Friday Night Leftovers (normalcy version)

My apologies, first, for not posting Friday Night Leftovers last week. With my hubby returning home last Friday afternoon and the immediate relaxation & laziness that kicked in... I just couldn't/didn't/want to take anytime away from time with my "whole, put together, in 1 piece" family. So without further waiting... a quick catch up from the last two weeks:

• Daddy returned home to his 2 sweet little munchkins (and me) and has been so nice to return to some kind of "normalcy"... if there is such a thing.
• I'm wondering if I will start my Christmas shopping before or after Thanksgiving this year. I'm also wondering if I will get it done before "crunch time" or will I have days to spare?
• We celebrated my mom's 61st birthday last weekend and I'm hoping to have some fun pictures to post this weekend with help from Aunt Jen (who should be a pro-photographer). Funny thing about birthdays around here is Thomas is the one concerned and is the one who keeps up with whose birthday is next, and then whose is after that. It's like he has a birthday Rolodex in his head; that or he is doing some secret shopping that I'm unaware of.
• Abby's only concern about birthdays is if she gets a big enough piece of cake.
• Brian and I have decided not to run in our 1/2 Marathon that is this weekend. Reasons are forthcoming. No, really. Soon. We have legit excuses.
• We will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year - bring on the turkey and all the fix'ins! Can not wait. Love turkey day. I love every part of the meal and the laying around afterwards.
• On a totally different note, I took this picture this morning as we were driving into work/school. What a gorgeous drive it was... I hope this is a good sign about what kind of day and weekend it is going to turn out to be. A view like this just puts me in a great mood. Don't anyone give me a hard time about taking a picture while i was driving 55 mph though. Just leave it alone.

TGIF everyone!