Happy Thanksgiving

 Gobble gobble!

We spent Thanksgiving here in Dallas with Kevin's family. I made these little turkey cinnamon rolls (like last year) for breakfast and we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Favorite floats:

Ryan: 

Grayson: Paddington Bear

Hayden: She loved the music and would bust a move every once in a while. 

We took a walk up to the park to burn a little energy before Hayden's nap. 

This girl is so happy!

Around 3pm we headed over to the Hales for our Thanksgiving fun.

Happy Thanksgiving from the McDonough/Hale crew!

My sweet hubby :)

Her pants were a little long...kinda like having a little mop on her feet. 

She wants my iphone...

Don't mind Michael...

Tough little boys running around shooting "bad guys"

She thought this American Girl Doll Jeep was a Power Wheel. 

A surprise guest dropped by to hand off the "Tag Your It" trophy. 

These guys cheesing it up for some desert

My sweet little turkey!

And we ended the night with a little Whip Nae Nae and Soulja Boy...of course :)

What's Up Wednesday - Link Up

1. What we're eating this week...

Monday: I wanted to try this Asian Salmon and Spinach Rice recipe that I found on fortheloveofbasil but I didn't have enough time to make the marinade so I just went with my go-to Barefoot Contessa marinade that I make almost weekly. 

Tuesday: Citrus Dill Salmon burgers & Shrimp Diablo Burger from Central Market. We are this with my favorite rice pilaf and roasted broccoli. 

Wednesday: Mix and Match Mama's Mexi Mac n' cheese

Thursday: We are headed to The Hale's house for Thanksgiving. Since there will be 17 adults and 10 kids, it's a potluck event. This year I am bringing this Apple Cranberry Bacon Salad

And a pie. 

Yup.  

A PIE. 

This Dark Chocolate Salted Oreo Caramel Pie

How amazing does this look? 

I can get down with that kind of pie. 

2. What I'm reminiscing about

Thanksgiving last year. Loved spending time with my family down in Houston and will miss them this year, but love that they are close enough we get to see them often. Look how little Hayden was! Ahhhh!!

3. What I'm loving

These GapBody mix and match long sleeve tees are amazing. - they are so soft and comfy. 

I might already have three of them. I love sleeping in long sleeve during the cooler months and these are perfect. 

4. What we've been up to

Besides our little trip down to New Braunfels we have been hanging close to home. Kevin took the boys camping last Friday.  Bryan and Blake joined them too!

I would say they had a blast but Grayson got sick and was 'getting sick' from 8pm to midnight. Needless to say they were exhausted when they got home on Saturday. Other than our daily routines we are just resting up and getting ready for the busy holiday season. 

5. What I'm dreading

As excited as I am to put a Christmas tree up I am kinda dreading the daily battle of keeping Hayden away from it. I have no doubt that she will be interested in all of the sparkly ornaments and any wrapped gifts underneath.  Hopefully this will be our last year of having to toddler proof our tree!

6. What I'm working on

Christmas shopping & wrapping

I have done most of my shopping for the kids and am now working on family & friends.  Our December is pretty busy so I wanted to get all of this our of the way so we could enjoy all of our activities. 

I get super excited about good deals - and I got yesterday on Amazon. Ryan asked for one of these VTech KidiZoom Smartwatches last year and since he didn't get it, he has asked again. It retails for $65, but on Amazon they had them for $32. I bought two for the price of one - Hot Dog!

7. What I'm excited about

Thanksgiving! Hanging out with our friends and family!

8. What I'm watching/reading

The Walking Dead

Scandal

Modern Family, Blackish, Fresh Off the Boat

And I did actually finish my Mindy Kaling book.  Light and easy read. I am hoping to read more this month. 

9. What I'm listening to

I feel like I should be saying Adle's new album. Honestly, every time I hear Hello...I turn the station. Slap me, I know. 

I can appreciate how talented she is but I just have to be in the mood for her. 

