Thankful for the sisters growing up in my house...and their auntie

Black Friday.

I'm a Black Friday shopper. Not a crazy one. A roll out of bed at 8:00, hit Starbucks a couple times, wander the crowds sort of one. I wasn't really feeling the love this year--I couldn't find my favorite Christmas shopping cd and then Micheals had one checker. on Black Friday. grr. But I rallied with a bag of gingersnap mini donuts and some cute wrapping paper. I hurried home so Ed could get some fishing in and I could start the massive work of cleaning up Fall and setting up Christmas. Another Black Friday tradition. Jack was my awesome work buddy--he hauled out tubs, cleaned like crazy, and ran around telling me where everything went last year. The only problem is that I don't like to put stuff where I put it last year but we made some good compromises. I love Christmas time in this house...so sparkly! The kids wanted a party but by the time I was finished, we popped them in bed and had a party of two--me and Ed...with a good movie and the rest of our leftover pie. Nice.

Thanksgiving!

Love this girl. Couldn't be more thankful for her!
This monkey slept most of the day.

The crew.

After eating as much as possible, we put the babies to bed, the big girls watched a movie and these two snuggled in with their itouches to play games while everyone else did this:

Cozy.

Waiting for post-nap pie!

After hand washing the silver it occured to us that the girls actually like doing it so we called them into service. Nothing they love more than two orphans slaving away in the kitchen. We ended the night with a Christmas lighting ceremony and then headed home for some turkey sandwiches and a round of Garfield's Thanksgiving.

Such a relaxing, cozy day! Jack said, "I wish every day was Thanksgiving!"

Turkey Trot!

I've wanted to do a Turkey Trot for years so I was pumped when Signe told me about the Ryan's first Freeze Your Buns Run on Thanksgiving morning. I was slightly less excited when I heard where the course was--probably my least favorite route in the area thanks to some nasty hills. But it was a gorgeous morning--no snow and even a little sun and Paula and I ran it together, something we have never done. When I showed up and saw a kids' course I ran back for Ava and Jack so they could run the mile with their buddies.

Pre-race bonfire.
Starting line--the kids are lined up first to get a jump on us old people.

Done.

The awards ceremony.

Paula and I tied for first in our (small) age group--Jack was super pumped, he always wonders why I don't win Bloomsday or any other runs.

Forget a winner's medal...I'll take the Milkduds!

Little cougs.

on their way to play basketball at the gym. I can hardly stand Jemma's chubby legs in those shorts...if only they didn't have to grow up.

Portland!

Ed has had a lot of travel this fall, mostly to places I have very little interest in visiting but his last trip of the season was a quick one to Portland so I made sure I was included. We do love a good road trip and traveling without kids is always a bit more relaxing--the only time I had to reach into the backseat was to grab a pillow for my nap. My dad was on his way home from the west side and he called us when he happened to be at mile marker 78 and we were at 92 so we met in the middle for some gas station treats:

We hurried on, hit IKEA and Red Robin, and then checked into our hotel. Ed was speaking the next day so went I went shopping. I had a pocketful of Gap/BR dollars so I got a coat, bracelet, earrings, two dresses, shoes, hat, and two things for the girls and only spent $20! I clearly spend too much to be getting those kinds of rewards. Ed finished earlier than we expected so we got into downtown Portland nice and early. We shopped and wandered for awhile, scoping out places to have dinner and then we stopped for happy hour at a cozy place and then we found ourselves hitting happy hours all the way back to the hotel. Our favorite way to eat. Lots of cool eats and drinks and a new atmosphere every hour. The only problem was that we never went back to the room to get cute for going out. So I found myself in fancy schmancy Ruths Chris in my wooly sweater and rain frizzed hair. Ah well, the beauty of knowing nobody in the place.

The next morning we hit VooDoo donuts:
Ed got an apple fritter...lame-o. I got an oreo peanut butter something or other.

You know I love this.

Ran down this path in the marathon...so much more fun with a donut and shopping bags, I tell you.

Super lovely trip...yummy food, good shopping, amazing hotel, and, of course, pretty darn good company.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope your day was as full of food and fun as ours!

