Hello Monday!

Hello friends!!

Happy Monday!!

How was your Thanksgiving holiday?

Our's was truly delightful. My mom hosted Thanksgiving at her house and it was just so fun and special!!

Friday, my brother had some people over for pizza- and again- it was so fun!

Saturday evening, we headed back over to my mom's to help her put up her Christmas tree!

We got so much time together as a family unit as well- which I LOVED. Having Aaron home for a couple of extra days made the kids and me SO happy!

And now here we are...back to regularly scheduled programming- and heading into DECEMBER at the end of this week!

We actually have a pretty solid week of activities, including my daughter turning FIFTEEN in a few days!! 

I can believe it and I also can't believe it. HA!

I loved having the extra time off with my kids...but they were all very ready to get back to school today. I am looking forward to having a couple weeks of our normal school routine before they are all home for Christmas break!

Did anyone else have a HECK of a time coming up with a meal plan this week??

I didn't even cook Thanksgiving dinner and I felt cooking fatigue! HA!

Here's what I came up with for our menu!

My daughter has asked for hot fudge sundaes for her birthday dessert..which I feel is an EXCELLENT choice! I am going to use my favorite box brownie mix from Aldi- but I thought I would try making homemade fudge sauce! I am going to use this recipe from the Crazy for Crust blog. It looks delicious AND super easy to make! 

 There are SO many sales going on. I literally deleted Instagram off of my phone for the majority of the holiday because I just couldn't take all the noise!!

With that being said- I wanted to share about a really great sale. HA!

My girls want to get a few of their girlfriends a little gift for Christmas. They are on a budget, as they buy these presents with their own money :)

We saw that Pura Vida was having a sale- and it is a GOOD one!! There are multiple bracelets on sale for under $5 and lots of other jewelry on sale for under $10. And free shipping!

My girls were so excited to pick out some cute things for their friends!! 

Just wanted to share!! also- FYI: These bracelets make super fun stocking stuffers! 

Love this "check-in"- it's the start of a new week and the beginning of a very FULL season!

Friendly reminder- YOU are in control of how you feel. 

The holidays don't have to be stressful. 

YOU get to decide to say "YES" and you can also say, "That sounds wonderful." or "I would love to help." BUT- "this time, I am going to have to decline." 

Creating margin in your life and protecting your time doesn't happen on it's own :)

Have the BEST day and a wonderful week!!