent way too much money (as I usually do at Target).

We went to my Aunt Jane and Uncle Brady's house for the engagement party, but were only able to stay about 1 1/2 hours. Jeremy had to meet up with Donny from our church to get the Suns tickets and his son for the game. Steve went with them. Donny has season tickets for himself, his wife and son, but his wife and him wanted to go out so they had 2 extra tickets. Jeremy was really glad to have been asked and Steve was really happy to be able to go along. Donny's son Matthew is about 13 and fun to hang out with. He really looks up to and likes being around Jeremy, too.

I, on the other hand, went to Selene's house and we met up with Antwon at Kona Grill. It was a lot of fun catching up with them. 'Twon invited 4 of his friends, 1 of which Selene knew from when she worked at Wells Fargo with them. We didn't stay long; we were back at Selene's by midnight. Jeremy picked me up and we took Steve to my parent's house (where his car was) and we picked up Andrew (who was sleeping there). Then we took Matthew home to Queen Creek and then headed home to Coolidge. By the time we got there and in bed it was 2am. What a long day!

Yesterday we were LAZY! Jeremy let me sleep in 'til about 10am and then he took a nap for awhile. I ran to Walmart to get some chips and sodas for Andrew's birthday party. Josh came over for Chicken Tacos and we watched Cars. It was Andrews millionth time seeing it and Josh's first. Both enjoyed it as did Jeremy and I.

Today was Andrew's Dedication at church and his birthday party at the park across the street from the church. Church was at 11:30am and we were at the park 'til 4pm. It was fun and crazy. We ordered a sub from Walmart (which turned out pretty good) and had chips, then cake, then did presents. Presents was the craziest part - the kids go nuts over helping him open stuff and wanting toys open (which I didn't allow since I foresaw missing/broken pieces of his toys). A lot of people were there and Andrew got a lot of nice clothes and cool toys! I was glad when it was over because we could finally go home and relax.

What a long, eventful, fun weekend, but I am tired! I'm going to bed! Good night!