Thanksgiving Branson Weekend

We arrived in Branson for our annual girls weekend on Thanksgiving night. We tried to sleep in, but #children. My sister in law, brought all of the girls crazy hats to wear! So obviously, we had to snap a picture of us in our hats and pjs. 

The girls were dressed in their "Cousin Crew" shirts and ready for a day of shopping. 

We headed to Tanger and found our way to the Kate Spade outlet. 

Megan kept saying that everything was so shiny and pretty! I totally agreed with her :) 

We tried on purses, did some shopping, and then grabbed a bite to eat. 

And the weather was GORGEOUS! It was close to 80 degrees, which is so unseasonably warm there. Some years we freeze in Branson, but this day was perfection. 

So, we ate outside :) 

And, some of us had meltdowns outside of Coach outlet. 

This year, I didn't have a ton of shopping to do. I finished around 3, and decided the girls needed a break at the condo. See exhibit A above. 

Once we arrived back, we watched the Razorback game on t.v., and Adalyn curled up in my lap. 

And then this happened. 

Once my mom and sister in law made it back, they took the girls to the playground to play. 

Megan found the best hide and seek spot. 

We ordered a pizza, and my cousin and I headed back for some shopping, while my mom stayed behind to give the girls baths and put them all to bed. 

Saturday morning, we were up and dressed for our annual visit to see Santa!!!!! 

Bass Pro has the best Santa, and you get a free photo, so you can't top that. 

The big girls ran up as soon as it was their turn, but Adalyn made Gee go with her. 

They each told Santa what they wanted for Christmas, and then Yaya (Amelia) joined in for a picture. 

I love these little cousins! They're the best of friends! 

They all received candy canes, and were told they were on the good list ;) 

And we stepped aside while Yaya had her turn with Santa. 

After our Santa trip, we had to head home for our last football game of the season :) 

We had a short trip, but it was good to get away! 

Happy Thanksgiving.

Yes, I know Thanksgiving was almost two weeks ago, and I know that my blog game has been super lame. But, I'm determined to at least schedule a few posts out for this week, and get back in the blogging game. I also realize I've been saying that since October. So, if you still check in here and read thank you.

We hosted a small Thanksgiving at our house this year. The girls and I typically pack up and head to my mom, leaving DJ to fend for himself, but after a guilt trip, he talked me in to staying home for Thanksgiving. And, even though I missed not being with my loud family, it was really nice to keep things simple. I'm loving simple right now. 

On Wednesday, Gretchen made our pumpkin pie. 

While she was making pie, Adalyn helped me making green bean casserole, and poke holes in the pie crust. 

She was an excellent hole poker. 

Thursday morning, we watched the Thanksgiving day parade, while DJ was at football practice. 

And, we eventually got dressed and watched more of the parade. 

My cousin and her daughter came, because her son is a freshman at TU this year. So, we did have some family :) 

Hannah was in charge of the mashed potatoes. 

It took a lot of helpers to make the potatoes! 

And at one point, Megan thought it would be a great idea to drink out of the milk carton. 

Football practice ended and DJ made it home before the end of the parade. Just in time for the girls to see Santa! 

And, I attempted a picture of these sisters. 

We had a few of DJ's students over since their family was too far away, and I really enjoyed having them over. But, I failed to get a picture of our whole group. 

Let's face it though. The girls were just there for the pie. 

One of DJ's students is from Japan. He brought over some Japanese treats! These little chocolate filled biscuits were yummy! 

And, I thought these were good too, but my cousin Max said they were the "celery of candy." 

He also brought us plum wine.

Do you see the plums at the bottom?

Again, just here for the pie. 

DJ's students all decided to head to a movie together that evening. So, we ditched them and headed to Branson :)

Don't worry, they totally didn't mind, and we had plans for our annual girls weekend Branson trip since last Thanksgiving. 

We arrived and chaos ensued at the condo. We ate, and the girls colored, and cousins enjoyed seeing each other again.  

Adalyn slept in the car on the way there, so, she got to stay up a little late and get some snuggles from her Gee!

We had a great Thanksgiving, and I know how blessed we are. 

Family Pictures & Weekend Fun

Last Friday, we had family pictures! It's been about a year and a half since we had family pictures made, and I wasn't planning on having them made until sometime next year, but one of the teachers at our school is beginning her photography business, and I realized we needed a good picture for our Christmas card! So, I booked a quick photo shoot with her, and we met in our little downtown! 

I went on Pinterest for some outfit inspiration, and decided to go with a neutral color palette. We ended up throwing in some pink, well, because #girlmom.

Gretchen wore a cream sweater dress and a pink plaid scarf from Gap. (I couldn't find the scarf online.), and her booties. 

Adalyn wore a cream lace skirt, a pink ribbed top (which I can't find either, but it's from Gap as well), and her booties. 

And since Megan is more comfortable in jeans, I picked her up a sweater to wear, with her leopard flats. 

While big sis was getting her picture taken, the little girls were acting all sorts of crazy waiting for their turn! 

Later that night, we managed to get two sneak peeks from our photographer and I'm already amazed at what she was able to capture. 

Plus this one, which I'm thinking needs to be put on a canvas and placed in Megan's room, because this is 100% her! 

After we had pictures, we headed to Andolini's for pizza! 

If you're ever in the Tulsa area, it's a must-eat! 

And after pizza, we had gellato at a new shop in our downtown. 

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The rest of our weekend was spent cleaning and organizing. Doing laundry, watching the Emoji movie, and was pretty low key. 

We went to church on Sunday, and took our weekly John Wesley photo!

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Pictures..... Pictures... & More Pictures

I have just lots of pictures to share today :) 

The Sunday before Halloween, the little girls wore their Jelly the Pug Halloween dresses to church and had to take their picture with John Wesley afterwards! Except, this week, they didn't cooperate very well! Ha! 

We absolutely love the Jelly the Pug brand! It reminds me of Matilda Jane, but the price tag is a bit friendlier when dressing three girls! And, we find it on Zulily a ton! Check out this dress for Christmas! 

After church, the girls played dress up, and Elsa took a nap. 

And then we headed to football for our Sunday night family dinner. 

On Mondays we have speech therapy, and I try my best to keep the girls entertained. Honestly, they're ready to play, and they're all over the place, but it's also a waiting room, and we need to do our best to stay still and quite. So, the iPad often comes to the rescue. 

I made DJ's video student's Monster cookies for Halloween. You can find the recipe on Momfessionals blog. 

The girls celebrated their 50th day of school with a sock hop last Thursday. Poodle skirts, root beer floats, and dancing for the win! 

After school on Thursday, we went to the gym, and then I took the girls to have ice cream for dinner. It was warm, they had cleaned the house and were so helpful on Sunday, and DJ was at football meetings. So, ice cream for dinner was the perfect treat! I had a protein shake from the gym :) 

Friday was Bedlam day at school. In Oklahoma, Bedlam is when OU and OSU play each other. It's a huge rivalry game. Our teachers lounge was decorated, we had a potluck, and TU had a game Friday night. So, we did what any football family would do. We dressed in Blue and supported our own team! 

Reign Cane! 

After school, we ran a quick errand, came home to put on some layers, and headed to football! Addy was happy to see her big cousin Max!

And look who we spotted on the field! 

Just, DJ doing his job :) 

And Saturday, we slept late, the girls played, I ran some errands sans kiddos, and then I came home to watch football with DJ. Addy Pearl crawled up and fell asleep! Nap time snuggles are the best!