Thanksgiving Weekend

Now that the weekend is over, I feel like I can say "Happy Thanksgiving." Sorry it is a couple days late, but I feel like I can breathe again. Granted, we only had the four of us for Thanksgiving, but I still cooked a full Thanksgiving meal. The turkey turned out beautifully and delicious...the gravy, for some reason, was not as successful as it usually is. Oh well...it still tasted great. After making two double batches of pie crust to get one pie crust, I scrapped them both and ordered Nick to run to the store for a pie crust before the apples browned beyond recognition. Needless to say, the pie was not up to my standard either. The mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, and stuffing were all delicious. Needless to say, with just the four of us, we had most of our turkey left over. Once we finish carving it, we will set some aside for turkey noodle soup (which we will eat on Tuesday, for my birthday) and leave some for sandwiches. Throughout the weekend, we have nearly finished off the rest of the leftovers...so we are doing good.

Saturday we spent a few hours at Nick's office to help him file and get things in order for the Regional Logistics Manager who is coming in on Tuesday. He will be auditing the Alaska branch, which adds a bit of stress on Nick. Once this next week is over, Nick will breathe easier and will be able to look forward to his week at home. After working, we did our grocery shopping. We left the house at 11am and didn't return until almost 5pm. It was a long day, especially for the little ones, but they were absolute champs. No melt downs, no fits, no arguments. After getting the groceries in, I had to quickly get dinner on the stove, eat, clean up dinner, and then start on baking my SIX batches of cornbread for the chili cook-off fundraiser for the youth group at church. We don't eat chili here (unless it is canned chili mixed in with cream cheese for a chip dip) so I volunteered cornbread as my contribution. (Nick wasn't exactly thrilled that I made so many, and even less thrilled when I brought three back home with me!) There was a dozen different chili's and a few other people brought cornbread or rolls, but when I asked Pastor Lucas how much cornbread he needed, he didn't really have much of an idea and made a guess. Oh well, we like cornbread. It will be good to eat with soup, for breakfast...and just about any time we feel like cornbread....at least until it is gone.

Baby Nick is such a gem. He has gotten very good at listening. All weekend, he has obeyed after being told only once. He has stayed off the stairs, even though we don't have the gate up right now, he has put things away when asked, and he has "stopped" whenever told to stop. The sweetest thing I have ever seen him do was on Thursday morning. The boys had waffles for breakfast, and I allowed them to eat in the living room on the breakfast tray. I was busy in the kitchen, making sure all my pots and pans were washed (since the boys like to play with them all day long) and then I see Baby Nick coming into the kitchen, carrying his breakfast plate and handing it to me at the sink. Talk about a heart-melting moment! I have never asked him to bring his dishes up to the sink, seeing as how he is only 15 months old. But there he was. He likes to help me now. He loves to close doors. He is usually so eager to close the door for me that he will start closing while my hand is still in the way. He is also in this phase of clinging to Mommy. Even Daddy isn't getting as much time with Baby Nick lately. He wants to be held all the time. I love it, on the one hand, but on the other it makes getting anything accomplished much more difficult. It's almost like he is an infant again! Although, I must admit, I am enjoying him much more this year than I was at this time last year! (Could it be that he was colicky, I had recently been ripped away from my home and family and I was thrown into nearly total darkness?)

Bubba continues to amaze me every day. The things that he learns, that he picks up. He loves to help me in the kitchen, he loves to play the computer. He astounds me on the computer. He knows where to click to get on the Internet, how to get to my "favorites" list, and where in my list are his game sites. He is allowed to play on PBSkids and Playhouse Disney. As long as he is given a warning (such as "this is the last game, then you need to get off the computer") he does really well with obeying without a fit. He adores his brother. He is always telling me how cute Baby Nick is. Whenever he walks by Baby Nick, he pats Nick's head on the way by. Bubba has always been my "lover". He has been asking for a baby sister lately. I keep telling him to talk to his dad about it!

And on that note, I will sign off for the night. I still have laundry to fold and it is now midnight. I've had an exhausting few days and have to work tomorrow. (Even if I didn't have to work, I still have to work...I'm a mother after all.)