What we've been doing for the past week...

It's been a whole week since I blogged but when the kids are out of school, I just can't seem to find time to sit down and write anything. Plus, I was busy sleeping in and eating.

I had signed Peter up over a month ago to take his test for his permit this past Wednesday when he was out of school.  We excitedly drove up to the DMV early because that's how I roll, only to discover that their computers had been down all day and they weren't able to do anything.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRR.......

I was annoyed.  Peter was annoyed.  But, on the way there he said, "What if I haven't studied enough?  What if I fail?"  So, I'm trying to look at this as a blessing in disguise and hope that Peter will study more and feel more prepared.  But I can't mention this to him because if I do, he will bite my head off.  He can't stand to be reminded of what he needs to do.  However, if I don't remind him, then chances are he will not do it.  It's a balancing act around here. 

He has a big math project due on Friday.   I encouraged him at the beginning of Thanksgiving break to get it done so he could start working on a big religion project that is due the next week. However, whenever I mentioned that he might want to work on it, he got annoyed.  So, on Sunday evening, I decided that I was done.  He's got four nights to work on it and I'm not going to mention it again.  It will kill me, but I'm not going to do it.  He's got to figure this stuff out on his own.  There's usually a reason a teacher will give you a month to work on something....

We had a really nice Thanksgiving!  My mom and dad always make the best food and my best friend and her family always join us and it's just a really nice afternoon.  I failed to take pictures of the food but I did manage to get some pics of all the people!

The grown-up table!

Dorky selfie to prove that I was there too!

The girls.

The boys!

 On Friday, I took the kids ice skating.

And then on Saturday, we went to the mountains to get our tree.

Typically we would have done this on  Friday because Sarah's Girl Scout troop used to be in a parade every Saturday.  But they aren't participating this year so we decided to do the tree on Saturday.

BIG MISTAKE!!

The place we normally go to is always crowded on Friday but it's a manageable crowd.  The place is nice with a barn, a horse little kids can ride, hay wagons that take you out to pick your tree, Santa Claus, etc.  We normally don't take advantage of those niceties because the kids are too old for it.  But it's a nice festive atmosphere.

BUT ON SATURDAY!  IT WAS A ZOO!

It took us forever to even get a parking space and we went to the barn to get in line for the hay wagon, the line was more than double (I would venture to say triple) of what we are used to.  I estimated that we would have waited in line at least two if not three hours for a hay wagon.  And then, once you pick out your tree there is more waiting for it to get cut and brought down to your car.

It took us close to 20  minutes to even get out of the place after we decided it wasn't worth it to wait.
We went up the road less than a mile or two where we discovered a no-frills place.  We literally parked right beside several acres of trees.  Picked the one we wanted in no time and flagged down the man with the chainsaw and paid for it and strapped it to the top of our car.  And best of all?  It was almost half the price of what we would have paid at the other place.  Now there was no barn, no not chocolate, no Santa, no petting zoo, etc. but we got a beautiful fresh tree and that's what we went for!

And as usual, there was complaining about which tree to pick.  One of my kids was very annoyed that I didn't pick the tree she chose.  One of my other kids didn't care what tree we picked just as long as we got it and went to lunch as soon as possible.  But even though there was complaining, whining, and bickering, we got a beautiful tree and we were able to joke and laugh at the rest of it on the way home.

The tree!

The annoyed teens in front of the tree.

There are my sweet teenagers.  They can smile!

Sarah snapped one picture of me and Dan and OF COURSE, my eyes were closed. It is what it is!

And with that, I'm off to the grocery store and to catch on on laundry and to maybe start thinking about Christmas lists and shopping and menu planning and all the crazy that goes along with the season.  I told Dan this weekend that Thanksgiving was my favorite holiday because you get all the food and all the family time without all the stress that goes along with Christmas. 

Let the games begin!