Turkey Day

First of all, I can't believe it's already Sunday. Thanksgiving was four days ago. Time is flying by.

We had a good Turkey Day. Madeline, my master napper, who has missed maybe two naps in the last year, decided Thanksgiving would be a good day to not go down. I gave up after an hour and decided that that could kind of count as a rest, and hoped she would make it through the day without a major meltdown. She did really well. Thank goodness. It was easy for her, which makes me afraid that she might be getting ready to drop her nap altogether.



We went to Gma's at about 2:00. Mark, Kim, Jeff & Britt came from Arizona and Susie came from Chicago. It's always fun when everyone is here. Thor decided he wanted to try to make the turkey, so he researched different techniques and decided to brine it in a 5 gallon bucket overnight, do an herb rub under the skin and cook it upside down (It turned out really good and we pretty much demolished all 21 pounds of it). Not dry and lots of flavor. More power to him- I won't touch raw poultry. I'll barely touch it when it is cooked. Eeewwwww.


What's up turkey butt? hehehe!



We had most of the usual stuff- green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, rolls, cranberry salad, ham, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs and more. We're never short on food, that's for sure. And, like usual, our desert spread was nearly as big as our dinner with cookies, pies, cupcakes, and fudge. Dang, I'm actually making myself hungry again.


The kids ran wild in the backyard playing princesses and bad guys while we ate. We figured that'd be less stressful than trying to get them to eat at the same time. Once we were done eating we got them rounded up and fed.

Granny's (oops, I mean Grammy's) a good rounder-upper...



After dinner, mom got the Wii out, and the kids (and grown ups) went to town. First on Mario Cart, then the sports games.



Mom was trying to teach Madeline how to do the ski jump, but all she could do was make snowballs (it's what happens when your Mii rolls all the way down the ramp, you turn yourself into a giant snowball).



There was a downside to the day. My 97 year old great-grandpa had to be put in the hospital, so my grandparents spent the day going back and forth between the house, the hospital and my great grandparents apartment to be with my great-grandma. It was not a relaxing day for them and we missed them when they were not there.

A note about my great-grandparents: them meeting Madeline is like me meeting Madeline's granddaughter's granddaughter. Almost incomprehensible...

Bust a Rhyme

Our Masta Rappa...


She wasn't really rapping. I think she was singing Jingle Bells or something, but I thought the photo sequence was funny when I saw it. And, no, I don't usually let her stand in the refrigerator. I happened to have my camera in my hand, so she got a 2 minute pass...

The last perfect day

We had a cold week a while back and it made us feel all Fall-ish. After that week it warmed back up again. Thor and I kept complaining that it just wasn't getting cold fast enough. That is was still HOT HOT HOT outside, and blah, blah, blah. Then, suddenly, I realized that it wasn't HOT, it was like upper 70's, and that I better enjoy it while it lasts because it certainly will NOT last forever (this isn't San Diego, you know).

Today (according to those always correct, never wrong, weather forecaster folk) was the last perfect day. Tomorrow it will be cold and gloomy. Which is good for the holiday, but then upper 70's would be nice again if the weather gods wouldn't mind.

We have spent a lot of time outside. Madeline and Sophie palled around for hours everyday. And Maison's whinning broke me down and I've let him crawl around on the patio. We did the park a few times and Maison loves to be pushed around the backyard on the tricycle. He's surprisingly sturdy sitting all by himself, and can even pop wheelies.

I spent the last perfect day at Costco (craziness!!), the grocery store, and Target (where I regularly donate most of my money), and with my friend waiting for her new baby to arrive (what a tiny doll!). And trying to figure out how to post videos on this page, and figuring out how to get the videos off off the 50 mini-dvd disks I have accumulated over the past 2 1/2 years (I think I got it, finally!), and now playing with my new, lovely, photo program, shopping on Amazon, and posting to this wonderful blog. I'm pooped.

Hey cutie bootie, I'm sure I'll see you here in the next couple of hours. Guess I love you anyways.

Fancy day

First there were fancy cookies:

Then there was fancy standing:

Bad picture, but his other hand isn't holding onto anything either.

So far today

Maison slept all night, but of course, my newest addition had to get up at 4:00 to go pee outside.

Madeline watched 3 episodes of Little Einsteins from her new Christmas DVD that she loves. She woke up way too early today, so she also watched Jojo's Circus and Johnny and the Sprites in my bed while I tried to not get up.

I vacuumed and did dishes.

We hit up Starbucks for the Eggnog Chai that I'm trying not to make a daily habit, and a pack of Madeleine cookies for me and Madeline to share (which is, by the way, where I got her name, although we spelled it differently. She was named after cookies. That can't be surprising coming from me.)

