Thanksgiving weekend

All of these shoes at the back door can only mean one thing...

all of my boys are home!!!

Tyler came home around 3pm on Tuesday. His girlfriend Maria gave him a ride and it was so nice to sit at our kitchen table with the two of them and chat for a while! Jake rode the Alumni club chartered bus home from school and arrived at home around 2:30am on Wednesday. A 12 hour bus ride! Yikes!

Wednesday was spent getting a lot of errands done, like much needed haircuts for the college boys. :) That night we had a family Christmas movie night and Tyler also got us hooked on the show 'How I Met Your Mother.'

Thursday we watched the parade and went through all of the Black Friday sales while eating some homemade pumpkin bread.

That afternoon we headed over to my parents house where we had Thanksgiving dinner with the crew.

On Friday, we went to cut our Christmas tree down at a local tree farm. We haven't done this is 15 years, so this brought back a ton of memories from when the boys were little... and it was so much fun! (We missed having Tyler and Jake there due to work and a Turkey Bowl.)

(The tree is super prickly so I wore some gloves while I lit the tree. :)

Bella even helped out. :)

1400 lights later and all is lit.

Now to rest a bit. :)

On Saturday we prepared to have our own little turkey dinner. We put in a smaller turkey with some of the fixings.

Then it was time to decorate the Christmas tree.

I love these guys and am so very thankful to be their mom!

Sunday morning came too quickly.

But our house will be alive again in just 3 weeks! :)

(The other title that I had for this post was 'the best weekend ever' which is what I kept telling Pete all weekend as my mama heart was so happy and full!)

memory lane {pocket treasures}

Yesterday, I was cleaning some cabinets in my laundry room and found an old jar of

 'pocket treasures.'

I kind of miss finding this stuff!

Mother's Day memories

I recently came across a box that I have been saving of cards and things the boys have given me over the years for Mother's Day. Some of the most precious things to me are the those that they would make at school, wrapped, and brought home with a huge smile ont their face.

And since it is Mother's Day weekend I thought I would share these precious memories that bring such a smile to me as well!

When each boy was in kindergarten they brought home a "My Mom Is Special!" paper.

Each one makes me smile!! :)

They each also brought home a 'Kindergarten Cookbook'.

The recipe Tyler put in his cookbook.

Jake's recipe.

And Drew's Chocolate Cheese 'recipe'. :)

A card from when Jake was in preschool.

And some coupons from Jake when he was in 2nd grade. (He told me just today that those coupons are still good! I may have to take him up on his offer!)

A sweet little booklet from Drew from 1st grade.

A card from Tyler.

And one from Ty from Kindergarten.

From Jake in 1st grade.

Drew from preschool.

From Ty in 3rd grade.

And another from Jake.

And from 1st grade. (I love seeing his infamous Drewoof signature. This was during his dog loving stage!)

This last picture isn't a school made gift, but it is one of those sweet memories for me.

Jake was in 3rd grade, and he asked Pete to take him to Caribou Coffee so he could get me a Mother's Day gift. He used his own money and bought this caribou stuffed animal and a $25 gift card!!! (That's a lot of money for a little kid!! Wait, that is a lot of money for me!!)

I still have that stuffed animal on a shelf in my bedroom and if I am ever feeling sad or worried about something, Jake grabs it and snuggles it in with me. Such a sweetie!

All my boys are sweethearts, and I so love looking back at these special Mother's Day memories and see how very blessed I am!!!!