Countdown to Thanksgiving...

On Friday morning Daniel and I left the house very early to go do the Thanksgiving grocery shopping.  Our first stop was Starbucks of course for some hot chocolate and espresso and then I drove down to Manchester to see the sunrise.  The view was gorgeous.  I even had a ferry heading to Seattle pose for my picture.

The view of Mt. Rainier was breathtaking.  Even the little sailboat posed for me too.  I am above and beyond Thankful for where I live.  I wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world. 

Now starts the countdown to Thanksgiving.  I have my checklist of what to do each day this week up until Thanksgiving posted to the fridge.  I am hoping my family might pitch in to check off at least one or two things on the list. *wink wink*

My tasks for today are to make my cranberry sauce, chicken broth, and clean some windows.  I plan on doing just a little bit each day so I'm not scrambling like a mad woman on Thanksgiving.  All I want to have to do on Thanksgiving is be cooking and setting the table.  I do have to work 5am to 10am but that still leaves me plenty of time to cook that turkey.  Everyone is suppose to arrive at 5pm.  We'll be having 15 this year with ALL of Rue's siblings being here which is very exciting! Time for family pictures!!  :)

 

Here is my freshly made cranberry sauce! Yes, those are Christmas decorations you see in the background.  Yes, I decorated for Christmas this last week.  I decorated one year for Christmas before Thanksgiving and everyone loved it so much that it has become a tradition.  :)

 I had to include this picture of Daniel and Daddy reading a bed time story together.  This Momma was a puddle of mush on the floor.  :)

This is the book they are reading.  We have a few different Fern Hollow books.  I grew up with them and they are lovely little stories.  This is all Daniel wants me to read to him right now.  I highly recommend this as a Christmas present for any of the little people in your life.  :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving week everyone!! 

A paper chain, shaving cream, coffee and red cups...

Daniel has been so excited for Uncle Taraz's visit on Thanksgiving and he was asking about 50 millions times a day if Uncle Taraz was here yet.  So I decided we should make a paper chain so his little mind has an easier time processing when Uncle Taraz will be here.  I let him pick the papers out of my fall scrapbooking stash.  He has been tearing off a piece every day and then counting how many are left. 

He was playing the other day and I found this.  He had taken an old monkey "leash" we had used on hikes for him and made it into a little "snuggly" for his stuffed turtle.  :)

As a fun school activity on Monday morning we played with shaving cream.  I am hoping this will help him with learning to write his letters.  He gets so frustrated trying to write them on paper.  Writing them with a finger in some shaving cream is much easier...and way more fun. :)  There wasn't too much "writing" this time around, he was getting used to how the shaving cream feels on his hands.  I have found he doesn't like his hands being dirty or sticky.  But by the end he got used to how it felt.  And yes, he is wearing one of my Starbucks aprons.  :)

Speaking of Starbucks...looky what I have!!!  One of the greatest perks for working at Starbucks is a free pound of coffee every week! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand...

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10152693560806002&set=a.10152585180766002.1073741828.107831491001&type=1&theater\

  

...red cups!!!!!!  Some people might complain it's too early, but not this girl! I am happy, happy, happy! 

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

 

Little Pumpkins...

 

 Here are my little Trick-or-Treaters! Well, one of them is not so little anymore but she had fun taking Daniel from house to house.  He only lasted a few houses and then he got scared. He didn't like going up to people's houses.  He came back and sat in the car with me and he enjoyed watching all the kids walk by all dressed up.  I especially liked a couple of little girls dressed up as ketchup and mustard bottles.  Too cute and not scary, my kind of costume!  

 I had to share these pictures of my cousins Eva-Karin and Mary Beth's little guys!  There is just too much cuteness going on! Ethan was a monkey.  Apparently he rarely took the costume off before Halloween.  

 His little brother Cody was a pumpkin.  That is a little sugar pumpkin I could just gobble up!!

Mary Beth's little guy Asher decided to be a pumpkin too! The cuteness is just too much!  I am very sad we live so far apart. Most of my cousins live down in LA and we don't get to see them nearly enough. 

 

We got a fancy new computer this week and Daisy and Daniel were playing around with the camera.  This is what I discovered saved to the computer this morning.  :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/steinliland/9921326393/

My mother-in-law sent me this picture on Facebook a couple days ago.  She asked if I wouldn't love to go on a nice long hike in those mountains and then come back to this little cabin. Yes, yes I would.  :)

I am so excited it's November!!!  That means Thanksgiving is close! Everyone is coming over to our house again this year, I can't wait! We found out that my husband's brother Taraz will be flying up from Colorado on Thanksgiving day to join the festivities. Daniel was beside himself with excitement when I told him.  He loves his Uncle Taraz!  Uncle Rahmat will be there too and Daniel is not going to know what to do with himself having his two crazy uncles around to play with. 

Have a lovely Sunday everyone!  Hope you all enjoyed the extra hour of sleep! I did, but then I woke up an hour early and couldn't fall back asleep! Ha!  :)