We had the very best holiday weekend — minus Lydia’s nap struggles and me stepping on a piece of glass — and I’m so excited to share it all here!

Thanksgiving Eve ramen, of course, of course! Dempsey is getting really good with his chopsticks and it truly makes me happy that this a tradition for our family of four 🥺

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving that started with a festive baked pancake, bacon, fruit and coffee (for the adults) and then the kids and I watched the parade! Literally one of my happiest moments 🥰 Lydia was soooo excited when she saw the Bluey balloon and Dempsey made it till 11ish when he started telling us “I’m getting bored of this!” 😂 He helped me make bread, put out “decorations” and watched Home Alone 2 while Lydia was down for her nap and then the turkey came out and everyone showed up to eat.

What can I say except that we had the best time! The kids were running around, destroying the playroom, occasionally crying but mostly having the time of their lives. Lydia was the first to eat obviously and Dempsey sat at the table for a while with his Thanksgiving coloring page then swiped a finger through the mashed potatoes, let Joey pour gravy from the gravy boat into his mouth and was off 😂 Lorenzo helped him write what he was thankful for and it said “my family” 😭😭😭 I think everyone was gone by 6:30ish, so we cleaned up a little but mostly just hung out with the kids then had them asleep by 7:30. I felt so very grateful for our gathering and all the people there 🤍

Dempsey was a busy boy this weekend, with something on his calendar for every day! We got the Christmas tree up after breakfast — Lydia does not have a fear of heights so she put the star on top, but told us the tree was “too pokey” 😂 and then Dempsey and I headed out to see Moana 2. The movie was fine but taking my son to the theater just the two of us ranks up there as one of my favorite memories ever! Plus he said he liked the movie 🤷‍♀️ Back at home, Dempsey helped Joey put up the Christmas village — he made all of the villagers into “ghosts” with the fake snow 😂😂 — and then we had Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner before putting the kids to bed. Totally forgot the Bake Off finale was on and watched Babes instead but I don’t regret it because we loved it! If you’re not into Ilana Glazer or Pamela Adlon’s humor, you probably won’t get it, but Broad City is my jam and Better Things is one of my favorite series ever, so we laughed through the whole thing.

Started off Saturday at Fox and the Hen. Both of my children needed their own steamers in a ceramic fox mug, so that was terrifying 😅 but no accidents occurred and they were actually pretty well-behaved at this meal out. That afternoon, Joey, Dempsey and Grandma Lori headed to the Buell to see Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer! Dempey’s first ever play 🥺 Sounded like they had a great time and he even said this was his favorite part of the weekend, so how sweet it that? Lydia and I took a trip to Target, played and then she went down for her nap. She’s been TOUGH at naptime lately, but this one went smoothly. Once they were home, Joey and Dempsey put up most of the outdoor decorations, then I made us leftover turkey noodle soup and we watched some Christmas movie or another until the kids’ bedtime. Watched the GBBO finale afterward and I was kind of surprised but happy.

Finally Sunday. We got the rest of the indoor decorations out and up. The kids helped decorate their room and it was the cutest! The rest of the afternoon involved ornament painting, salad making, laundry folding, the last piece of turkey and Lydia taking 45 minutes to lay down and go to sleep, only to wake up half an hour later 😱 Someone tell me what’s going on! Anyway, that night, we ate early dinner then headed to the Botanic Gardens for Blossoms of Light. The kids have gotten so good at posing for pictures together and my heart can barely handle it! We had a fun time and it is fully feeling like the holidays now. Hoping you all had a good Thanksgiving too!

It’s Thanksgiving week and I’m so happy! Plus we had a real good weekend, starting with a visit to Sissy’s gymnastics class (loooove hanging out with she and Delaney, even if it’s just one of them singing and one of them screaming at the other to stop singing 😂😂), then looooots of time in the kitchen, many movies (my mom and I saw Wicked!!!) and pizza for Sunday dinner. The best!

I hadn’t been to the rec center gymnastics class since Lydia was a teeny tiny baby and Dempsey was in the class! It was so fun to see how Lydia plays in there and wild to think back to 2-year-old Dempsey 🥺 She insisted on carrying around those mini maracas the entire time 😂 Afterward, I headed home to work, then at 3:30, I picked Dempsey up from school and we drove back to Grandma’s to pick Lydia up. Made a spontaneous decision to head to Ginger Pig for dinner then immediately regretted that decision when both kids were running laps around our table 😅 Dempsey settled down after Joey talked to him about it, but there is no talking to Lydia. She escaped from our table about eight times 🤪 Back at home, we started The Grinch with the kids — Dempsey has been in Halloween mode since August but he’s fiiiiiinally allowing some Christmas content — and after they went to bed, Joey and I watched GBBO and started the original Gladiator. I’d never seen it! We made it a whole 20 minutes 😂

I made us some gingerbread waffles on Saturday morning and then we spent the entire day getting some stuff done. I cleaned the kids’ humidifiers, got salads done and made fruit snacks with the kids! I aspire to be all the Instagram moms I see homemaking everything but not knowing if the kids will be into helping or if I’ll have the patience to let them help 😅 makes it really hard. Lydia is a bit chaotic in the kitchen but Dempsey always really impresses me. He was so good at using those droppers and they seemed to enjoy the final product. After nap time, my sis and Wayne came over to visit us. Dempsey showed them a bunch of Michael Jackson music videos and the kids danced around like fools, it was a fun time. It also gave Joey time to clean up leaves and gutters and blow out our sprinkles. I made us tofu tikka masala for dinner and Lydia was shoveling it into her mouth 😍 After the kids went to bed, we finished our movie and I thought it was… pretty good!!

Started Sunday with an egg sandwich and coffee with rosemary-vanilla syrup and oat milk, yum! Afterward, we got out allllllll our Christmas books and then I took off to meet my mom and the movies. Wicked was so good!!! The world is so fully realized and Cynthia and Ariana were amazing! My only criticism is that sometimes a talking goat is wearing glasses and it’s hard not to find that silly 😂 We had a great time! Back at home, Joey and the kids had picked up our turkey and then made blueberry muffins! I was so impressed and I got to eat one as soon as I got home. It was the best blueberry muffin I’ve ever tasted! Dempsey cuddled right up to me on the couch too 🥰 We had a pretty cozy and lazy rest of the day and then the kids helped me make dinner. Dempsey makes a mean salad. We read some of those Christmas books and got the kids to bed, then watched the Holiday Baking Championship before going to bed ourselves.

Happy Monday and I hope everyone has a very nice Thanksgiving!