Fine Portraiture

Biggest Brother came home from school today and informed me that his "lady friend" would like a picture of him...apparently for her locket.

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Several minutes later, Big Sis came into the living room proudly displaying this...

Big Sis: "Here Mom!

It's a picture of [Biggest Brother] for [Ally]!!"
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It's like a reflection, don'tcha think?!

:)

Wonder

Younger Brother LOVES Christmas-time, decorations especially!

I am spying on him from the next room...

and he's been standing there staring at that giant inflatable snowman for a solid 7 minutes now!

Hence the reason we have a giant inflatable snowman in our formal dining room.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving is the favorite holiday for J and myself. It's just a good, fun, family day, without the materialistic distraction that gift giving brings. Not to dog Christmas...that's a good one too. Thanksgiving is just, nice.

J is a much better chef than I am. So on a normal day, he does more of the cooking. But as I mentioned, Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday. So on that day, it's all me! I do my best to spoil him. We have the festivities at our house every year. And I cook everything on the menu.

I wrote myself a note to make sure I didn't leave anything out.

And I have to say, it was a reality check about how blessed we are to read over all of the items on the food list.
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But we are even more blessed with eachother!

J got to have the day off work, and Mom and Dad M were able to join us.

(Grandpa G joined us later too.)

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Big Sis and Grandma swapped accessories.
It kind of makes me wish Big Sis wore glasses...she looked awfully cute in them.

After dinner, it was time to put up the Christmas decorations, something else that has become an M family tradition.

The kids like to celebrate the Christmas season as long as humanly possible.
I'm pretty sure they don't share my sentiment about the whole gift giving thing. :)

Aww, a cameo appearance by Biggest Brother!

He doesn't get into as many posts as his siblings since he is at school most of the day.

Guess who else likes Christmas?

Princess A was still under the weather...

...so she and her legs took a nap on Grandma.

And we ended the evening with an impromptu family photo.

Afterall, the most perfect pictures are the ones that aren't.

:)
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

The View From Here

Well, perhaps I spoke too soon.

Princess A was fighting the good fight, going from a fever of 102.5 on Monday to completely fever free yesterday.

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Aaand, then I caught her guzzling Pediasure out of her sick sister's sippy cup.

Be it from direct contamination, or just exposure in general, she is now sporting a fever of 103.

:(

On the upside, I was reminded of how thankful I am to live in a privileged country, where I can walk ten steps to my kitchen and get my baby medicine to make her feel better when she's sick.

The ibuprofen has knocked down her fever for the time being, and she is sleeping comfortably.

And Mommy gets to cash in on some primo snuggle time!

Feelin' Fine

I am happy to report that Princess A, after sporting a temp of 102.5 last night, is back to her smiling self this morning!

Fever free,

pink eye free,

and chipper enough to test the boundaries of our glamorous redneck baby gate/side-lying breakfast bench.
(Actually, I was just improvising since Daddy borrowed the baby gate to set up a safety barrier around the treadmill while he was running.)

You're very sneaky Princess A!

"On the 35th Day of Christmas...

...a client brought to me

...a Beagle reindeer in a waaagon."

***
I thought all of my dog loving family/friends would appreciate this.
This dog was hilarious!
Didn't she smile so pretty?!
:)

Pitiful Pink

I have pink eye.

See?

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Actually, we've had pink eye, fever, spewdom, and the like in our house this week. As well as extra commitments for work and the passing of J's Uncle A on Thursday. Needless to say, the blog has not been top priority. But I hope to play catch up here as the week moves on.

P.s.

We love you Grandpa M!

I'm sorry we can't be there today!

:(