Happy Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving! For me, it is the official beginning of the holidays. I was lucky enough to be born into a big extended family and marry into an even bigger one and holidays are all about being together. I have so much to be thankful for and today I tried to just enjoy it. I didn't worry about what the kids were or were not eating or if everyone was wearing matching clothes (as in individual outfits that actually go together, not matchy matchy family matching...I'm not THAT crazy). I was just happy to be with my family. It was soooo relaxing. I think I will do that more often...well I'll try. Anyway, no Thanksgiving post would be complete without a list of the things I am thankful for, so here goes (in no particular order).

1. I am thankful for my warm cozy house. I am very thankful for the wood stove that not only heats my house to what I consider comfortable (anywhere between 74 and 80 degrees) on a daily basis but also did not fail me this week when our power was out for 15 hours and the outside temps were in the low teens. I know that not everyone was so lucky.
2. I am so thankful for my parents. All 5 of them. They watch our kids, feed us dinner, laugh at my jokes (thanks Mom!), support our dreams, and pick us up when we feel like we can't do it ourselves. I know that we are so very lucky to have parents that are so close (geographically speaking) and who we are so close to.
3. I am thankful for my friends. I seriously have the world's best friends. A whole pile of 'em! My girls have been there for me through everything for the past 10 years and I am grateful to have friends who I know I can count on. As life has gotten busier with marriages, jobs and kids, we don't see each other nearly enough. But when we do, it is like we haven't missed a beat. I love you girls! Thanks for being the best friends a girl could have!
4. I am thankful to have a job that I love. I mean I really love my job. Some days definitely go better than others but I really wouldn't want to do anything else. I feel like it is the job that I was meant to do. I work with some really fun people and I am lucky to have an awesome class this year. And let's not forget the 3 best things about my job: June, July & August!
5. I am thankful for my husband who works hard for our family and is an amazing dad. He does such fun things with the kids that I would never think of and they love it! He puts up with my OCD (although I know he thinks I'm crazy) and I am so proud of all he has accomplished.
6. Last, but certainly not least, I am thankful for these two goofballs:

They are cheesey, they are silly, they never look at the camera at the same time and they ask MILLIONS of questions but I love them so much. They are happy (most of the time), healthy (knock on wood) and they make me laugh about 100 times a day. They are smart (too smart sometimes) and goofy and genuinely so sweet. I am constantly amazed that God gave me the perfect kids for me. I certainly wouldn't have planned it this way and some days go better than others (the other day I felt like a walking public service announcement warning against the dangers of having more than one kid on the same day) but really it has turned out to be the perfect situation and I wouldn't change a thing. Well, I would like my old stomach back, but that's about it...and even that is worth it! Ben & Abby, I love you more than you will ever know. Thanks for making me such a proud mama!

Here we go again

We go through this every year. A ridiculous attempt to get both kids to look at the camera at the same time for a half way decent Christmas card photo. If you have been on the receiving end of our cards you know that some years have worked out better than others. I have dreams of being an amazing photographer, always getting perfect pictures at every occasion. In reality, I am rarely satisfied with my pictures and typically end up bribing my unwilling subjects. It usually isn't pretty.

This year I am feeling simultaneously excited and stressed for the holidays. I feel like I have so much to do. So this past weekend I was determined to get a head start by getting the dreaded photo shoot out of the way. Look at the pictures below and you will start to see why I must dedicate the better part of a day to this process.

They really wanted to pose with their pumpkins, so we got that out of the way...

This is the "look how much we love each other" shot.
I actually really like this picture because it pretty much sums up how things go on a daily basis, he tries to make her smile, she is clearly not impressed.

Finally they are at least sitting near each other

Yeah...that's a keeper!

Try not to look too excited guys.

I LOVE this one...just doesn't scream "Holiday Cheer" like I was hoping.

I have about 30 variations on this one.

Soooo close...if only Ben didn't look like he was in so much pain. Come to think of it, looking at her smirk, maybe he is!

Ummmm....trying a little too hard, Buddy. And Ab, a little effort. Puhleeese!

These are just a few of the hundreds of pictures I took Saturday morning. I am happy to report, however, that my cards have been completed, ordered, and are sitting on the counter waiting to be addressed. You will have to check your mailbox in the coming weeks to see the winner!

A special Thanksgiving recipe from my little turkeys

Every year, I ask the kids in my class how to cook a turkey and then write it up for all of the parents to read. It is always quite funny and interesting to see what they know (or don't) about cooking a turkey. Maybe when I retire 77 years from now I will put them all together in a little book. You know, one of those ones that they sell at Hallmark that you read once and then put on a shelf to collect dust.

