Thankful Day

Even though I live just a few blocks from my in-laws, and we see each other often, it's still nice to look forward to gathering as a family for the holidays. Thanksgiving day was nice. It started off with an idea in David's head. It was sunny out, and he decided that we were going to hunt for wood to chop to build a fire at his mother's house for Thanksgiving. So, off we went down the street with David's chainsaw in hand. We found a little woods near our house and David tried to assure me, unsuccessfully, that it was okay to chop the wood there. I was prepared to book it out of there at any minute.

We met up at David's mom's house mid-afternoon, after the kids' naps. David began to create his fire, even though the day had evolved into an inexplicably warm day, near 70 degrees outside. But the man in him was determined to build fire! He had spent all morning prepping his mom's flue to make this ambiance a success.

We then gathered around the dining table and gave thanks for our blessings. Our family does have so much to be thankful for. My niece, Gracyn, was holding Bekah, and Bekah swiped three fingers across the mashed potatoes and took the first taste. I guess she approved.

See the baby finger swipe marks on the lower right corner of the mashed potatoes?

At dinner we had all the fixins. My favorites were the sweet potato casserole and the green bean casserole. I still had to eat in super speed, however, as Bekah was super fussy. It turned out she was teething and was quite miserable that day, and clingy to me, of course.


After dinner, Aunt Missy conducted a craft with Haleah and Kaelah. They made a turkey leg hat. It was so cute. We then worked on puzzles. Haleah was so intent on the puzzles. She absolutely loves them and concentrates on them so well. It's serious business with her. Kaelah, on the other hand, found trouble, and burned her hand on a hot curling iron.


The pies I made were delicious. I made a Buttermilk Chess pie, for my mother-in-law. She was looking forward to this pie, and took a bite out of it and made a sour face. Turns out I didn't warn her about the lemon taste. Ooops! But I thought it was good and "custardy", as I like it. I also made a Pecan pie, David's favorite. And I made an Apple pie for Gracyn. For my niece Cora and I, I made a French Silk pie, because we both love chocolate. And my kids simply liked whipped cream squirted into a bowl, so I let them have that treat.

Aren't these pies beautious? The only one not shown was my lovely French Silk pie.


I am truly thankful for my family and for the joy they bring me. I am striving to see that we don't need alot to be fullfilled. It's the little things that make us happy and we truly have so much, more than most. I want to focus on all the good that we do have, that God has blessed us with; and not get down on the frivolous things we don't have, or need, really. When I begin to want, then I become self centered, and that's not the person I want to be or the example I want to set for my children to see. I hope they will see that we should be givers more than takers of the blessings around us.

In and Out

David worked today, so I bundled the kids up and headed to Walmart for a few things. I let the kids ride the coin operated fire truck cause they promised me they'd be good. At home, the pipe under the kitchen sink sprung a leak. I solved the problem by putting a bucket under the pipe to catch the water till David got home. Then I deep cleaned the house (for as long and as fast as I could while the kids napped). When Haleah woke from nap she said, "Mommy, the house smells so nice!"

When David came home, we ventured off to Hobby Lobby and Panera Bread, as I had gift certificates to both from my Birthday.

I never think to go to Hobby Lobby, but it turned out I showed up on exactly the right day! All fall decor was 90% off. It was the kind of scenario where you had to elbow other snippy women to get a glimpse of the pumpkins and leaf garlands. But 90% off! The eager women were a little bit easier on me though, as I had a baby hanging on me in the baby carrier. And Bekah is too cute to be mean to. I ended up getting two fall-ish type garlands that I will use year round in my house (because that's kind of my motif). They were originally $19.99 each--but I "stole" them for $2 bucks each!

I spent the rest of the time in the Christmas department, in which everything was 50% off. I got some new jewel toned bulbs for my tree and some frosty cranberry sprigs. And David let me slip in a Christmas welcome mat too, even though that launched us beyond the gift card amount. I told him that some day, when we have load and loads of money, that I'm going to go hog wild in the Christmas department at Hobby Lobby.

We then made our way to Wendy's, to get take out for the girls, as I did not want to spend my gift card at Panera's on them because they would just waste the paninis and broccoli cheese soup.
We found a nice table to sit at, but I hardly noticed my surroundings due to my frazzliness. There was hardly anybody there, except for a young woman in the corner with her laptop and coffee. She was probably enjoying some quiet moments until we barged in. And within minutes, about four other couples, all with little kids came to sit around us. Bekah decided she did not want to eat her baby food and was adamant about trying to eat the french fry box instead. I scarfed down my turkey panini and decaf mocha latte. I thought, "Wow, this is fun..." I then got up and changed Bekah and went to the minivan to nurse before we headed home. Turned out Bekah didn't want to nurse, but instead cried (no, screamed) the whole way home.

