Thankful Turkeys

Seth and I "invited" ourselves to his parents' house for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Then we proceeded to tell his parents that our "friends" were also coming.  We assured them they wouldn't eat much and that they were nice.  Little did they know we had invited Ryan, Seth's brother, who's living in the mid-west.  

Ryan & Libbi and their sweet baby drove through the night to make it to Maryland Thanksgiving morning. Seth, the concerned big brother, must have called Ryan ten times (or maybe just four) throughout the night to make sure he was doing okay.  

The look on Seth's parents' faces when they pulled up was PRICELESS!!  Totally surprised.

Hip, hip hooray!

Before the masses assembled for dinner, there was work to be done.  

Averett took his position as lead supervisor.

 I love Averett "creeping" in Joan & Hazel's picture, and I love Hazel buried in the leaves, can you find her? 

Love it.

Aunt Joanie is the b.e.s.t.

Dinner was nothing short of a FEAST. Mom and Dad H graciously opened their home to several families, and the company was great.  

I was pretty sick all weekend, but managed to appreciate some delicious Thanksgiving turkey. 

The feast was too much for Averett, and he passed out mid-bite.  

Bless his heart.

We made a trip to Seth's grandparents home.  Grandma hasn't been feeling too great, so it was fun to visit with her.  We also talked Grandpa into letting us help rake some of the leaves in his yard.  We barely added to the massive pile of leaves he has. 

Then we did a lot of quality hanging out, playing at the park, cutting down the Christmas tree (in gale force, freezing wind), and more hanging out.

And we made time for some serious applesauce canning.  Yum. 

We had a pretty nice system down, but leave it to Ryan, aka the family supervisor and process engineer to step in and point out ways we could be more effective and efficient.  We listened to him for a few minutes, and then sent him back outside for "man" work.  

(We love our nephew T - seriously, do they come cuter??)

Thank you to Mom & Dad H for a fantastic weekend, and a super thank you to Ryan & Libbi for making the drive out, it was so fun!

Family Pictures 2012

Seth is a great photographer, I am a picky "client".  

It is amazing to me that he is willing to do our pictures every year.  

Prepare for photo-overload.

She went from saying "cheeeeeeese" (above), to "cheetoooooos" (below).

The kids were good sports, but Hazel's attention span is a little short, and soon she was finding ways to entertain herself...

The "winner" for the Christmas card:

 

Thank you, Seth!  (Sorry for posting these before you had a chance to "play" with them!!)

Boo!

 For a solid year, Hazel has been telling me she wants to be a lamb for Halloween, and she wants Averett to be a duck.  I did my mom-duty, and reminded her that that is exactly what they wore last year, but she had no interest in changing. 

 (Relief to me, as I really didn't want to make new costumes this year!)

They have worn their costumes off and on the past year.  

Making sure they fit.

We kicked off our festivities with a Boppa Tang Halloween box (if you can't be there to party with my mom, she'll send the party to you).

We put a skeleton back together, made Halloween shirts, raced creepy crawlers and played a witch hat ring-toss.  (We used her pumpkin decorating stickers later).  Thanks Mom, for the fun!!

We did a test-run of our costumes at the church's Trunk or Treat. 

Success!!  (We were the Old MacDonald family again, so Seth and I were "farmers").

We paused in our celebrating to hunker down for Hurricane Sandy.

But, figured we might as well carve pumpkins while cooped up inside.

Hazel wanted us to carve our pumpkins to look like the little ones...um, we did our best.

The storm finally passed, and we had a feast on Halloween, followed by some awesome trick or treating.

 Considering I couldn't even snap Averett's costume between his legs, I have a feeling I won't be able to re-use the costumes for a third time, next year - better start planning now!

Perspective

Tonight was one I don't want to forget.  Ever.

In case you've been living under a rock, I'm pregnant.  And in the off-chance you didn't know me during the last two pregnancies...I get sick.  Like, really really sick.  And, I have to preface this story with that, because I may or may not gross you out.

This afternoon, like every other afternoon, I knew I was going to throw up.  Sometimes (like one out of one thousand), the feeling will pass.  I knew I wouldn't be so lucky today.  It was coming, and I couldn't do anything about it.

It's Seth's "late" day, so it was just me and the kids.  As I am currently super-mom, we had frozen pizza.  I usually avoid pizza.  (the sauce is red, red = burning vomit).  Avoid burning vomit.  But, let's be honest, Totino's doesn't exactly layer on the sauce.  I took my chances.

Post-dinner was bath-time. 

Then story-time.  Definitely not feeling good, I envisioned myself finishing the stories, saying prayers, tucking the kids in bed and escaping to the kitchen sink.  All alone.  Just me, the sink, cold water running, and the disposal on.

