Thanksgiving 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated our 4th annual "Thanksmas" with Ben's family this year.

Don't mean to offend anyone, but this was perhaps my favorite Thanksgiving ever.

Maybe it was because I wasn't sitting next to a toilet all day or stuck on the couch nursing a baby.  I felt like I could finally fully participate and enjoy the day.

Thanksgiving was kicked off by Alison's play at school, the day before.

 

She was the first speaker, with the most lines and did a fantastic job.  Alright, she spoke really fast and you could barely hear her, but she didn't cry or freak out, so to me, it was success.  A few years ago she would have never made it through those memorized lines.

Afterwards, all the girls got pedicures and the men finished some grocery shopping.

I've been going to this little nail salon with visiting family members for the last 5 years.  They have come to know our family and treat us exceptionally well.  I asked if Alison could just sit in my lap and get her toes painted at the end, but they gave her the full treatment, even adding some designs on her little toes.  I know she felt like a queen.

Thanksgiving morning we had cinnamon rolls and started to watch the parade...did you watch it?

We only made it a few minutes before we were greatly disappointed and turned on the 'Sound of Music' instead.  It was the best decision ever.  Everyone, including the kids, really enjoyed watching this classic movie and had fun singing along.

We had appetizers for lunch and played games all afternoon, while the kids napped.

Eli woke up from his nap slightly grouchy and needed a little coaxing to get into the Thankful spirit.

Alison's calling his friend Ross to talk about Thomas with him:

 

We all took a dish to cook, but Ben was the executive chef of Thanksgiving.

Ben is amazing and all of the food was spectacular.

We made real green bean casserole and will never turn back.  Half way through french cutting all the beans, the old recipe was looking pretty nice, but I can tell you that the extra work is worth it.

Here's the table, pre-dinner.

I love pretty tables and nice dinners...almost as much as I love Christmas movies and puzzles.

Dinner was so yummy, I didn't want it to end.

Neither did Colin.  Can you blame him?

P.S. You know you're a 3rd, when you still drink out of a bottle at 18 months.

As they say, all good things must come to an end, but I am still finding myself thinking about the things that I am thankful for.

I was really thankful for our health last week; thankful that we were able to host our family and really enjoy time with them.  Having strep the week before and barely eating for several days, really made me appreciate the food we had.  Although, did you know that antibiotics can make food taste funny?  I learned that new tidbit last week.

Most of all, I'm thankful that we were all together.  I looked at Ben several times during the day and just savored that he was home.  He was there cooking and laughing and playing with our kids.  He was there for me to hug and talk with and sit next to at dinner.

There was a small chance we wouldn't have that this year and I'm sure there will be a year that he will be deployed, so this year I'm extra thankful that we are all together.

Last week=the bug

Last week was going pretty normal...

we were pluggin' along on letter M and I taught a few classes at the Y.

Colin falls asleep everyday on the way home from the Y

And this is my favorite part of the day; 

carrying in my sleepy babe.

He doesn't sit still long enough to snuggle, so this is my only chance.

I love it.

Sadly, shortly after I took this picture, I began to feel sick.

A bad case of strep hit me and ended up getting Ben too, although his case was light.

I spent the rest of the week on the couch, letting the kids do whatever they wanted.

Seriously.  I had bought a bag of marshmallows to use for a counting activity on Thursday and I let the kids eat the whole bag.  I let them ride their bikes through the house and fed them ice cream for dinner.  There was about 24 hours that I could barely talk and the kids kept asking "are you better yet, mommy?". 

I am thankful for antibiotics and we are almost all the way back to normal.


One morning, Colin started trying to say a few new words.  Everything is dada...and then a sign to mean something else.  But it sounded like he was trying to say 'love you' and 'stinky' and 'diaper' (if he poops he'll come to me, pull at his diaper and say stinky).

This week...

~Cutting really clicked with Eli.  

I could see it in his eyes, the instant his confidence grew...and I'm so thankful I got to be there to see the click!

~Alison came home with an awesome report card so we celebrated with some ice cream.

I spoke with Alison's teacher this week and she told me that Alison is advanced for 1st grade.  She's reading at a 3rd grade level and aced all of the testing she just finished.  She said that if we worked with her on a few things we could get her tested for the gifted program...but I'm not sure we'll pursue that.  I know, it sounds crazy.  But I think for 1st grade, it's okay to build her confidence and just let her be good at what she's learning.

~I was trying to enjoy a good book, but Eli just couldn't sleep...so he jumped in daddy's spot and picked out all of the 'L's off the pages I was reading.

~We finally got Colin's swing up and running!  It only took 4 months...

~Here's Alison in her gymnastics class:

A clean yard

 I took some toys to our old neighbor and just sat and looked at our old backyard.

It still feels like home when I sit there, but I do not miss cleaning up that yard.

Today, I'm thankful for a clean yard that does not look like this!

We named Colin the purple Minion today.  If you haven't seen Despicable Me 2, go watch it...

He loves getting into things and destroying them.

I handed him a snack and he crawled under a chair to smash them in the ground.

While cooking dinner, he climbed in this cabinet and starts pulling out all of the cleaned up preschool toys.  He even tried eating the sink plug and dish scrubber.

There's never a dull moment in our house.

Veterans Day

Alison and Ben were home today and kicked off our holiday with homemade cinnamon rolls.  I wish I could say that I baked them, but I can only say that they were AMAZING.

We all headed to the Y and then picked up Madelyn to spend the afternoon with us.  We picked up free frosties for the girls, using the last freebie for the queen.  The girls play so well together, it's actually really nice having an extra kid in the house.  They played princesses and made their first attempt at make-up (aka. stamps and chalk all over Alison's face).

We played outside on our last warm day...it's supposed to flurry tomorrow, which around here means they'll probably shut down all the roads.

We had Indian food for dinner; coconut curry chicken, chana masala and naan.  It's become Ben and I's new favorite and tonight Alison and Colin joined our fan club.  Eli just ate the naan, but he doesn't eat much of anything these days.

Do you see Colin's hand in the background trying to snatch Alison's drink?

See.  I told you he's mischievous.

Best part of the day was Alison giving Ben this card:

Preschool-letter 'K'

They decorated kites and ate kiwi and kit-kats...yum!

 

 

They played a relay race and jumped like a kangaroo.

Kissing the Kind King eating Kiwi in the Kitchen

Made cookies to take to the Kids at the bus stop.

lined up the cookies and pretended they were a train's load.