Tonight I decided to see how much my own kids know about preparing for Thanksgiving. So without further ado I give you:

HOW TO COOK A TURKEY

by Ben & Abby

You have to get it from the farm. Ask the farmer if you can get the turkey and if he gives it to you say, "Thank you." Put it in the backseat and drive home. When you get home, take off the feathers and the beak and give them to me because they are my favorite. I will use them to make a project while you are cooking.

Put foil on the turkey and then put it in the oven. It needs to be really super hot. Leave it in there for however many minutes the oven tells you. When the timer beeps it will be done. If there are any leftover feathers or beaks give them to me. Then cut the turkey open and eat it for Thanksgiving!

You should know that most of this recipe is word for word what my kids said. And yes, I am as concerned as you are about Abby's need to collect feathers and beaks for "projects". I would open any Christmas presents you may receive from her with caution. If any of you end up using this recipe, let me know how it turns out. GOBBLE GOBBLE.

The calm AFTER the storm

I am not a fan of wind. None whatsoever. I don't like the breeze, I really don't even like air conditioning! And the hurricane force gusts that we had last night were way too much for me. We could hear it howling from inside our warm house and I watched as the massive trees swayed back and forth as if they were tooth picks. Last year, I drove out of the driveway to find that one of our trees had fallen and hit the neighbors car. Luckily the damage was minimal. However, the fact that any one of our hundreds of trees could blow down with the wind is not lost on me.

In our house, the kids sleep upstairs and our room is on the first floor. With the wind blowing like we rarely see, Robbie and I decided that we would bring them down to our room for the night. That was the beginning of the end. Just as we had gotten them settled in our bed and ourselves settled back on the couch, something (a branch, most likely) blew across the roof. The kids started screaming and Robbie ran outside to check it out. When we were satisfied that it was not an entire tree and the kids were calm again, we once again tried for our relaxing evening. It was about that point that it became clear that was not meant to be. No sooner had we sat back down than the power flickered 3 times and then went out for good. The kids started screaming and at this point they had decided that they would not be stopping unless we stayed in the room.

Sooooooo, at 9:15 we headed for bed. Robbie was okay with it. He can sleep anytime, anywhere. I, on the other hand, am a night owl and as much as I love my kids I love them so much more when they are sleeping in their own beds. I figured that the kids were tired and would go to sleep if I ignored them and just read by flashlight. Wrong! Ben kept leaning over and "reading" with me by running his finger along the page. Abby wanted to hold my hand across the bed. Robbie was snoring. Finally, I gave up. I figured that once the light was off everyone would go to sleep. Wrong again. Ben kept trying to use my head as his pillow. Abby's arm was squished. Ben's knees dug into my back. Every time he moved he said, "Sorry. Sorry. Sorry." Then Abby would ask "Why are you sorry, Ben?" And I would say, "Goodnight!" And then it would start all over. I think we all finally fell asleep.

At. 3:30 the power came back on and we all woke up to turn off the lights and then at 5:15 the phone rang to announce that school would be 2 hours late. At 5:45 I gave up my 6 square inches of bed and came out to sleep on the couch. By 6:30 we were all awake. It was not the type of night that I would choose to repeat.

Tonight, I am running on fumes (but still have report cards to work on) but I am so excited to get to bed. For a few reasons. Number 1, I am exhausted. Number 2, I get the bed to myself...and I plan to sleep in the middle. Number 3, Robbie washed the sheets today and I LOVE clean sheets. And number 4 is my brand new duvet cover! Our old cover was over 8 years old (it was a wedding gift) and had seen better days. For the past month (or more) I didn't dare move while I slept for fear of ripping it even more than it was. While I am sorry to say goodbye to this,





I know that tonight I will sleep MUCH better. Nighty night!

Audience Participation Required

Okay...I am going to brag for just a minute here. I am getting pretty good at grocery shopping. And by that I mean buying things when they are on sale so that A. I always have a full pantry and B. I don't spend an arm and a leg on groceries.

When I was a kid, my dad would spend all day going from store to store to get the best deals and then put all of the groceries on the table for us to guess how much (or how little) he had spent. I don't have time to run from store to store but I have learned that it is worth spending a bit of time clipping coupons. So now it is your turn. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to guess how much money I spent on today's Safeway adventure. Here's what I got:

1 roll aluminum foil

1 package of slow cooker liners

5 cartons of chicken broth

1 box of hot cocoa

2 bags of apples

3 packages of chocolate chips

8 cans of soup

4 boxes of instant oatmeal

1 jar of garlic

10 packages of tortillas

1 19 lb. turkey

10 lbs. of flour

2 blocks of cheese

18 yogurts

3 tubs of cool whip

3 packages of English muffins

1 bag of spinach

1 bag of marshmallows

2 packages of brown sugar

2 gallons of milk

1 box of stuffing mix

5 boxes of cereal

1/2 gallon of egg nog

10 bottles of Powerade

So what do you think it all cost? I will announce the winner and the correct amount soon!