I had Hazel tucked in, and holding Averett as he waved goodnight.  He's a mini linebacker, and the weight on my stomach was too much.  I quickly set him down and dashed to the bathroom.  Just making it to the toilet.  (FYI: I do NOT throw up in the toilet, garbage disposals are my best friend).  But, alas, I found myself kneeling in front of the toilet, saying goodbye to the two baby slices of pizza. 

If this is too much information, this is actually where it gets good.

I am pretty sure the kids were in the bathroom, with me, before I even made it to my knees.  Hazel was standing to my left, and Averett to my right.  They stared at me concerned for a minute or two, I closed my eyes, and instantly felt a little three year old hand rubbing my back, and in that same moment I heard Averett cough.  I looked up to see him pretend-coughing and spitting into the toilet.  Both doing their best, in their own ways, to comfort me.

I pray every night for the strength to be "mom".  I am not asking for super-powers, our house is not as clean as I'd like, and the ironing pile is taller than me, our meals are less than amazing, I feel completely overwhelmed 97% of the time, and Seth has never once complained.  But I still need to be a mom, the kids have places they need to be, meals to eat, and they just need me.  So I pray for the energy to be "mom".

Tonight I am grateful that I had the perspective I did.  Instead of pushing the kids out of the bathroom, it was comforting having them there with me.  And as slightly disturbing as it was to watch Averett cough and spit, it was one of the cutest things I've experienced in the presence of a toilet.  Annnd, with sweet Hazel's hand patting my back, as she told me it would be okay, I realized that as crazy and head-strong as she can be, she really has the sweetest, tender, little feelings. 

I am also so glad I could see the humor in the whole situation, because as miserable as it is to throw up - it is pretty funny to watch your baby do his best impression of your heaving.

Here's to 6 more months.

Pickin' Pumpkins

 Pumpkin Picking at Brad's... one of our favorite fall traditions!

It had poured the day before, and the field was a little muddy.  Hazel liked showing off the poop mud.

We had so much fun, the kids and I went back a few days later for Hazel's preschool field trip.

 

Camping!

Seth and I spent our first three and a half years together camping.  We went as often as possible; it was so easy, we would pack up his Bronco and bumpity-bump we'd be in Moab, the Uintas or out in the desert with his buddies.  We loved it. 

Then we sold the Bronco (sniff, sniff), moved to Maryland and had not one, but two kids.  Not sure exactly where the time went, but it has been FIVE years since we've really gone camping.  I'm so embarrassed to even say that out loud.  Gag. 

Each Spring, we say, "let's go camping this year"...and then November comes and we've missed another year.

THIS was our year.  We were short on time (and really not sure how the kids would do), so we decided we'd go local and for one night. 

The campground called to warn us they had a massive stinkbug (but they aren't REAL stinkbugs, they are like "shield" bugs...totally annoying) infestation; and we could cancel if we'd like.  We debated, but figured we would play the odds and go anyway.  (For the record, other than the shack we checked in at, we didn't see any stink bugs - score!)  We picked a perfect night, it was an unseasonably warm October evening.  Hazel was a little sick, so we gave her some Benadryl and were on our way...can you tell she was on drugs?

Just kidding..that's her awesome "thumbs up" to camping!

We ate a tasty dinner (or the kids and Seth did, as I just avoid food altogether right now...especially hot dogs. Oh, vomit).  Then we had the BEST s'mores EVER.  Graham crackers, nutella, marshmallows and strawberries.  Sweet deliciousness.

I envisioned us sitting around the campfire, nice and late.  However, since Hazel wasn't feeling well, she kept asking when she could go to bed.  We made her wait until it was somewhat dark (uh...7??) and then we all crawled into the tent.

Hazel and Seth: out immediately, but then Hazel doesn't handle Benadryl well (I don't know why we even bother with it), she would wake up every hour, on the hour, and cry for a minute or two while Seth held her and then fall back to sleep.

Geri and Averett: Godzilla baby, he was so excited he just kept walking all over me, and looming over me.  After about an hour (which seemed like three), he decided the best way for him to sleep was to lay on my stomach, which meant I had to be on my back, which meant I wanted to puke all over him.  We worked ourselves into a routine, he'd fall asleep on my stomach, I'd scoot him to his own bed...he'd sleep for a while, come find me again, sleep on my stomach, scoot him away, repeat.

At one point Seth and I were both awake, positive the sun would be up any moment, I made the mistake of asking Seth what time it was. 

10:30.

Oh dear, a long night, indeed.

Eventually, the sun DID rise, and surprisingly, everyone but Momma G was asleep.

He did eventually pass out.

We ate some delicious breakfast and went for a little "hike".

It was so fun, sure the kids had a rough night, but in their defense neither one was feeling 100% healthy.  Hazel keeps asking when we can go again...she's going to have to wait until the Spring...it is cooling off fast!