Home for Thanksgiving

Last night we arrived back in Oklahoma after spending the Thanksgiving holiday with our family in Arkansas. We had a wonderful time! The day before Thanksgiving, my sister Betsy and I jogged 4 miles! Can you believe it? It was really cold, but we decided that we should prepare ourselves for the upcoming Thanksgiving meal. The day after Thanksgiving, I also went to the gym with Alex (my brother-in-law) and worked out for 80 minutes. I think this might be the first holiday that I won't be GAINING any weight--now that's an accomplishment!

For many years now, we have decorated for Christmas during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. That's exactly what we did in Arkansas. The kids enjoyed putting up the tree and decorating it with all the ornaments. Niah is responsible for arranging the nativity scene, and Aliya was responsible for putting the angel on top of the Christmas tree.

The best part was when Niah got to climb up in the storage space above the closet in Nana and Papa's room to put back all the empty Christmas boxes and bins.

It didn't take long before Aliya discovered what Niah was getting to do and of course, she had to join in!

The fun couldn't stop there--Taya and Kiahna also wanted to "help". They wanted to stay up there much longer than either TJ or I wanted to watch them. After several minutes we finally made them come down.

We had a great time, and we will be returning in December to spend Christmas there. But before we return, we will be celebrating Aliya's 5th birthday!!! According to her calculations, she has been waiting a VERY LONG TIME!!!