Five on Friday: Turkey Trotting And Christmas Baking

Oh man, these four weeks might be my favorite of the whole year.  The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is so sweet and I love all the yummy treats, pretty lights, coziness, celebrations, and just overall joy that happen in this season.  Since I didn’t share any updates last week, here are some updates about our Thanksgiving and this past week!

1) Turkey Trot

For the first time, the whole English family participated in a Thanksgiving morning turkey trot! It was pretty cold so we bundled up the kiddos and headed to south KC to rock our 5K.  My brother/sister in law and their kiddos walked with me and strollers while Jordan and his sister did the 10K.  I’ll spare you all the details, but let’s just say Jordan took a wrong turn 0.2 miles before the finish line and managed to get himself DQ’d.  Woops! He still rocked it and ran super fast though (like sub 6 minute miles, people) and it was fun to bring Caleb to his first race with Dad (even though he did sleep through most if it).  I hope this becomes an annual tradition!

2) Thanksgiving Meal

Once we’d gotten home and cleaned up, we headed to Jordan’s parents house for Thanksgiving meal.  I made a delicious sweet potato casserole and some chocolate pecan pie bars for dessert and everything everyone else made was amazing too.  We enjoyed a yummy meal, watched some football while the kiddos played on the floor, and Jordan and his three siblings played an epic hour of foosball.  It was a great day and definitely had us feeling pretty grateful.

3) A Cozy Weekend

I LOVE having Jordan home for long weekends and this one was no exception.  We did some random Black Friday shopping, put up Christmas decorations, played Settlers with Jordan’s family, ate lots of yummy food, watched movies, and just enjoyed time with our little family.  These slow moments are the best and I am so, so grateful for every day we get to spend together.  Even if it is freezing cold and we have to majorly bundle up for our outdoor adventures!

4) One Happy Bubba

I shared lots more stories and pictures in Caleb’s nine month update post on Monday, but this age is so much fun.  It seems like every day Caleb learns a new way to interact with us and make us laugh and I love this new part of our relationship.  Lately he loves clapping at us, wiggling his tongue around and blowing bubbles (or making fart noises), and being all sorts of silly.  With each day that passes my heart grows deeper for this little cutie and I love seeing him grow.

5) Christmas Coziness

This week is our first week with some Christmas celebrations and it’s been fun to have the house feeling so cozy.  Our decorations are all up and I’ll hopefully take some pictures to share soon.  We had a few small group leaders from our church over on Thursday night and this weekend is our small group Christmas party, which is always fun! And maybe most importantly…I have been baking baking baking and our house is full of delicious Christmas cookies.  These chocolate crinkle cookies are LIFE-changing and my secret is adding a teaspoon of peppermint extract.  They are maybe the best cookie of all time, so you should probably go make them this weekend!

Happy December, y’all! Have a cozy weekend!