Day 334 - Monday, November 30, 2009

Day 334 - Monday, November 30, 2009 – I was a natural blond when I was a tot, but now I'm a blond a la Di (see her reflection in the mirror??) I know, I'm so glamorous I can hardly stand it.

Day 333 - Sunday, November 29, 2009

Day 333 - Sunday, November 29, 2009 – Today we celebrated Thanksgiving with my side of the family at the Spry's house. Shawn and I are definitely carnivores as we each dig into a drumstick! (not really, but it made for a fun photo op!) We missed my parents, though, as they were down at their home in Florida.

Day 332 - Saturday, November 28, 2009

Day 332 - Saturday, November 28, 2009 – Third generation of Hillary's in the US (including family members 451-Jordyn, 452-Liam, and 453-Owen) at a family reunion at Diamond Hall in Grand Rapids. This isn't even a fraction of the extended Hillary family cousins.

Day 331 - Friday, November 27, 2009

Day 331 - Friday, November 27, 2009 – One of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is going shopping with Jordyn on black Friday. This year, we got up at 2:45 am and we were back home by 7:30 am. We got 80% of the Christmas shopping done in a few hours with huge discounts. Gotta love that!

Day 330 - Thursday, November 26, 2009

Day 330 - Thursday, November 26, 2009 – Thanksgiving at Carol & Don's in Grand Rapids. It's always fun to hang out on the west side with the Hillary family, especially on Thanksgiving when the house is full of family, food, football, and black Friday sale ads.

Day 329 - Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Day 329 - Wednesday, November 25, 2009 – Thanksgiving Eve, a.k.a. the biggest bar night of the year. Kev with his buddies from high school, Joe & Jason. Now that we're older, it's turned into more of a dinner night of the year than a bar night of the year. We went to Olives in East Grand Rapids (hence the Olive artwork on the wall behind the fellas). Kevin is really digging having me as a designated driver.

Day 328 - Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Day 328 - Tuesday, November 24, 2009 – Jordyn after the 7th & 8th grade dance at the Middle School. Also, a rare photo of Jordyn in a skirt (outfit that she purchased specifically for this occasion).

Day 327 - Monday, November 23, 2009

Day 327 - Monday, November 23, 2009 – One of the reasons for getting the house decorated early in the season is so I can get the family Christmas photo taken in time to get the Christmas cards in the mail on the day after Thanksgiving. The funny thing about this photo shoot was the "discussion" about who would get to hold the baby in next year's Christmas photo. Owen had the argument that he, having always been the baby of the family, has never had the chance to hold the baby and therefore next year should be his turn. Good point.

Day 326 - Sunday, November 22, 2009

Day 326 - Sunday, November 22, 2009 – It took a solid 12 hours, but I was able to get the house, including the tree, decorated for the holidays...with a little bit of "help" from Kev and the kids.

Day 325 - Saturday, November 21, 2009

Day 325 - Saturday, November 21, 2009 – Owen enthralled by Heidi's slot machine. He and Andrea's son Andrew were occupied for hours. Owen kept opening it and examining the mechanics of the machine. High Roller.

Day 324 - Friday, November 20, 2009

Day 324 - Friday, November 20, 2009 – Jordyn with her birthday cupcake filled cupcake stand. Eighteen cupcakes, fourteen candles. Fourteen. We celebrated her birthday one month early to avoid the holiday conflict/rush. Twelve girls spent the night at our house for her party and it was a lot less crazy than you might expect.

Day 323 - Thursday, November 19, 2009

Day 323 - Thursday, November 19, 2009 – Jordyn with her pre-purchased New Moon ticket to the midnight premier showing at the Oxford 7. She's ready to go, complete with her Jacob Black, New Moon dog tags. The theater was packed with adoring fans, just like last year's midnight premier of Twilight.

Day 322 - Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Day 322 - Wednesday, November 18, 2009 – After sending out what seemed like a million emails to friends to see if anyone had a cupcake tree stand that I could borrow for Jordyn's birthday party, I was beyond excited when Mindy said she had one that I could use. Amazing how thrilled this little object can make a person!

Day 321 - Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Day 321 - Tuesday, November 17, 2009 – Liam's first night of Wrestling Club. He loved it, and I have a feeling this is going to be something that he'll be really good at. I wouldn't know for sure, though, because A. I know nothing about wrestling and B. I can't stand the smell of that room to stay inside long enough to watch.

Day 320 - Monday, November 16, 2009

Day 320 - Monday, November 16, 2009 – Ultrasound Day! I took Jordyn out of school today to attend my ultrasound, since Kevin had to go out of town on business and had to miss it. When the boys got home from school we gave them these blue suckers as our way of telling them what we were having. It took them a minute to get that it meant we were having a boy. Another boy.

Day 319 - Sunday, November 15, 2009

Day 319 - Sunday, November 15, 2009 – Shopping. Not my favorite thing to do. Did I love it when I was Jordyn's age? She and Molly love it. Too bad I'm not an experienced enough shopper to know that the mall closes at 6:00 on Sundays and the girls only got about 45 minutes of shopping in. Really, I didn't know!

Day 318 - Saturday, November 14, 2009

Day 318 - Saturday, November 14, 2009 – Today I was up before anyone else in the house (a rare occurrence) to exercise before kicking off the full day's events that we had planned. The house was so peaceful and the sunrise was just gorgeous. A wonderful way to spend a morning.

Day 317 - Friday, November 13, 2009

Day 317 - Friday, November 13, 2009 – Liam asked Kevin if it was OK if he tried to win the ball from the claw machine at BW3's even though it was a Lions' ball. Kevin said "Sure, go ahead." And Liam proceeded to win the ball on his first try.

Day 316 - Thursday, November 12, 2009

Day 316 - Thursday, November 12, 2009 – One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is decorating the door to the deck in the kitchen with the kids' past and present Thanksgiving projects.

Day 315 - Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Day 315 - Wednesday, November 11, 2009 – Owen and the arts & crafts cabinet in the kitchen. He's my crafty kid, that's for sure. Always coloring, cutting, drawing, and creating.