This was not our first rodeo

The Cincy Robenalts had a great Thanksgiving weekend.

Thursday I made our traditional cheesy potatoes and we headed over to the Piedrahitas' with John's mom for turkey dinner. I brought the potatoes, green beans, and stuffing. Teresa took care of the turkey, cranberry relish, yam casserole, and pies. Everything was delicious!

Before dinner, we took family photos for their family, so they could use them on Christmas cards. It was great fun, and the kids did great. Charlie and Oscar were not on coordinating nap schedules, but they sure enjoyed the time they spent awake together, chasing each other around the house, and playing on the climber downstairs. Charlie was really good with Mia, and he kept shushing us because she was sleeping.

We were exhausted by the end of that evening, and put Charlie right to bed when we got home. I looked through the ads from the paper one last time before bed, and Beth and I made our plan for shopping on Friday.

We decided not to get up in time to go to Best Buy when they opened, but were at Target 15 minutes before opening. Our plan was well executed, and the walkie talkies were extremely helpful, especially in Target. I even had someone stop me and ask me a question because they thought I worked there! After Target, Staples, and Lowes, we had to stop by home to unload. I had bought a TV and a wagon for Charlie at Target, so the car was full of big boxes.

We stopped to bring John breakfast and then unloaded the car at home. John went right to work assembling the wagon for Charlie. Charlie spent the rest of the day getting in and out of the wagon. It has cup holders and he knows how to use them. What a great buy! It wasn't on my "list" but I'm so glad I bought it.

After eating, it was off to the mall. I had no idea how long we had been there until I started to get hungry. After filling up the car again, we stopped to pick up a pizza to bring home and eat. Beth rested for a while, then she was off to finish her last couple of stops on the way home. I stayed put, and even got in a little nap in the afternoon. All in all, the shopping trip was a success. We had lots of fun conversations with people working in the stores, who either thought we were crazy, or were admiring us for our planning and preparedness. Our favorite was the cashier at the Container Store, who told us that it was "clear this is not your first rodeo!"

On Saturday, John had band practice in the afternoon, and then we hosted a dinner party for 9 people that evening. After dinner we watched Iron Man and then some folks played Rock Band for a while. I went to bed a little after 2, but there was still a foursome up playing cards. It was nice to relax and visit with some folks we hadn't seen much of in a while. Charlie went to bed as we started dinner, and did a great job of sleeping through all the noise.

Today we're watching football and relaxing. It's cool and rainy outside, and John is understandably exhausted from staying up way too late. What a great Thanksgiving weekend this has been. I just wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow!