Photo Every Hour: November 21st

It may be a Sunday, but that's no reason to sleep in at this house!

7:00 You know it's a busy Sunday when Daddy doesn't take the time to make pancakes for breakfast

8:00 Rolling in to church early because in addition to supporting the service with two music groups, my baking small group is also providing the treats for coffee hour after the service

9:00 Choir robe and hand chimes pretty well sums up what I was doing during the service

10:00 I forgot to take a picture, but let's just say the Rice Krispie Bars, Chocolate Chunk Pecan Pie Bars, and Snickerdoodle Cookies my baking group made went over well after church

11:00 Headed to Mitchell after church for Thanksgiving with my mom's family and someone forgot to pack books to read during the car ride. Church library to the rescue!

12:00 It's not quite winter yet, which means it's still construction season in South Dakota!

1:00 Nothing says Happy Thanksgiving like a family lunch at the Pizza Ranch! 

2:00 Peace out Pizza Ranch!

3:00 We usually have a strict "No Christmas Music Before Thanksgiving" rule, but when Mom needs to practice the choir's Christmas Cantata we break that rule a little bit

4:00 Two (plus!) hours in the car to and from Mitchell, paired with a handful of errands on the way back in to town, and the boys made a beeline for the TV as soon as we walked in the door. Because of course

5:00 Quick trip to the store to pick up some adult and kid beverages for dinner (and if you've never used a rear-facing car seat to travel beer home you're doing it wrong)

6:00 Dinner success. Thank goodness for crockpots and easy homecooked meals to help offset a Pizza Ranch lunch (nothing major against the Ranch, but carbs and grease does not a healthy lunch make)

7:00 Snack time! (And a ridiculous amount of dirty dishes because that's what happens when I use my personal containers to store and serve the 12 dozen goodies my baking group made for church.)

8:00 When you leave on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving for a week-long trip with four boys, you start packing multiple days ahead of time. Trust me on this one. And the beer is optional but strongly encouraged

9:00 It only seems appropriate that I would be getting our Thanksgiving library books ready to return while sitting under the lights of our Christmas tree (which--usually--also has a strict "Not Before Thanksgiving" rule, but due to inventory shortages at the tree farm we go to, we opted to go before our trip this year, and the boys insisted that we decorate it right away. And who can say no to that?)

10:00 Let's not talk about the amount of luggage my family needs for a week-long trip, mmkay?

I should just accept that this is my "normal" bedtime going forward. I'd love to get to bed closer to ten, but with the holidays coming up--and then three birthdays in the first four months of the new year--that probably isn't a realistic bedtime. Seven hours of sleep is still good, right?