When I have the radio on I am always looking for a up-beat song or a good ol' country tune. Something I can sing a long too...even if I don't know all the words. This month I am loving:

Elle Goulding's 'On My Mind'

Blake Shelton 'Gonna'

10. What I'm wearing

I (along with the rest of Dallas) am loving this cooler weather.  My go to outfits are jeans, booties and a sweater. These are a few of my current favorites!  I guess I don't take many pictures of myself so the stock images will have to work. 

Free People 'Moonshine V' Cold Shoulder Sweater

 

Free People 'Ventura' High/Low Thermal Top

Free People 'Beach Cocoon' Cowl Neck Pullover

Apparently I am on a Free People kick! 

11. What I'm doing this weekend

Well, it looks like we are in for a rainy and chilly weekend! Sounds like great weather for pulling out the Christmas decorations, lighting a fire and trimming the tree.  I am so excited because the boys are already asking about when we will decorate. I love how excited they get!

12. What I'm looking forward to next month

I am so excited for all of the fun things we have planned in December. It's going to be busy 

- North Pole Breakfast

- Visiting Santa

- Trains at North Park

-Breakfast with Santa

-School Christmas Concert

-Dallas Children's Parade

- Fair Park Tree Lighting

-Light Up Lakewood

And lot's of fun parties!

- Kevin's work Christmas Party

-The Bells annual Christmas Open House

-Annual Sausage Party

-The Hoard's Annual Mixers & Merriment Party

-Nat's annual Cookie Exchange

-Susanne's Tacky Sweater Party

-The Jackson's annual Christmas Party

13. What else is new

I think I covered most things...

14. What is your favorite Christmas tradition

Growing up most of our traditions were not unique but I know the memories are. We watched Christmas movies, listened to Christmas music, baked cookies, visited santa, decorated the house and trimmed the tree. Decorating the Christmas tree was one of my favorite activities - I loved pulling out all of our special ornaments and hanging them up...and drinking egg nog (which now I have no interest in!)  Another favorite tradition is homemade pizza on Christmas Eve. My dad started this one year and it kinda stuck. Now every year my dad and I are in charge - it's messy but such a fun tradition. 

Wurstfest 2015

A couple weeks ago Kevin and I were able to get away for a long weekend and see the Grapevine/Colleyville crew. (This is a great group of friends from Kevin's junior high/high school days + their awesome significant others.) We typically spend July 4th and NYE with this crew but with our ever-expanding families this has become more difficult. Luckily we were able to plan this quick little getaway. Kevin and I drove down to New Braunfels and meet up the group at The Gristmill. After a delicious lunch we walked back over to the Gruene Mansion Inn, checked in and got ready for the festival. 

Wurstfest - the 10-day salute to sausage. Seriously. 

And our first stop was Unicorn hats. What do Unicorns have to do with Wurstfest? Absolutely nothing. Apparently the girls saw these last year and wanted to get them but they had sold out - so this was the year. Natalie went to school in New Braunfels and her high school mascot was and still is a Unicorn. No joke. Perhaps these hats are a nod to her high school. 

Anyhow, we enjoyed them. And while our husbands were initially slightly embarrassed, they actually ended up finding them quite useful in the large crowds. Just follow the pack of Uni's....

And we got Kevin a German Hat - pretty official now!

Natalie & Scott with her Dad - a RED vest. Very Important Person.

All the ladies unicorns with Mr. Meetz

The guys with Alex Meixner - a talented musician with an exorbitant amount of energy. It's seriously tough not to get excited when he is on stage...even when it's polka music! Lol!

Laura decided to go for a chicken instead...

And of course the boys ended up in them.

A Ruben sandwich on the way out...

The next day we illegally dropped the boys off at Wurstfest and headed to get mani/pedis. 

Then of course lunch. 

Then we met up with the boys at a sports bar to watch some football. That evening we had tickets to see Reckless Kelly at Gruene Hall. They did end up coming on until 10:30 or so...but I don't really know because I decided to skip out and head back to get a good night sleep. Wow. How old am I? Lol. Oh well, we had a great weekend catching up with everyone and actually got to REST! 

Before heading back to Dallas on Sunday we had a yummy breakfast at our B&B.