What was your Thanksgiving missing?

What an awesome Thanksgiving!  We didn't have to leave home, we saw all of our family (within the last week)--even Chris' family in Alabama!  We had incredible food, played games, watched the Colts win, and enjoyed the season's first snow.  Overall, it was just fabulous.  As I was putting the girls to bed last night we talked about what a great Thanksgiving we'd had and how thankful we are for so many things.  Anna said, "yeah, but we should have had salami."  Salami?  I've never served it and it took until later today to figure out that a little girl in her preschool class brought salami to school last week.  Evidently we had it all...all except salami.

Uh oh...

We started our impromptu trip to Alabama together from IUPUI yesterday afternoon. Chris and the kids picked me up and we headed south. We were not yet even to interstate 65 when McKenna asked, "Are we there yet?" Oh dear. Seriously, we were only about 2 miles into the trip. Our drive was mostly through a torrential downpour. We were so blessed, though, with a safe trip. After arriving at Wendy's house we learned that we had driven right through where a tornado had been. I wouldn't have been surprised if it had been in southern Tennessee at the same time we were. Praise the Lord for our safety and for a productive day today! Hopefully tomorrow we'll get a little farther into our return trip before anyone asks "the question"!

Take a breath....

After yesterday, it's good to stop and take a breath!  The kids and I had church in the morning--Anna had preschool, McKenna and Sam had MDO, and I got to be a substitute teacher in one of the MDO rooms.  After a harried morning (spilled cocoa krispies on the brown hardwood floor on the way out the door qualify as part of a harried morning), it was good to get to church and get started with our activities.  It was after 10am when I had a moment of panic.  It was "Dad's Day" in Anna's class.  All the dads were coming and I just knew that Chris had forgotten.  I had forgotten.  It had been a full week since we'd talked about it.  Panic.  I just couldn't bear to think about how sad Anna would have been if Chris hadn't been there.  THANKFULLY, I was able to get in touch with Chris and since he just works a few minutes away he was able to leave for a little while and be there before the Dad's Day festivities began--at 10:30.  After noon Chris and I began to plan a trip to Alabama to help his folks with some "stuff".  We'll be leaving as soon as I finish my statistics test in a couple hours.  So, then, came the packing and preparing, and all that kind of stuff.  On top of that, because we're leaving today, I had to do the take-home portion of my exam last night (very difficult).  Sleep?  Who needs it!

Samuel is so entertaining right now!  I really like all the development that happens in the first few years.  This, though, has to be one of my favorite stages.  He's saying new words every day.  Yesterday he worked a whole puzzle without getting distracted or throwing any pieces.  Big milestone.  He also told me what the pieces were as he was working it.  Bigger.  I just can't get enough of that little guy!  

Dad was working on the kitchen floor last night, using a pry bar and hammer to remove some of the boards.  Samuel entered the scene and the boy was in heaven!  He'd never looked as happy!  He pointed to dad's hammer and squealed an "ooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh" and then labeled it as a "bam bam".  It only got better for him when he realized there was another "bam bam".  Sam used the pry bar appropriately, had fun with the hammer, and cried when he had to leave the construction site to go to bed.  Oh, to be one.  Chris and I are hoping that my dad can teach Samuel all he knows and that Samuel will be as talented as dad.  Then when Dad's not around to fix and build things, we can call Samuel.  

Have a nice day!

There's a new favorite toy at home.  The cardboard box.  It's big enough for two children to sit inside and it has holes at what becomes eye level for the sitting preschooler inside.  It's the perfect Starbucks drive-through, I've discovered.  The girls have spent the last few days playing Starbucks.  They would make great barristas!  They greet you nicely, ask if they can make you an orange mocha or a peppermint mocha, take your "money" (usually pieces from the Winnie the Pooh memory game), give you change (more memory pieces), grind the coffee beans (they make the same noise as beans grinding), pour your drink, hand it to you with a smile and wave you off saying, "Have a nice day!".  Oh, dear.