Thanksgiving!

Wow, how have we been home from our Paris trip for a week and I still haven't posted anything?!?  And it's not going to happen today either!  :)  Although, Leevi is travelling in Norway for the next two weeks so hopefully the evenings alone will allow me to get caught up!  It's crazy that it's already December!!!!  The girls each had a Thanksgiving Feast at their schools and because of the certain days/times, they were each able to attend one anothers'.   Hailey's class made Pilgrim hats for the boys and Native American hats (thanks for correcting me, Hailey! :) ) for the girls.  There are a couple of pictures on my iphone of Kailee's feast that aren't uploading (maybe I'll try again later!) 

We can't say enough about how thankful we are for our safety, health, employment, friends, family, housing...on and on.  The typical answers that are all too often taken for granted!  This Thanksgiving we were particularly thankful for the opportunity to vacation in Paris over the holiday weekend.  Living in Europe (on the military's dime!) is like when we lived in Hawaii for so long...you picture yourself going to the beach a few times a week but LIFE gets in the way and it just isn't possible!  We aren't sure how long we will be over here but we are trying to check off a LONG list of things we want to see with this once in a lifetime opportunity!  We had so many friends take off to Paris, Ireland, Prague, Italy etc for the weekend....these kids have know idea how fortunate they are!!!!!!!! 

Top left is Hailey's teacher, Mrs. Winter, giving the Feast directions and you'll see Kai in the right corner sitting on Hailey's lap acting like a big kid!  Middle bottom is the FEAST with both kindergarten classes (and notice Hailey has her lunch box because she wouldn't even eat a roll!)  But of course she didn't turn down a delicious RAINBOW cupcake!  :) 

Leevi arrived from Spain late Wednesday night (after a delayed flight and a LOST bag, which was finally found a few days later!)  I was all packed up and we got an early start Thursday morning with the Dozier family.  We had 4 hour drive with a "Boy" car and a "Girl" car and two dogs!!!  Amazingly, we didn't hit a single stau (traffic jam) going or coming home!   The girls watched a few movies and we got to the hotel early afternoon.  After unloading what seemed like our entire house, we rested and then whipped up the fastest Thanksgiving meal ever made.  The hotel had a small kitchen with a medium sized fridge and stove so we planned out all of our meals to avoid the extra cost of eating out all weekend or eating junk all weekend!  Our Thanksgiving consisted of a pre-cooked ham, pre-cooked turkey, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, instant mashed potatoes, salad, rolls, cranberry sauce and pecan pie....and then we ate those leftovers over the next two days!  ;) 

Such a lovely picture on the left...Kai with a stinky face and Hailey murdering the yams!  Not to mention the bag of Lays chips on the table...they WEREN'T part of our Thanksgiving dinner!  :)  On the right are the girls saying their Thanksgiving Grace! 

 After dinner we walked across the street to a fabulous French mall (Val d'Europe)

Carousel at the French mall

 And got to see Santa!

Special Santa treat....Elves walking around on stilts, a French Santa, and a choir....the girl elf was sprinkling glitter dust on the girls' faces!  :)  So fun!!!!  We didn't visit with Santa (just waved) and will go to the one at the German mall near our house....not too many kids will get to say that they saw a French, German, and American Santa all in the same year! 

Our hotel was absolutely perfect!  It had a bedroom downstairs with bunk beds, bathroom with shower, small kitchen, and a living room with a twin sized bed/couch and a 2nd twin bed/couch with a rollaway underneath.  Upstairs was a full sized bed and a 2nd bathroom!  Somehow the thought never occurred to me to bring things for the girls to do in the hotel (I guess I assumed we wouldn't be spending too much time there)  But I forgot bedtime books, coloring things, toys, etc.  But they made do and found ways to keep themselves busy!   There was a free shuttle ride to take us to Disney (10 mins away) and the Subway station to get us into Paris was a 10 min walk away.  Too easy!!!

Passing time at the hotel....journal writing (nice face Hailey!), the Lefty on the Leapster, and their fun bunk beds!!!!

I'll leave you with this picture of the girls bundled up for Disney!!!!!  It was cold but we were prepared...fleecy jeans, hats, gloves, Minnie Mouse earmuffs, hand warmers and blankets for the stroller!!  I'll try to get this post up tomorrow but no promises....laundry, Leevi out of town, playdates, etc are making for a busy weekend!!!!  And I've got to get my Christmas cards done and in the mail!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!