Piggy Tails

Okay, so the main reason for this post is to get up a picture of adorable Kara with her pigtails in. She let me do it for one whole weekend (even asked for me to put her hair up) and then hasn't really let me do it since then. I'm hoping maybe over the holidays I can get it up once or twice while she's distracted, but we'll see. It's just too cute!!

So, it's been awhile!

Okay, so I've been very lax in my blog posting since before Thanksgiving. But I have a good reason! Our family was inundated with sickie bugs for most of the last two weeks. Yuck! We started out the holiday with John, Kara, and I having head colds. Then Kara developed a nasty stomach bug late on Thanksgiving night. She was down and out for most of the weekend, which was too bad for our visit with all the extended family. The rest of us thought we were free and clear, but then we quickly realized we were wrong! On the Wednesday after the holiday, once my cold was finally starting to clear, I came down with the stomach bug. That night Matt succumbed and John was affected the following day. John was the only one who did not actually get sick, but he spent most of the day complaining of an upset tummy, stayed home from swimming and school and took a nap (which he only does when he's sick). So, after several more days of illness, we seem to finally have beaten back the bugs and be on the mend. Needless to say, it's been a long couple of weeks!

Fortunately, we did have a good holiday overall. With Kara being the exception, the rest of us really enjoyed the time we had with both sets of grandparents, my aunt, my uncle, and my brother, sister-in-law and their two girls. John had a great time playing with the cousins, while Kara mostly slept the days away. We cut down Christmas trees and decorated my parents' house, ate tons of yummy food, and watched some good football games. It was a busy, but good weekend.

This last week was a bit brutal for us, but with us getting sick in a sort of staggered fashion, we were able to get through it. That, and with the help of some good friends! We've been sick a few times this fall already, but this was definitely the worst. It made me appreciate the fact that we rarely get stomach bugs around here. Usually it's just colds, which are yucky, but not so bad when compared with this.

So, for now, I'm on to getting prepared for John's 5th birthday (which is a week from today - yikes!) and then on to Christmas. We tried to go see Santa today at the mall. Not quite sure what we were thinking - trying to see Santa on the weekend? Duh! Not likely! So I'm heading back tomorrow morning - going early and getting a good spot in line. The people we were in line with today waited at least 2 hours! No thank you! We waved to Santa and the kids were just fine with it.

Then later this week we'll be getting ready for a very small gathering for John's birthday on Sunday. We purchased a Thomas cake (at the preschool's silent auction), so John's delighted about that and wants the decorations to also be Thomas themed. So, off to the party store for us for supplies. And I want to get over to the arts & crafts store also for a few crafts to do in the coming weeks with the kids. Maybe somewhere in there we'll get to make a few cookies and treats too.

I really wish I had a few more hours in the day, a couple more hands, and maybe even a few clones of me to do all the chores that I can't seem to get to. Oh, and some extra cash to buy all these gifts and decorations with would be nice too!

Turkey Day - version 1 and 2

So this year we are going to have a crazy Thanksgiving! I'm betting this might be my last post before the big day hits and so I'm going to give the run down of our week ahead.

Thursday - We head over to my in-laws for the day. It will just be the four of us and the two of them, so should be a fun, but relatively low-key day. Since Matt and I don't eat the turkey, my mother-in-law has chosen a turkey-free meal - baked fish, oyster stew, salads, and other yummy feast items. I'm sure it will be delicious, but somewhat non-traditional. We will all have fun and eat to our hearts content, no doubt. Then at the end of the day, we will drive out to my parents' house to spend the rest of the weekend.

Friday - We'll wake up to a house full of family. My parents and aunt (from Maine) will already be there. Later in the morning, my brother, his wife, and their two girls (from Atlanta) will arrive, leading to all kinds of crazy cousin fun. And then at some point that day, my uncle and his wife (from California) will arrive. They will only be spending the day with us, but it will be a house full for Friday! This will likely also be the day that we spend going to cut down Christmas trees, decorating the house, and exchanging "First Day" presents. (First Day is a funny family tradition we have of exchanging small gifts that are Christmas related - such as holiday decorations, earrings, wrapping paper, etc.) Again, it will be fun, but definitely crazy!

Saturday - My uncle and his wife will be gone, and my aunt will head home this afternoon as well. But that still leaves the cousin cluster to play and create havoc! This is always a good time for the kids, who don't see each other nearly enough and really enjoy each other despite a significant age range. This night, my mom is planning to do a traditional turkey Thanksgiving dinner for the remaining group. John is happy that he'll still get to eat some turkey and Kara's excited for "tur-eeee."

Sunday - My brother's family will head back to Atlanta and at some point, we will head home to Reston. I'm not sure at what point that day any of us will have the energy to pack or drive home, but it will happen so that we can get our Christmas tree into the house and back into some water that day! ;-)

This year Matt has decided to take Monday off work, and I'm thankful for that. Typically our Thanksgiving weekend isn't quite this crazy, but it is always busy and we come home exhausted. It's always a big challenge to get ready mentally to head into Monday, so I'm happy that this year we can have one more day to ourselves to re-group.