My night turned out more enjoyable when we got home and we got the kids to bed. I got to spend time in the kitchen preparing food for a party tomorrow and some baked goods for church. I was thinking that sometimes it's fun to go out, but sometimes it's more fulfilling to just stay home.

Blue

I'm still feeling down, so tonight I'm picking a blue colored font to blog with... I have no idea how long this cough and cold of mine is going to linger, but it is absolutely miserable. I feel as if all of my duties and important To Do's have gone by the wayside, because I cannot get my act together when I'm sick. It's a poor excuse, but it's the truth. I look around my house now-- at the sleeve of crumbled Saltines on the couch cushion, at the tiny toys strewn throughout the toy room, at the clean laundry that still needs to be folded, at the dried up chili splatter on the stove--and the thought of cleaning it all up right now just exhausts me. So instead, I blog about it.

I did manage to get the kids outside briefly today again, to rake. We also raked up enough money to buy our neighbor's riding lawn mower, which is a godsend. Nothing like getting a big, cozy, wide seat on a mower to motivate a man to cut his own lawn!

David and I have been looking for ways to cut costs and save money. We shut off our Dish TV, we cut off our home phone line, we turned off the electricity to our shed, we consolidated some credit cards and now we are refinancing our home. We are also still trying to sell our pick up truck. It's been for sale for over a year with some nibbles, but no bites. Maybe now that the gas prices have gone down again, we might be able to generate some interest in it.

As for cuteness, today possessed some of that. Haleah said to me before nap: "Is Santa going to come to look at me while I sleep and say, 'Ho, Ho, Ho?'" She was very concerned that he was going to. I probably shouldn't have told her that he would do that. I think it creeps her out. I have about a month to try and bring Haleah around to seeing the jolly side of Santa.

Kaelah and Haleah, in seeing me hack my lungs out this past week, are fascinated with the cough drops I have been popping into my mouth. It looks like delectable, red candy to them. The look of the cough drop entices them so much, even though I tell them it's yucky medicine. Tonight Kaelah sat next to me on the couch and sadly said, "Belly hurts, Mommy. Need medicine." They try everything they can to get a cough drop out of me. But it's not going to happen!

Finally, Bekah decided to give me a precious gift. While I was holding her, she wrapped her arms around me and opened her drooly mouth real wide and planted a big, long baby kiss on the bottom of my cheek. Then she sat up and looked at me like she was so in love. And she touched my face with her sweet, sticky hands. So precious.

Sniffly Sunday

The sniffles seem to be lingering on in this house. And we have another bout of the coughs going around as well. We laid low, for the most part today. David also pulled his back out, so he was pretty miserable.

This morning I took some pictures. I told Kaelah to "make the face." And she proceeded to give me a sneer, being the ham that she is. It was so funny. Kaelah can hardly keep a straight face when she does it too. Then she gives me her sweet smile instead.

Haleah had fun "nursing" her baby today while wearing her hat on the chair. She likes to imitate me nursing Bekah, I guess.

I also took a video of the girls, reading on the chair in the living room. They are a bundle of fun.

Later in the day we spent some time over at Grandmama's and then came back to the house for fishsticks and corn. Oh, yum! A nice surprise ending to the evening was when Haleah and Kaelah truly helped me pick up their toy mess in each room. I was so proud of them.

Funny Things They Say

The past few nights during sleepy time were interesting. One night, Haleah screamed out in her sleep. David went in to hear Haleah saying, "No, Kinley, no!" Kinley is a little one year old friend we were watching last week for a few hours. She goes to our church. Haleah had been a little upset that Kinley was playing with her toys. I guess Kinley then came to haunt Haleah in her sleep!

Then last night, Kaelah woke up in her sleep. I went in to her room to find her standing in her crib and crying. I said, "What's wrong, Kaelah?" And she said, "Mocha come get me." Mocha is her Aunt Missy's dog. He is a BIG dog, but has a gentle spirit. Poor Kaelah was afraid that Mocha was going to eat her in her sleep. I was smiling as I settled Kaelah back down to sleep. And I was concerned that she was having nightmares over a dog.

