Thanksgiving Week

I took vacation time the week of Thanksgiving this year. It is the first year that I have done this, and it was glorious! The kids and I had a blast this week. This is my last day off :( I'll describe the week's events chronologically.

Monday I had a doctor appointment at around lunch time, so Matt watched the girls for me. Of course, the doctor was running late, and so I get a text from Matt, "How much longer? The troops are getting restless." They were hungry. After my appointment, we did a quick lunch and then headed home. The girls and I climbed into my bed and napped from about 2:30 to 5:30. Yes! It was awesome. A perfect beginning to the week.

Next Tuesday I took Laura for her 4 year check up at her doctor. She did fantastic. But we didn't have to get an shots this time. She got the mist for her flu vaccination. She is 3'6" tall and weighs 38lbs. She is in the 95th percentile for her height and 50th percentile for her weight. I was proud that she did everything the doctor told her to do.

Tuesday I also took on going through our toys. Toys have been taking over our living room area. They are lining the area behind our couch and along the front window. They are lined up beside the fire place and in various other places throughout our small living room. Matt and I decided that it was time to thin them out before Christmas. Well, that was a much larger challenge than I anticipated. The more I sorted toys, the more the kids (mostly Hannah) wanted to play with them and scatter them everywhere. I posted a picture of my living room at one point on FB that day. Eventually, I did get through them. I threw out all of the little "junk" toys from McDonalds and other restaurants. Then I packed away all the baby toys. Then I made a tote of less popular toys to pack away for now. We will bring them back out in the spring, and maybe the girls will have more interest in them. It felt good to thin them out a bit. Even with all of that cleaning, we still have tons of them. But I suppose that's life with small children!

Wednesday we enjoyed a playdate with Isabella and Emma Miskell. The girls had so much fun! They played so well together. Bella and Laura had a camp-out in Bella's closet. It was cute. Hannah was just enthralled to play with a bunch of new toys. At lunch Beth served Macaroni and Cheese and green beans. Guess who ate tons of that?? Yep, Mac and Cheese is Hannah's favorite! She had three helpings. The girls all had fun. We will have to do it again sometime.

Wednesday night we had dinner with Alan, Jayne and Chelsea. We haven't seen Chelsea since summertime, long before went back to college. Back at their house after dinner, the girls had a great time leading their dog, Joe Joe around the house. He is such a good sport. We watched a little of White Christmas. And then Matt, Jayne, Alan and Chelsea played Euchre until about 1am. The girls and I fell asleep on the couch :) We had a great time, and I'm glad we got to see Chelsea.

Thanksgiving Day was a wonderful day. It started by waking up and watching the Macy's parade, which the girls LOVED this year. They watched the whole thing. They especially loved the Dora inflatable and the Fresh Beats float. But they loved many of the other acts as well. My kids love dancing and music. So any show that includes those elements, they are glued to the screen. Next we headed down to my Uncle Marty's and Aunt Dena's house. My cousin, Molly, is about two years older than Laura, but they play pretty well together. Needless to say, Laura and Hannah had a fantastic time. Laura and Molly played and Hannah chased behind yelling, "Rara!" Laura was a good sister and included her during their play. Dinner was hilarious! Dena had a little table set up for the little kids. I wish I had a taken a picture of this. Hannah sat down with her little plate of potatoes and other food. Instantly, she spotted a bowl of M&M's on the table. She started grabbing handfulls of them and putting them on her plate. She put them in her mashed potatoes and would eat bites of potatoes and bites of M&M's. It was a scene right out of the movie, Elf. I think Laura ate jello squares and graham crackers. Mmm...lovey Thanksgiving dinner. In reality, Thanksgiving dinner was decadent! Almost everything came from my uncle's garden, and it was delicious!

Friday was of course shopping day. Matt was a trooper and watched the girls all day. I came home, and they were still in their jammies! But they had taken naps! On the way home, Matt texted that he had apple pie in the oven. Wow. What a husband!

Saturday was the downer of the week since we lost to that team up North. Next year. Enough said.

Today is the last day of the glorious week! Not sure what's in store yet. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!