I like to post a family pic on Thanksgiving but my kids were too busy having fun to hold still for one so here's me and my man. Who really deserves his own post but I haven't had a second to use my brain...so I'll catch up on the last week first and then tell you why I'm thankful for him. For now, here's a hint:

Right now, after washing an insane amount of dishes, I am sitting down to a piece of pre-thanksgiving pie, a toasty fire, and some blog surfing while Ed watches his friends on the Biggest Loser next to me (seriously he is addicted to that show). And I'm a little giddy looking forward to tomorrow...I'm getting up early to clean this place top to bottom and finish all the laundry that somehow escaped laundry day, so I can head out to baking day. A whole afternoon with my mama and my sister and no little monkeys interupting us. Technically we're there to bake but you all know I don't actually bake anything--I just lay around till it's time to clean the kitchen and then they call me into service. Then I'll pick up a pizza (tradition, baby) and head home to my cozy house and have another night to look forward to Thanksgiving. It's a good life.

Right now

I'm thankful for 30 minutes of total quiet. After a day of cooking 2 turkeys, 40 pounds of mashed potatoes, 4 huge pans of stuffing, a round of sweet potatoes, a batch of caramelized pecans, and a bucket of honey butter for a dinner I (foolishly) agreed to cater, I have my sweet monkeys in bed for naps, my handsome husband and Ava out at Starbucks and the library, and I am sitting down to a late lunch of somebody's leftover pbj and a fake lemon cookie. My house smells yummy and I'm catching the end of a Law and Order I have somehow never seen and I meant to blog about my awesome trip but I have a pile of cookbooks to look through first (for one particular recipe of course). And my parents are taking all eleven grandkids for dinner tonight (before the cousins leave for the holiday) so Ed and I get another night out on our own...after I cook and carve one more turkey and a pot of cranberry sauce. It's possible I have whined once or twice about being Cinderella today. I do actually have a whole host of things to add to my thankful list but I'm just hoping I'll get to them this week. Today I think it's safe to say my Kitchenaid and dishwasher top the list, you know?

I think I left Paula's picture up long enough...

So tonight I'm thankful to be in rainy Portland in my cozy hotel room with Ed, who after a (long) month of travel finally let me tag along. without my cute kids. So I have two days of shopping, reading, eating, and shopping ahead of me. without my cute kids. It's a little Christmas gift before the season even begins.

Happy Monday

Here's Paula after a visit with the dentist this morning...I laughed so hard I cried but I got this shakey shot for you all to enjoy also. You can thank me later.

Thankful

for a quiet moment in an otherwise ridiculous weekend.

For the love of the game.

It's eleven pm and I just took this shot:

We had a lovely snow today (the first of the season!) and now there's a sort of freezing sleet coming down and a decent wind howling through and I'm snuggled in under a blanket with the heater cranked up (still recovering from last night and this morning) while Ed is outside, with (I'm guessing just a few) other die hard fans at the Coug game. In the freezing sleet. And liking it. And speaking of fans, here's the troops earlier today...the daddy wasn't even home but they know game day and are always geared up:

A closer look at those baby blues.

Jem jumped in for a shot.

And Henry, waving his flag with the best of them.

Baby, it's cold in here.

We just went 16 hours without heat and it.is.cold. The furnace went out and Ed's out of town (because this sort of thing never happens when he's here!). After fumbling around in the tiny little furnace box and electrical box for half the morning, I restarted it but it still wouldn't work until (ta da!) I screwed the front cover back on. (Totally felt like a Christmas Vacation moment...me in the garage hollering at Jack in the house while we both flip switches on and off till I figured it out but Jack thought he had the magic touch!). Now the heater's pumping away and it's a smoking 60 degrees in here. So let me tell ya, today I'm just happy to have a (slowly getting) warm house!

Happy Jack

Today I'm thankful for Jack. He just makes me happy. Every day. He's somehow kept all his baby delightfulness while growing into a hard working, helpful, eager boy. One minute he's vacumming and doing dishes and the next he's asking for some cuddles and telling me he hopes God gives him a happy wife and at least four kids. He loves to sit and chat and he loves to play all by himself. He dotes on his little brother and he makes Jemma's world go round. The real beauty is that his joy is contagious--he can't read a book or dribble a ball without a huge smile on his cute face.