The rest of the stuff we did

Did you think I was done recapping Thanksgiving after one 24x24 post? THEN YOU DON'T KNOW ME AT ALL.

My family was here from Wednesday night through Saturday night, so Thursday was just a small portion of our time together. However, my dad and I were both sick (he worse than I), so he really didn't make many appearances during the long weekend.

And I may not be making many this week. I am all-caps SICK and spent the entire day yesterday in bed feeling sorry for myself while Grayson enjoyed a day with disobedient children.

So. Back to our weekend. After the big meal on Thursday, we hauled a lot of trash up to the street. Two cans that looked like this:

We played games.

Er, okay ... my sister played games with the boys while the rest of us sat on the couch and marinated in the calories we'd consumed.

We mourned the state of our sink and dishwasher, neither of which would drain because a guest had poured coffee grounds down the sink drain. We have a finicky drain and we're on septic, not sewer, so we practically have to hug and kiss our sink to put anything other than tap water down it.

Friday I worked, Dad stayed home and rested his aching body, and Grayson, Mom and Sarah Ellen took the boys to an inflatable fun zone place and bowling. I came home and caught the end of the Iron Bowl with my dad, and then I picked up take-out for supper. It's a thrill a minute around here, isn't it?

Saturday was perfectly gorgeous and we spent as much of it outside as we could. I was starting to feel really iffy by that point, like that dreaded "OH CRAP I THINK I'M REALLY GETTING SICK" feeling. But I wanted to be outside for the prettiest day of the week, and the boys -- who were full of energy and needed a place to let some of it out -- REALLY needed to go outside.

They used sidewalk chalk. Not typically a dangerous activity, but Nick wore his helmet.

Better safe than sorry, I guess.

Couldn't convince Jake to get out of his PJ pants that day, either, so he was stylin' in a sweater and PJ pants all day long.

We enjoyed a rousing round of badminton in the backyard with Mom and Sarah Ellen, too.

The boys have gotten pretty good at it lately.

Mom gave it everything she had.

She kept apologizing for missing the birdie, but we all missed a few here and there.

Someone who didn't get to play but who DESPERATELY wanted to get in on the game was ... Maisy!

She kept her nose poked through the fence and her eyes peeled for our every movement.

Don't worry. As soon as we'd put the birdies safely away and didn't have any equipment out that she could tear up, I opened the gate and brought her over to play.

Jakey played a little badminton with us, but mostly he enjoyed the slide and swings.

We may not keep the swingset up for much longer, since it's getting older and less safe, but for now the boys continue to enjoy it.

Our last Saturday daylight activity was a little frisbee action in the front yard while Nathaniel and Grayson were at a birthday party. Sarah Ellen took Jakey on a run, Dad was napping, and it was just me, Nick and Mom out there. Nick really enjoys playing frisbee!

He enjoyed teaching "Mop" some of the finer points of frisbee throwing.

He'd run to try to catch anything, even if it was several yards away from him.

He has some flair!

Just before dark, Sarah Ellen and Jakey returned from their run. Jakey said gleefully, "I'M BACK!"

And our last adventure for the evening was a fall Nicholas took off of Sarah Ellen's lap while she was playing with him and Nathaniel before bed. He landed on his head pretty hard and needed some TLC and a bad of frozen veggies on the sore spot for about 20 minutes.

Oh look! A Dad sighting! He's over there playing on the iPad while Nathaniel plays on the iPhone. They were playing Angry Birds, seeing who could beat whose high score. We're very highfalutin' and intellectual around these parts.

And yep, that's the Christmas tree in the background ... we managed to get that and a few other decorations up over the weekend. More on that later this week ... if I'm not dead.