Thanksgiving Weekend began in a beautiful way... It was chilly, rainy and full of fresh wet air. This is a unique treat that most people in Phoenix don't get to appreciate very often. We were then honored with a gorgeous rainbow that I didn't have the ability to completely capture because my camera doesn't have a landscape lens (hint, hint). The only thing that concerned me on this day is that when the streets in the Valley get wet after they've been accumulating oil/grime/etc they turn into slip n slides. Wednesday was not a school night, Carly went out with friends... talk about a frazzled, panicky mom!On Thursday, the nice weather went away and we were off to the fire station for dinner. The girls did their obligatory drawings on the white board while I looked through shopping ads and Rick cooked dinner (I know....I've got it made!). 
For those of you who don't shop at Trader Joe's, we highly recommend it. They had EVERYTHING we needed to have a delicious meal (except we bought our turkey at Fry's) and it was quick cooking, too! Our entire meal, save the turkey, took about 39 minutes to prepare. We enjoyed dinner with 11 other fire personnel and their families. After dinner, the little ones played pool with some other kids. I was lucky enough to hold a newborn and get my baby-fix. Rick helped with clean-up (I know...so lucky!!!) Naturally, we were all stuffed and tired so while Rick and I lounged on the recliners and watched football, the kids got creative with masking tape.
On Saturday, I spent most of the morning glued to the Mizzou/Kansas game which was on ESPN. That evening, our neighborhood has a kick-off party/carnival to their lighting ceremony, a very small consolation to missing the Plaza Lights in KC...if you ask me. But, so many people we know show up and the kids really like to see all of their friends outside a school setting. So, we attend. The girls rode some rides, enjoyed snow cones and Caylin lost her shoes. The quintessential Brophy evening!
