Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful. It was our first time having Thanksgiving dinner just the four of us, and we loved it. We watched the parade on TV (the boys especially loved the giant Horton balloon) and lay around most of the morning, then Jeff put the turkey in. I had made some food and food preparations the day before, so I didn't get too overwhelmed. Even though it was the four of us we went all out. We had all the traditional stuff - turkey and stuffing, cranberries (from fresh berries, my fav!) and gravy, mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, green beans and corn... and of course apple pie and ice cream pumpkin pie (my grandmother's recipe and my favorite!). We loved it all. Somehow we ended up signing "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?" during dinner, which the boys thought was hilarious, especially when we included Nala and Marley... don't ask me how that got started! After dinner we played duck, duck, goose and Go Fish, then we did dishes before pie. We just wanted to have fun, and it was great!

For those of you who have asked, I'm still sick, but getting more and more functional every day. I hope to be in church tomorrow morning. I spent a lot of Thanksgiving morning on the couch, but was really able to enjoy the afternoon of food and fun. Who knows what this awful virus is.

Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving - cranberries just starting to boil, I think that's the prettiest part of cooking Thanksgiving dinner, and dinner served.

I hope your Thanksgiving was great too!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Miserable.

I have been sick for four days now. Yucky, achy, runny nose, sore throat, throbbing head sick. It could be worse, for sure. But it's not fun. I went to my Bible study this morning, desperately wanting to be better, but then came home and crashed, then spent most of the rest of the day on the couch. That's all I really have to say, I just wanted to whine for a minute. Oh, and I should comment that Jeff has wonderfully taken care of most everything while I've been down. He's great. It's too bad that when we're well we wish for a day or two to just lie around doing nothing, but when we're sick we can't enjoy it!

Hedge Apples

Have you ever heard of such a thing? I hadn't! I was at my friend Nicole's house last week and she had these cool knobby green things in her centerpiece that were so neat. I asked her what they were, she said they were hedge apples and they they grow wild in the woods, her boys pick them up for her. I was fascinated!

Then yesterday I was driving in a country-type area and found a road lined with the trees and the ground covered in hedge apples! I pulled over and picked up a dozen or so of them. They're big, like softballs, and heavy. These were frozen solid, so they didn't have any smell until today when they finally thawed out. They smell citrusy and I love it.

I pulled out my Booma's (grandmother's) punch bowl (also a suggestion of Nicole's) and piled them in it. It is a big, cool centerpiece. I think it'll be perfect for Thanksgiving!

Check it out:

I can't believe it!

Roman has been potty-trained for quite a while now (thank you God!), but was still wearing a pull-up at night. I figured it would be a long time before he could stay dry at night since his pull-up was always soaked by morning, and often even soaked right through and his jammies and sheets would be wet.

Wednesday night we came home from our small group and sent the boys up to get ready for bed. Roman soon reported that we were out of pull-ups. I hadn't realized since he usually gets his own. Oops. We were too tired and it was too late to go get some so we told him he was just going to have to keep his bed dry. What I didn't tell him was that I was sure it was impossible and so after he was in bed I got extra jammies and sheets all ready for him for when he woke up wet. I dreaded his call during the night... but it never came. Around 7 AM he called me up and told me he had to go potty... and he was dry! Apparently it was all a mental thing for him, he knew the pull-up was there so he knew it was okay to go. Without the pull-up he knew he had to stay dry. I didn't buy more pull-ups, he went to bed in underwear again last night and woke up dry again. We are SO excited!!!

Go Roman!!!

Tonight's Special

Most days the boys beg me for peanut butter & jelly for lunch, and I often comply. Trey has started asking me lately if he could make it, and I keep putting him off.

Last night I hadn't planned dinner, Jeff was running late and I was going to run out the door as soon as he got home to make it to an appointment. I was upstairs with Roman and Trey came up and asked me if he could make our dinner. He promised he would not use the stove or the oven. I figured he was going to try to make PB&J, so I said yes - but no knives except a butter knife. He headed downstairs to get to work.

After about 10 minutes Roman and I headed down to see what we were eating. Trey had gotten out the toaster from a cabinet, plugged it in and made two pieces of toast. He had a bowl for him and one for Roman, with a piece of turkey lunch meat in each. He added peanuts and separate bowls for some yogurt and I helped him put the butter on the toast. It was adorable! And he was so proud of himself. When did he become so capable and independent???

4000 Hits

Thanks friends for your faithful reading, I've reached 4000 hits! I wonder how many times you laughed at me... :)

A Day to Remember

The other night friends of our stopped over for a bit. I was talking to their five-year-old daughter, Katie, and stopped to check out the scar on her forehead, which is from a library injury, believe it or not. I noticed the scar has faded a lot and told Katie "that was a day I will probably always remember!" Trey was there when I said it to her, but didn't say anything at the time.

The next day the boys and I were enjoying a perfect day of Indian summer. We were playing tag outside, then jumping on the trampoline. Hot and tired, we lay down together on the trampoline to look at the sky. Trey told me to roll over and when I did he started gently scratching my back and Roman copied him. Trey asks me to scratch his back all the time, he loves it, so to him this is something he recognizes as totally special and loving. After a minute they stopped and we still lay there, enjoying the day. Trey asked me "Mommy, is this a day you will always remember?" Happy tears came to my eyes and I assured him it definitely was.

Trey, I will forever remember that beautiful fall day and the sweet way you showed me your love...