The Shields Family: This Week In Pictures (11/22

Another busy week for the Shields' family! With Thanksgiving this week, Aubrey was out of school for 3 of the 5 days and John was off work for 2 of the 5 days. A GOOD thing, but it always throws me off when they're home when they normally aren't. The "what day is it again?" kind of thing.) But that's okay...more helpers around the house is how I see it! :) Started the week off by going for a family walk after we got back from church. Took the girls to get their flu shots on base, started addressing Christmas cards and stuck to our nightly dinner menu to a T (I find that when I do this, we're more prepared and eat healthier meals and I LIKE this). Our family had Thanksgiving dinner with our friends, the Kynastons - which ended up being a great time and I'm so glad we could join them! I don't even NEED to mention the fact that all of our children had a blast there. Including the time I couldn't find Jocelyn. Things got quiet without her running around (okay, so I noticed the lack of noise when she wasn't in the room) and after Aubrey helped me search for her, she found her playing IN their washer and dryer!! I have to admit, that kind of surprised me as she's not as adventurous at home! (Side note: I can officially say that Jocelyn has successfully been potty trained except for nap and bedtime - which has been getting better with each passing week. For the past month or two, she has been proudly sporting the big girl underwear with little to no problem. We're now working on staying dry during the day accident free for 1 whole month for a big girl reward: a PINK Vtech Learning Laptop. We're SOOOO proud of how far she has come and that she's diaper free!) As with every year, I don't participate in the whole Black Friday shopping nightmare. HATE HATE HATE crowds! And I don't usually HATE. It's not my thing! Crowds and I aren't the best of friends, let's just put it that way. But I DO go to Costco on Black Friday and get their free annual cookbook being passed out on the way out of the store. 3 years in a row now...even last year when I was 9 months prego! Nothing apparently has stopped me. Friday I donated blood for the good cause of giving. What ended up being a quick and painless visit turned into PAIN in my arm right afterwards when I got home. A huge knot the size of a quarter was swelling next to the needle site and couldn't extend or touch my arm without it hurting! The next day the knot was gone but it started showing a humongous bruise and was like that for many days following. I'm glad I could help someone that may need my blood but I think I'm going to hold off on giving blood for awhile. And I usually donate a few times a year. I do have to admit that the pain and the bruising sort of scared me off! :/ Then on Saturday, the much awaited hair appointment finally happened and I like how it turned out! As a busy Mom, I ALWAYS look forward to a little "me" time! An update on our newly minted crawler - he's really REALLY fast now! And it's neat to see him crawl all over the place. Many warned me that once he started crawling like I had hoped, that I would get tired of it quickly. But I'm not in any way. I love watching him smile when he sees us excited for his progress and that he's getting places on his own! The only sad part about it is that my baby is growing up fast!!!! :( Well, I ended the week with a few things on my to-do list undone but I'll just move them over to next week. I'm sure that's not unheard of, right!?!? :) Now onto the pictures (which just happens to be my favorite part)...

{Our Sunday walk}

{Funny faces}

{He LOVES wipes!}

{Jocelyn has been BEGGING me for weeks to learn to write her letters. Time I get on that! But in the meantime, she's practicing quite nicely!}

{Our curtains amaze him for some reason. I'm thinking because they're shiny}

{Always curious to see what his sisters are up to}

{Seems so happy that he can go places}

{I love this one: Just woke up from naptime}

{I love this time of year and the many candles that we have set out smelling up the house nicely!}

{John caught me off guard "running" on the Wii. (Don't mind the "mess"...it's on my mentioned to-do list! I can't believe how fast toys and stuff accumulates!)