Fall Birthdays

Well here we are, and November is half over already. I will start where we left off. Halloween!
Halloween was so fun this year. Both girls thoroughly enjoyed it. By mere happenstance, the costumes that we found for the girls both had wings. Thank goodness! Otherwise, I'm afraid they would have been constantly fighting over wings. But as it turned out, Laura was a "scary bat," and Hannah was a lady bug. Laura's costume had a skirt that had LED lights in it, and Hannah was absolutely adorable. The first night we put it on her, she ran around the living room, "buzzing" like a lady bug. They both had head bands too. Whew! They dressed up for their school parties on Halloween during the day, and then when we got home that night, we added some face paint to their costumes and some layers underneath to keep them warm. I took the first round of trick or treating, while Matt passed out candy. Hannah rode in the stroller and was pretty shy at first. But Laura knew the routine and was instantly engaged and excited. As we were going down one street, Laura spotted a man dressed as a gorilla across the street. She was so excited to get to that house. She told me, "Mom, he's a scary monkey, and I'm a scary bat!" When we got to that house, she just stood and smiled at him. He waved to her. I told them what she had told me, and she just gave him a grin and raised her eyebrows. They all burst out laughing. She such a little drama queen. Matt took round two of trick or treating, and I passed out candy. Hannah got much more into it this time. She was saying trick or treat and counting her loot in between houses. It was a great night!

After Halloween, all Laura could talk about was her birthday. It just could not get here fast enough. She was beyond excited. We told her that we were having her party at the zoo, and she just couldn't wait. Well her school was closed on the Friday of her birthday for in service. So on Thursday, I decided to bring a treat in to her class. I bought the little cups of ice cream. There is a little girl in her class that has the same birthday. That little girl was wearing a princess birthday ribbon that pinned to her shirt. When we went into the cafeteria for afternoon snack to have the icecream, the other little girl took the pin off and gave it Laura for snack since we were celebrating Laura's birthday. I thought that was the sweetest thing! That little girl was all too happy to share her birthday with Laura. I was so impressed. Laura's class sang Happy Birthday to her, and we ate icecream. It was a nice afternoon. I took the kids home for the weekend after that, which they loved getting to go home early.

In between Halloween and Laura's birthday is one other fun event - my birthday! It was a great time this year. My mom and dad took the girls for the whole weekend, and Matt and I tailgated the football game. Kara and Adam came down to tailgate with us, and we went to a movie afterward with them. It was an extremely relaxing weekend! (Probably not for my parents:))

Last weekend we celebrated Laura's 4th birthday at the zoo. It was nothing short of perfect. The night before, her actual birthday, she and I baked her a monkey cake, and we let her open presents from us. Then Saturday we had her zoo party. I was very impressed with the zoo's birthday package. The zoo played games with the kids first. They had these little pads that had cords attached to them. The kids held onto the cords and jumped like frogs. They had races with these. They were moderately successful, but comical to watch. We ate pizza for lunch, and then we did presents. Next everyone sang her Happy Birthday, and we had cake, which was delicious. And then the zoo brought in four or five different animals. The kids loved it! They had a mouse/rat looking animal, a snake, an armadillo, and an alligator. It was pretty cool. Then we walked around the zoo for awhile. Afterwards a few people came back to the house, and Laura played with her new toys until late that night. She had a wonderful day!

The week of Laura's birthday we had some other exciting news. We had our second ultrasound and found that we are having our third girl! We are very excited! Laura is happy to have another little sister, and Hannah doesn't really understand. She will like her when she gets here!

This weekend we tailgated the last home game of the season, Penn State, and it was a little colder than we expected. We still had a good time. There is a funny story from the morning. While we were getting ready Saturday morning, the girls found a lady bug upstairs. Hannah loves bugs. Well Laura picked it up and gave it a "bath." She put some hand soap on it and washed it off in the sink. She said, "he's so happy because he's all clean!" Then she thought she should bring him into the shower with us. I drew the line there. That bug was not long for this world! I have mentioned in previous posts that the girls love to run around the upstairs after their baths. Well, after we showered Saturday morning, it was no different. They were hilarious chasing each other around the upstairs with nothing but their hooded towels hanging on their heads. At one point, Laura was holding on to Hannah's towel telling her to heal, like she was a puppy. Hannah didn't mind one bit, probably because she loves puppies.

Last week they saw a princess show that showed all of the people dancing after Cinderella's wedding. Ever since then, whenever there is music playing, Laura tells Hannah, lets get married. And she and Hannah hold hands and dance around in circles. It's so cute!

Well the Holidays are just around the corner. We are so excited! Laura is sitting here watching a Christmas movie on Netflix right now. Although, I like to enjoy Thanksgiving first, we have been listening to some Christmas music already. The season will bring some fun stories and happy memories. I plan to share them several times in the last six weeks of the year!