Well, now I'm tired out just thinking about the weekend ahead! I hope everyone reading this has a great and happy Thanksgiving and I'll be sure to post next week about how it all went! Gobble Gobble Gobble!

Thanks again and again

Okay, so I think I forgot to do a thankful post last week. Oops! I was thankful, I promise! So, I'll catch up by doing one today instead.

Today I'm thankful for:
1. Great in-laws (who babysat for us on Friday night then had us over all day yesterday for football watching).
2. My sweet hubby who let me stay in bed until almost 9:00 this morning - ahhhhhhh.
3. My yoga classes
4. The kids who despite being up very late the last two nights and no nap for Kara yesterday have been quite well-behaved so far today.
5. A sunny day.
6. The Thanksgiving holiday ahead and all the family we will be visiting with - all the grandparents, my aunt, my uncle and his wife, my brother, sister-in-law and their daughters. Much fun ahead!
7. Having gotten the grocery shopping done this morning so we can relax a bit this afternoon before getting ready for a crazy week ahead!
8. The gift certificate we bought on Friday night at the preschool's silent auction for a character cake for John's birthday - he's so excited to have a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake! And I'm thankful to have it taken care of! Yeah!

Okay, now I'm going to go relax some more with my tea before Kara wakes up from her nap. ;-)

Popcorn

When I was a kid, my mom (who LOVES popcorn) would sometimes make popcorn and let me have that as my lunch or make a big bowl as an afternoon snack. She definitely instilled in me a love for popcorn. It was always a special thing, but it happened way more frequently than other treats in our house. As a result, I do, on occasion eat popcorn for dinner or as a meal, usually when Matt is out of the house and after the kids are in bed. I have yet to serve them popcorn as a meal, but I have made it as a snack. Right now the kids are eating a big bowl of it and are quite content. It is truly a family favorite for us. It's a cold day outside today and we were home after picking John up from school without anything particular to do this afternoon. When they started asking for a snack and it was early enough to make popcorn without ruining their dinner, I thought why not? Yummm. They both jumped at the chance to help turn the crank on the popper (yes, I actually do cook it on the stove, not in the microwave) and are happily now eating their yummy snack. The only sound is the crunching of their bites and an occasional "nummy" from Kara. How great that my kids have taken on my love of this delicious, and not entirely unhealthy snack (it does actually have lots of fiber, which is great for Kara particularly). I love it.

Great Weekend

Despite my pending head cold that I'm failing in the fight against, we've had a pretty good weekend. The kids are wiped out, as are Matt and I. Yesterday we went up to Baltimore for the afternoon/evening. We ate an early lunch and then headed out with the Port Discovery Children's Museum as our destination. Much to our surprise, we had no traffic and it took only an hour to get there. Once we arrived, we used some VIP passes that Matt had been given on a recent work trip to pay for part of our admission. And then, we entered into what I can only describe as an enormous playhouse for the kids. We spent the next 3+ hours wandering in and out of different play areas, climbing, sliding, exploring, touching, creating, and more. John and Matt even took a little class to learn how to make chewing gum! How cool is that? By 4:30 we were all totally exhausted. We stumbled out of the museum and took a walk down to the Inner Harbor pavilion area and found a Pizzeria Uno, after John insisted he wanted pepperoni pizza. We had to wait a few minutes for a table, which was a bit of a challenge with kids who were very tired and very hungry by that point. But we all survived. Then, of course, once Kara chose the dinosaur chicken nuggets to eat for dinner, John immediately switched his tune and ordered the same. No pepperoni pizza. Ah well, Matt and I enjoyed our dinner and all was well. We left Baltimore at about 7:00pm, thinking the kids would crash out on the way home, but everyone stayed awake the whole ride home. It was a great day that we all thoroughly enjoyed. There is so much to do in Baltimore that it gave us great confidence to do adventures like that again.

Today was a much slower day for us all around. The kids slept until after 8:00 and we took the whole day pretty easy. Every day can't be filled with such adventures! ;-)

Tis the Season

So we have had an extremely yucky week here for weather. It's been rainy and dreary all week long and the kids and I are totally victims of cabin fever. I've done my best not to resort to using the television too much, but there's only so much I can do before I must submit to the demands so that I can get some housework done without listening to them whine or fight. We've watched a little bit of Sesame Street, a few Scooby Doo episodes, and a little bit of Playhouse Disney. But, for the second time this week, today John requested "The Polar Express." We own the movie (one of the very few that we actually own), and he absolutely loves it. This is the first year he's actually called it by its true name, previously he referred to it as the "Magic Train." Anyway, his love of all things train definitely includes this movie. And I'm okay with that, because it totally is a fabulous movie. Who doesn't love Tom Hanks in all his many roles? Anyway, after a long week (including 2 swim lessons, Little Bits for Kara, babysitting, working at the preschool 2 days, and other errands/housework), I have succumbed to the tv. I feel a bit guilty, but it is Friday and we're all pretty tired. I would rather have them happily watching a great movie together than hear them fighting and bickering and having to play referee. I don't have the energy left to do that today. So, our exhaustion and the rain overcomes my guilt. Maybe next week it will stop raining and we can get back outside. For now, Merry Christmas everyone (at least to all those who truly believe)!