Just finishing up Hell Week here aka nine straight days of fall "break." I don't ever remember getting that much time off as a child but the memory is a funny thing. Like I'm choosing to forget that Christmas break is twice as long as fall break. LALALALALALALALA We will cross that bridge when we come to it!!
We had a decent Thanksgiving. We had some plans with visiting friends fall through so we found ourselves on Thanksgiving with nothing to do. No turkey and no expectations. I'll admit, I was really bummed our friends couldn't make it. I was also really excited to not have the pressure of cooking and cleaning and wrangling kids. We were invited to a few friends' houses for a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, but we opted out. My kids are heathens that might not even try a roll and I didn't want to deal with the headache of them being picky and obnoxious at someone else's house. So we didn't go anywhere. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade on tv that morning, facetimed with Steve, had lunch and put the small ones to bed, then played outside til dark.
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| Gahhhhh I miss this man! |
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| Quite possibly my favorite onesie ever |
It was then that I fired up the ol' electric oven and boiled some turkey dogs and cooked some oven fries. I dumped sweet potato chips in a casserole dish and sprinkled with marshmallows that were dangerously close to expiring. Rounded out the meal with some strawberry jello (that I poured into a can to give the look of cranberry sauce), snap pea crisps, and some rice krispy turkey legs/wings, and the kids thought it was fabulous. Some did not appreciate the jello so much (Will, my carpet) but everyone went nuts over the hot dogs so mission accomplished. I also had Thanksgiving paper plates! So clean up for Thanksgiving was at an all time low.
Meanwhile, both of my next door neighbors brought me plates (and plates and bowls and plates) of traditional Thanksgiving food, and another friend dropped off more turkey, and spaghetti with meatballs. To say I was taken care of on Thanksgiving would be an understatement. We watched Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving before heading up to bed and all in all it was an easy day. I enjoy doing our own thing every now and again for holidays. It's so much fun to not be tied down to any certain tradition or expectation. I won't lie though- I'm looking forward to celebrating the old fashioned way with Steve next year. And my corn casserole. I really love corn casserole. (Paula Deen is my spirit animal, yo!)
The day after Thanksgiving I lugged all four of our fall decorations out to the tub I keep them in in the garage, and started unloading Christmas decorations. I put up our sad little Korea tree and Will thinks it's the greatest thing he's ever seen. Luckily it's the only tree he's ever really seen so his expectations are set depressingly low. Ha! He loves it though and is enamored with the lights. Sam is concerned that it's a touch too little to fit presents under. Between the Little People nativity set and the tote full of Christmas books (omg yes an ENTIRE TOTE), the kids are mildly entertained when we're inside. I try to keep us outside though, because it's the most wonderful time of the year in Louisiana- we can sit outside, not sweat, and also not get carried away by mosquitoes and flies. I love it. Doesn't put me completely in the Christmas spirit but whatever. I'll take less Christmas spirit if it means more of this weather.
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| Not pictured: more kids, more toys |
I asked the kids what they'd like for Christmas this year. Since we don't have cable, and we don't wander toy aisles at the store, they have no clue what is out there and thus, no clue what to ask for. Sam finally gave up and said, "surprise me." Molly agreed that she would like to be surprised too. I've tried paying extra close attention to the things they are gravitating towards and settled on getting Sam and Molly scooters. Will is getting a Radio Flyer metal wagon. Hank is getting some bibs and whatever other random baby stuff he might need that isn't being passed down to him due to his older siblings destroying it. I'm still trying to find some random gifts for Will to open on his birthday (December 26), so if you know of anything fun for a 2yo (preferably a toy that can be played with outside), send me your suggestions! Santa will bring them all new chalk and bubbles in their stockings. What am I missing?
Oh my birthday happened! I was expecting it to be a regular day, truly. But man my friends and family really went above and beyond in making me feel extremely special that day! Cards and gifts and flowers and boxes of goodies- I was spoiled! And felt so loved. It was a really good one, and I didn't think I would get to say that.
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| 31: need eye bag filter |
I took the kids to the zoo over fall "break". Prior to this I had only ever taken them to Petsmart and told them it was the zoo, so this was huge for me. The zoo closest to us is small and everyone says nice things about it, so I thought, what the heck, and we went. I might have also been motivated by a CFA lunch. I won't lie. The zoo was actually very nice. It was cool the day we went and the kids wore their jackets most of the time we were there. It was hilarious to see some native Louisianians decked out with hats and gloves and puffer jackets though. Fifty degrees is no joke, y'all. Bone-chillin' cold. Sam was enamored with the amount of bamboo in the zoo, Molly wanted to ride the train when are we going to ride the train is it time to ride the train yet when can we walk back to the train I am so tired is it train time yet, Will loved pretending he saw everything that Sam saw. In reality I don't even know that he saw the giant lion that walked up to the glass when he was next to it, but he really acted like he had a ball there. Stroller freedom is his jam. Hank was peeved that I made him sit in the stroller instead of being toted around like the royal prince that he is. We made it onto a train ride and then headed for Chick fil A along with 400,000 other people from the tri-county area. We had to circle the building twice before we were allowed in the official drive thru line. The guy directing traffic deserves a raise! We finally made it through and the hangry people were satisfied. 3/4 of them slept a bit on the way home and once we got there we just kept the party going and stayed outside to play. Kids slept good that night!
Last weekend was my unofficial (but pretty official) last weekend of church. Getting all the kids ready to go, then getting there on time just spend the entire mass chasing Will and pacify Hank only makes me irate. And I don't think that's what Jesus wants. So I'm keeping the kids in Sunday School and AWANA on Wednesday nights and calling it good. I can't handle church with no childcare for Will. This past weekend we spent a lot of time pacing the foyer in the back of the church. He finally acted ready to go sit back down so we rejoined Sam and Molly in the pew. Will scooted to the other end of the pew and then looked at me like he was ready to run. Since he always runs to the back foyer I told Sam not to grab him (and risk having him scream), I would just meet him back there and we'd keep walking. But instead of going to the back foyer, Will bolted to the front of the church. So he's running on the perimeter of the pews and I'm running up the center aisle with 20lb Hank in my arms trying to cut him off but he's so flippin fast that he made a mad dash across the alter and then darted into the hallway that leads towards the classrooms and parish hall. At that point I was completely over it. OVER IT. Everyone at church knows us so I wasn't embarrassed at all, I was just mad. Mad! Cancelling childcare during a deployment??! Who does that?! Saying you don't mind hearing children in church??? Ok??? And??? What about the parents who don't have to worry about the noise so much as the movement? I don't have enough arms to hold Hank and chase Will and I guess I'll just leave my eyeballs on the pew to watch Sam and Molly and while I'm at it I'll leave my ears too because then I'd have a slight chance of hearing some part of mass. BLUGH. Anyway. I know that's whiny. I'm sorry. I'm just irritated. I want to take my children to church. But not so much at the sake of my thin tiny shred of sanity.
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| Doesn't Will look extra naughty here?? He knows he's bad but he also knows he's cute. |
I thought about creating an Advent calendar for us to complete circa Christmas 2012 but then I realized that I can barely handle macaroni and cheese night without losing my shit so maybe it would be best to just focus on surviving. We can Pinterest it up some other year. I do have Christmas pj's washed and ready to go for St Nick Day, and all Christmas presents ordered. Thank you Lord for Amazon Prime. My life is better because of it. If only I could live-stream mass from it or order a babysitter off of it, I'd be set. Amen.
