Farris family blog: Thanksgiving

These past few weeks there is just always that constant reminder of all we have to be thankful for. I wish my mindset was always on thankfulness and to be grateful for all we have.

The week before Thanksgiving was such a fun week of get together's with people around the community. We had Carter's Thanksgiving feast at school, followed by one with our community group that evening. We sure are loving all the amazing people we have and are meeting continually in Bastrop. Bret's business consultant came that same day and he had such a great meeting with him. All of these followed by lots of fun birthday parties for the kiddos to go to and shower for me to get a night out with girls. Grateful for the community the Lord is putting before us here.

This past week was Thanksgiving week and it was such a FUN filled week. Sunday we had some friends over for dinner from our community group, which was a lot of fun. All of us girls hung out all afternoon, while the guys went and rode dirt bikes. It was a fun afternoon with all of the kiddos. Monday was such a sweet sweet surprise with our dear friend Nat from tim team coming in from Africa. A good handful of our team met up at our store on Monday, and it was so great to catch up with everyone. Nat and Erin came back over to our house for while after and I always love getting time with them like that. Nat encourages me so much with her heart for what she does and how much she loves Jesus. So thankful we crossed paths with her almost ten years ago!

Tuesday morning the kiddos and I packed up and headed to Houston. We knew this would be a busy week for Bret, so we went and spent some extra time with family this week! We went down to my dad's first on Tuesday. We met some of the family up at the restaurant for lunch, then went to the park with my Aunt Rose and Christopher. Carter and Christopher love playing with each other so we had a great time at the park. The weather this whole week had been amazing and SO needed because it gave my kiddos endless time outside. Then, we went to target and ran by Jenn's house for a quick visit to drop off some gifts for Foster kids for Christmas and then back to my dad's. By the time we got there, all my kids were about ready for bed. So, we got to bed early and the next morning my boys were off getting donuts with Grandpa, riding the four wheeler, and all his toys all morning. Christopher came back over and all the boys played all morning. I ended up leaving Carter there with my dad, and the little two came with me up to the Woodlands. Rylie had her 9 month check up(at ten months old), so we went and did that. Our sweet girl is almost 15 pounds now. She is just so tiny, but she is as healthy as can be and so that is always great to hear. After that, we went back to mom's and hung out with Ana, my mom and baby Titus and that evening we all went to dinner at Papadaueux's for my Papaw's 72nd birthday. That was a lot of fun. This time of year always makes me miss my grandma especially, so I am glad we could all be there for Papaw's birthday. Bret got in late that evening, so I was so glad to have him there with us!

Thursday was Thanksgiving and this was the first year in so long we just got to stay at my mom's house all day. It was so nice to just be at one place all day! My mom and aunts cooked all day, and we had such an amazing lunch, with SO many great desserts. My mom got the kids a new police car and so they drove around on that all.week.long. It was so fun for them. We just hung out and played and ate all day. Bret and I took the kids to the park, and Carter was a celebrity with his car at the park. He was so sweet sharing with everyone. Most the family trickled out in the evening, and we bathed the kiddos, and sat outside by the fire and took lots of pics. Oh and Carter wrestled with all the big boy cousins all day long. That kid is so tough. I found Tucker asleep in my mom's bed at one point in the day. The kids just went so hard this week. Bret had to head back home that night because of Black Friday the next day, so the kiddos and I stayed with my mom till Saturday while he went back to work. We hung out with family and went to a restaurant in Conroe the next day for lunch, and then got all the kids naps Friday and just had a relaxing fun evening Friday night. Made smores with my mom and played football outside with the kids:). Today we did much of the same and got all packed up and left to come home around 3. Went up to CFA for dinner to see daddy and so I didn't have to cook. We just got home a few hours ago and our kids are wiped from having so much fun this week. Carter said his favorite part was going to grandpa's and Tucker always cries when we get back home because he wants to stay at Itsy's house. As much fun as we had I know we were all glad to be back home.

These next few weeks we have so much going on in December, it already seems crazy!

Some fun things the kids have said lately is how they always ask me how fast we are going in the car. The boys are obsessed with knowing how fast we are going and the exact speed at all times. Rylie is getting louder by the day and stronger all pulling up and walking along everything. She plays this fun game where she tries to bite my nose off and just laughs so hard, and she also loves to dance and swing her hands up and down and open her mouth so wide all the time. It is so great. Tucker loves to sing Hickety pickety bumble bee, won't you say your name for me, and when he gets to the our friend part "friend" kinda has a country twang to it. It is pretty cute. Carter a few weeks ago at dinner didn't want to eat his veggies and looked at Bret and I and said, "Well, here is the truth. Green and orange are not my favorite colors, so I can't eat these." It was one of those moments Bret just kept staring at him and my head was under the table laughing. I don't know where they come up with this stuff, but I sure do love it and love those three.

Today we had a great day decorating our Christmas tree. Carter is just at the perfect age for everything. He is just getting so big and asking so many questions about Christmas. His teacher at church today told us that he was so respectful and polite always and it just makes us so happy to hear that. When we told Carter how proud of him we were he said That God in his heart helped him to do that. So sweet. When we were putting up the nativity scene Carter asked me to read him the story of Jesus to go along with it as he put the people up. I love just watching him learn and grow more and more about Jesus. We are going to do an advent calendar with them for the first time this year and also some kindness elves. I am interested to see how it all plays out, but am so excited to make them see how much Christmas is more than the presents.