Thanksgiving Part 2

Monday it felt so good to be able to sleep in a bit and not be rushing out the door. It was my grocery and errand day. My parents had also volunteered to bring Lindsay out shopping for her b-day. Yes believe it or not she will be 6 in like two weeks!! This left Colby to run errands with mom. He was a gentleman though and really a big help. I miss their toddler days but I must say big kids are kinda great too! So after the grocery we talked to my parents and they decided to come on and get him too so that they could go have lunch and the kids could spend the night at their house. I knew I would miss them a ton but after working the last few weeks a day at home by myself sounded like BLISS! I relished in having lunch by myself and taking a nap! I am trying to realize that rest is not a bad thing. I had the entire day to myself pretty much b/c Austin didn't get home until about 6:30 or later. We ate dinner...he picked up takeout and we watched our show then off to bed. It was so crazy just having to take care of ourselves for an evening, but I think we enjoyed it. 
Tuesday I had a couple hours again to myself. Again so nice. I left though about 9 to go get the kids. We headed out to Lakeside. Its tradition for us to go there the week of Thanksgiving to see Santa and ride the train. I wasn't sure this year if they would want to do all that but I still figured it would be a fun morning with just me and them. We got to the mall a few minutes before 10 which was perfect so they were the first group on the train. I was proud of Colby for riding with his little sis. He feels he's gotten too big for those things but she really wanted to ride it. He was the one also who really wanted to see Santa. She honestly wanted nothing to do with it, but I talked her into taking a pic and smiling atleast ;). After that we went on down to the Disney store and I let them just browse. They also picked out their Christmas ornament and she got her b-day present. She really wanted the Moana dress up outfit so I told her I would buy it for her bday but she wouldn't be surprised and she had to wait until her b-day to open it. She was good with that. Normally I probably wouldn't do that but with working I knew I might not get back out to Lakeside so it was just a WIN WIN for us. After the Disney store we went to PB Kids, there they had the best time playing with the little toys. Again so comforting to just see them be kids and play together. It really was such a sweet day for us! After that we went ahead and had an early lunch. They are so sweet when its just us. We came on home after that. It was nice to have a low key afternoon around the house with them. I knew the rest of the week would be pretty busy so I really enjoyed just having the day to ourselves. 
Wednesday was when life got busy again! So that morning Austin was up bright and early to meet his mom in Slidell to lead her through the city. The kids and I just spent the morning getting ready and straightening up a bit around the house. They got here around 9:30. We all got ready and headed out to the Audubon Nature Center. This is a place I used to go when I was little but it closed after Katrina. It just re-opened last month so I was anxious to go back. I was a little disappointed though that there didn't seem to be much to it yet. I mean it was nice, but the planetarium wasn't even opened yet. Anyway they had one room with indoor exhibits that we enjoyed looking at, then basically the rest of it was trails. We walked on pretty much all of them. The kids seemed to enjoy it and it was a beautiful day. Lindsay whined a bit here and there. I am not sure if she was scared we would run across some wildlife or she was just bored and ready to go? She doesn't much enjoy stuff like that. Colby LOVED it though. I was glad to just be outdoors and moving. Once we left there we came back to the Westbank to eat lunch. We decided to just go to Chickfila b/c it would be quick and easy with the kids. After lunch we dropped Austin and his mom off at the house and Lindsay and I went to order her b-day cake. That afternoon we rested a bit then just enjoyed being together. We grilled hamburgers for dinner. We were also able to enjoy the gorgeous weather and take a walk. We also did our pies that night and the kids watched Charlie Brown. I love those traditions!