Before bedtime tonight, Kaelah wasn't around playing when the rest of us were in the toy room. I began to walk around the house calling Kaelah's name. I finally found her in our unlit master bathroom, sitting on top of a tall bar stool type of chair back there. I said, "what are you doing?" She just said in her cute voice, "Dark. Sit on big chair." I guess she just wanted to perch up there in the dark all by herself. It kind of freaked me out though.

Potty Talk, etc. Beware!

Tonight, I sat down at my computer to type something real quick. I had laid Bekah down on the floor in the toy room beside me so that I could keep one eye on her and one eye on the keyboard. Well, when I turned around to glance down at Bekah, she was daggum standing up! Just a few days ago, when I shot this video (below), Bekah was just learning crawl by dragging herself around and scooting some. Now she is crawling faster and faster and apparently now is pulling up to stand!!! I am simply faberglasted (or however you say that word). Neither Haleah nor Kaelah crawled until they were about 10 months. And they didn't walk until 12 or 13 months. Not that this was a bad thing; I just wasn't expecting this from Bekah so soon.

In other developments, Kaelah, newly 2, has just taken to the idea of potty. She is peeing on the potty about 3-4 times a day. She is not super consistent, but shows interest. She is keeping me on my toes, though. She likes to pee both in the big potty and her little potty all in one "sitting." The problem is that she doesn't sit too long to "finish," and doesn't like to wipe! I am trying to convince a tiny 22 lb two-year-old not to sling pee around the bathroom. Not easy! But below is a pic of Kaelah putting a star on her Potty Chart on the fridge for peeing in the potty. She won't even put her diaper/pull-up back on before running out to proclaim her accomplishment. Gotta love the naked bootie!

Yesterday, I was in the middle of nursing Bekah. Kaelah walked by me saying, "poopy. poopy." I realized that she had gone by me with her diaper off and was heading to the bathroom. I thought this was a good thing. Then Haleah told me that she saw poop on Kaelah's bum and leg. I freaked out. By the time I got into the bathroom, Kaelah had poop all over the place. I had just gotten her out of the bath about 15 minutes prior, and here she was... covered in poop! Dirty again! What she had done was poop in her diaper and then realize in her brain that she had/did poop, and proceeded to take her diaper off and attempt to head to the potty to go. I am trying to explain to her that she must get to the potty before she goes potty. How do I convey this? I have no idea. But oh what a time I had cleaning up that mess! And Murphy's Law held true, because OF COURSE I had just cleaned that bathroom during their nap time that day too. Good times. And I found the hidden treasure (the poopy diaper) in the corner of the toy room.

Before the poop incident... they were clean in the tub!

Better for Birthdays

These past couple of weeks have been a bit on the rough side for our family. No matter how many times I told other sick people to wash their hands before touching my children, my kids and I came down with a bad case of the head colds. We have all been miserable, except for my husband, who never gets sick. This, however, was the first time that Bekah has been sick. She made it almost to 7 months before caving to the icky sickies. Not bad! But needless to say, I haven't gotten much done in the way of housewivery.

As my misery was nearing an end, Kaelah's and my Birthday approached. She and I share our special day together, November 10th. Kaelah turned 2 and I turned 33. I'm not ashamed to say it, as 3 is my lucky number, so I'm sure it's going to be a doubly great year.

We decided to have a Barney themed family party at my mother-in-laws house (for Kaelah, not for me). I made a baked ziti dinner and we had Barney cupcakes. The kids/cousins played fun games with balloons that we had organized. I decided to keep things rather simple for a 2 year old. I realized that they have just as much fun whether I spend $20 or $200. And I don't want to create a great monster of expectation in the mind of a little girl before it's time.

Anyhow, Kaelah, it turned out, was such a delightful Birthday girl. She ooo'd and ahhh'd at all the right places. She said, "wow!" at every present she opened. She smiled and said, "thank you" for her gifts. She ate carefully and politely and interacted with her guests. She blew out her candles and was so loving. We were so proud of her. And at the end of the night when David took her to bed, Kaelah looked up at him and said, "Good day," pulling her two fingers out of her mouth only for a second... To me, that made it all worth it- that a precious 2 year old enjoyed her party and felt loved.

Haleah was watching K.K. open her presents and was just wrought with jealousy.

Haleah finally got to open a small present of her own from Grandma that we had set aside for her. Happy at last!