Vacation Week!

The kids are glad to start their week off for Thanksgiving vacation. Each of them have projects they are supposed to be working on this week for school. The girls still have piano lessons and Johnny has to get ready for his first concert performance coming up in early December. Then there's the dreaded holiday homework.

I myself have class today and tomorrow (though tomorrow's classes are online at my leisure and I won't have to go anywhere!). I have a ton of homework and quizzes that I intend to do ahead of time so that I can start getting ready for finals. I also have a lot of reading to do for the national foundation I sit on the board of. Our conference call is happening a week from Tuesday.

Kelly has a date today. Can I just say, "Yikes!" Her second one with the same boy since she turned 16. Tuesday and Wednesday, we'll be working at the Bishop's storehouse. The kids have been looking forward to it.

We'll probably stay on a bit of a routine...not let the kids sleep in too late and keep them off of the computer for most of the day. We have a ton of projects to work on at home, too...not the least of which is restoring order to the boys' room. I'd like to paint their bathroom this week and investigate how to put tile backsplash up behind their sink in the bathroom. I also need to finish the unfinished bookshelf I purchased and move things around in their bedroom so that it will be easier in the future for them to keep things orderly.

And as the leaves are beginning to fall from the trees, we'll be busy working on yard work as well. We have mowing, edging, and weeding to do. The chicken coop needs a good cleaning (no more eggs till spring because my chickens are too old.). I'm debating about whether or not to eat the chickens...or rather, let others eat them since my kids probably wouldn't.

For thanksgiving, we invited our good friend Keith and his roommate and several others who might not have a place to go for the holiday. We'll be eating early so that Erin and Nick can join us if they would like. I haven't had the kids at my house for Thanksgiving in about 5 years, so it feels a little weird to be celebrating ON thanksgiving. I've been the person without a place to go on Thanksgiving for several years, though last year my friends Kelly and Dave invited me to their family's home in Visalia.

I'm sure we won't get to do everything we planned. And I'm hoping that there will be lots of unplanned moments of joy!