We went to the park. There was no one else there. I let Maison crawl around on the ground. Gross I know, but I give up. I also put him in the swing for the first time and he kicked and smiled with delight. Madeline climbed up the slides and slid back down backwards and upside down.

Madeline and Sophie (our new dog) are now playing in the backyard. They've been playing quietly for half an hour now, which , I think is a record. I keep sneaking looks, being very careful not to remind them that I'm here. It looks like they are collecting a lot of "trees" (small branches from our evergreen bush/tree things).

Maison is napping. I put him down without his binky and he didn't even notice. I think he might not ever see a binky again. He has been taking big, huge naps lately. Yesterday's was 4 hours. Hopefully today will be the same. After his four hour nap:

On the other hand, Madeline has already been in her bed twice just to have her binky.

I am having anxiety issues from trying to choose my favorite photos from our family photo shoot we did with Lesley this weekend because all of the pics turned out so nice. So I took a break to write this lovely post.

I think I hear Madeline dragging a very dirty toy into my recently vacuumed house from the backyard. The one that is holding all of the "trees", so got to go...

Yep, she was. I told her to "take it back outside". She told me to "check it out".

Something I don't want to forget

I didn't start this blog until after Maison was born, but there are some things that pop into my head about Madeline when she was younger. I'm going to try to put them here as I remember them, otherwise they will dissappear from my brain completely.

When she first started walking, my mom and I took her to The District one weekend evening to walk around and do a little shopping. On the weekend there they have bands that play. Madeline has been a little dancer since she could move, always moving and groving to whatever beat or music she'd hear. Even funny things like the blowdryer would make her start bee-bopping.

Anyways, the music was playing and she was tottering around. As we got closer to the band, she started bopping. At one point she could barely keep walking because the music had taken over. It was hilarious. This little tiny thing, trying so hard to walk and dance at the same time.

Tonight's highlights

Tonight my parents watched the kids so we could catch a movie. Instead we decided to go to dinner (thanks Anna!). It was a nice night away. The highlights were:


1. Wine

2. Chocolate covered strawberries

3. On the way to pickup Maison (Madeline stayed the night), Thor was reminiscing about the old days of staying out late and sleeping in late, and joked that "he was getting tired of all this mature adult stuff" we have to do all the time.

4. The kids put together a cool haunted house at my parents house and tried to charge us a dime to enter. We counter offered a hug and kiss, and ended up settling on us just saying our name at the door. It was dark, we entered one by one, they chased us and threw stuffed animals at us. Max jumped on Thor and may have tried to bite his head. When I was at the door I could hear them telling Madeline over and over to "stay in your spot!", "get in your spot!". I thought she was being pretty brave in the dark and she chased me pretty good. The kids thought it was all hilarious. Madeline was having a great time.

5. There was one more thing I wanted to mention, but I can't remember what it was. Darn my forgetful brain.

As political as I get

1. I'm glad Obama won. I hope he can turn this country around, but I think our expectations are a little high for the poor guy.

2. I feel bad for McCain. He really wanted to win.

3. The SNL skits were really funny.

4. This is the first time since they started teaching us this stuff in school that I seriously have no idea who our VP is. I'm glad he didn't run for President.

5. I wish Amanda Peet would have come to my door to remind me to get out and vote.


That's it. It's as political as I get.

Holy Halloween

We had a zillion (give or take) trick-or-treaters and it was such a nice, warm night. We went to 4 houses so Madeline could do her first ever trick-or-treats and she loved it. Thanks to our candy-hander-outers (my Mom, Dad, Grandma, Aunt Debbie and Great Aunt Judy), her candy bucket was nearly full with candy. She now loves candy and all I hear all day is "it's candy time", "mommy, more candy", "candy now, please," and the wonderful, "WAHHHHH CANDY!!". And, of course, Thor and I haven't had a single piece of her candy, at all, ever. I'm funny. I know.

We seriously went through at least 500 pieces of candy, and for the most part, only gave 1 piece per person. Thank goodness for Costco.

The teenagers were out in full force for free candy, and while it was kinda annoying, I went there one year, too (maybe two years...), and some of them were really funny. Funny enough for me to take pictures of complete strangers.

Madeline wore her costume all night, but Masion only wore his long enough for pictures and then again just long enough to go trick-or-treat at our next door neighbor's house.

Madeline was very weary of the scary stuff (as she should be). At one house she handed her bucket to my mom and told her to do it. She didn't like the scary, but she didn't want to give up the candy. Madeline didn't like Grandpa's mask one bit, but I don't think Maison even noticed it.

And look who we get to buy a costume for next year.

Like I don't have enough reasons to not sleep at night. But she sure is cute...