Thanksgiving week, Part 1

I had planned to do school Monday and Tuesday this week, but Sunday afternoon Alison asked if she could get all her work done then so she could enjoy the coming week.  I was working at my desk as well, so we sat and worked together that afternoon.  I actually really enjoyed that time with her and although I shouldn't be proud of extra work on the Sabbath, I was proud of her drive to get her responsibilities done before family came to visit.

Ben took the whole week off of work and we spent Monday getting down Christmas Decorations and picked up a tree.

We put ornaments on the tree in the afternoon before going out to dinner.  This year was much calmer than last year and Ben handed out the ornaments and the kids put them on the tree.  I played the buffer and helped any falling ornaments or stuck hooks.  We only put out a fraction of the ornaments, but we didn't have to go back and fix the tree after the kids went to bed.

 

This is probably the last year Ben can lift Alison to put the angel on...

 

Long story short, Tuesday morning we found this:

This poor dog was lost and must have felt our porch was warm and inviting because she wouldn't leave.  While we searched for her owner, we let her in our garage and gave her blankets and water.  She was a very beautiful and sweet dog...but she looked like a wolf, which made discovering her on our porch quite alarming.  I made Ben make sure she was safe first and then the kids were over-the-moon excited to take care of her while we found her owner.

Her owner ended up being a gentleman visiting family on a street behind us.  He let her out to go to the bathroom, she chased a squirrel and then it was too dark/she was too unfamiliar with her surroundings to get back.  We also found out that she was a pure bread husky puppy and let's just say her owner was more than excited to have her back.  Our kids were bummed because they were convinced that we were going to be able to keep her.

Ben and I could not stop laughing at the situation though.  The boys have a great talent of destroying their surroundings and we were trying to uncover their rooms before family came and then, oh yea, we had a whining husky in our garage.

The dog finally went home, the boys' rooms were found and Elizabeth, Kent and Jordan arrived Tuesday afternoon.  We had a Mexican fiesta that night and made our traditional pomegranate margaritas...the perfect ending to a crazy day.

Wednesday was girls day!  Elizabeth, Alison and I went to get pedicures and then had lunch at Panera.

bummed it's blurry :(

We spent the afternoon at Town Center and had fun shopping.

 

Alison was so patient while we shopped and then scored the jackpot at Claire's.  She's been doing extra chores around the house (yes you may clean all the bathrooms for $5!) for some money and has been anxious about buying some Christmas earrings.  When we got there, the lady told her she could get 3 items free when she bought 3.  She was in accessory heaven!

We were certainly spoiled that day by Nana that day...and by the boys.  They did all the grocery shopping for us!  We came home to a Mediterranean dinner and food for the rest of the week!