First Steps, First Turkey

It's been a bit busy around here lately... well, here and there.  So I'm just catching up!

For some family health related reasons, I was out of town the week before Thanksgiving... and flew in that morning.  Timed it perfectly (!) to arrive between Jim's annual Turkey Bowl game and the family dinner.  The original plan was to fly Wednesday and get bumped a few times, thereby scoring some free plane trips for the year... but snow came and I was happy to stay an extra day.  So no free tix, but no snow delays and an extra night with Mom:  I can't complain.

Thanksgiving was one of the normal large-family gatherings.   There was another babe present, maybe 5 months old?  And cute as could be in a little brown outfit, with a matching bib that said something about "first thanksgiving" or "mom's favorite turkey."  I can't remember now, but it was cute.  I realized, with a bit of a start, that it was Cubby's first Thanksgiving too!  So I looked over at my little bear cub, who rips off any sort of bib these days, and who was at the time, under a table growling.  Honest.  I sincerely feel for this second son, who is equally loved and adored, but has a LOT fewer cute photos to prove it!

He did take a few steps that weekend- his first on his own!  They were shaky and only 1 or 2 at a time, but still.  He thinks he can walk, and would pull himself up... then promptly fall in the direction he was heading.  There's a lot of little bruises this days.  He seems fairly determined.  Although, I must point out that his crawling is amazingly fast- especially when a "forbidden door" opens.  He can be in a bathroom quicker than you can turn your head.  And if you call out NO as he heads down the hall, he will put his head down and go faster.  Fun times.

THANKSGIVING! THAT'S WHAT HOLIDAY IT IS.

Quick Takes Today:

1)  The next holiday is Thanksgiving.  I know this for a fact, despite the fact that none of the stores have ANY decent selection of Turkey or Scarecrow bulletin boards.  That I need for the school party Monday.

2)  I also know this, despite the fact that the party is called a FALL party, and not a holiday/Thanksgiving party.  What was that thing Seinfeld had? Festivus?  Why don't we just introduce the 5 year olds to that?

3)  I'm actually pleased that I found out about the missing turkeys today, instead of Sunday night.  This is my version of planning ahead.  I get bonus points for spending umpteen hours on Pinterest 'researching' fall crafts.  And then another hour looking up fall GAMES after I realized that's what I signed up for.  And then another 30 minutes tonight reviewing BOTH crafts and games, when I realized that no one else had signed up for the craft slot.

4) Signup Genius is awesome.  Except when it isn't.  That's pretty much my philosophy on all technology.

5) When the weatherfolk say there's ARCTIC anything in the forecast, it makes me dream of a sandy white beach Christmas.  Hey, maybe that's where all the turkeys and scarecrows are?!

Holiday "Making Stuff"

Part 2 of the Holiday Prep series...

Painting wrapping paper for Christmas.

.

I really enjoy making stuff, all sorts of stuff. I prefer if it has a practical use and not just a decorative one, but for the holidays the decorative stuff is good too. I really enjoy making gifts, but rarely set aside time to do it anymore. Used to be, I/we would pick a "new" project and learn how to do that during the summer/fall so we could create gifts for Christmas. But now with Kaden, there's more of a "making-holiday-card" vibe going!

.

This is supposed to be his foot as the turkey body with the hands arranged behind it as the feathers. But he wanted to stick them down himself, so...

.

So over the last few days, we've been "creating" all sorts of handprint turkeys. Paint, crayon, marker, scissors, foam, sticker-- basically, whatever we could get our "hands" on! It's fun for me and- in small doses- fun for him. We even had fun doing some with our neighbor twins, who were delighted with their "Craft Day"- and even more so when we hung a few on the fridge. The rest of the morning, one of the kids would randomly point at the kitchen and say "hey! those are my hands!"

.

Now comes the hard part- getting them into envelopes and mailed out in time for Thanksgiving!!

.

the Holidays are Coming! the Holidays are Coming!

I know, I know. We're still reeling from the Halloween festivities. But we blinked. And now it's the middle of November. Thanksgiving is next week. NEXT WEEK, people! Not that we're panicky. This week is too full!



At work this morning, I figured out the week. I have 5 meetings, 1 fun lunch, 1 big event, 1 Rite to coordinate at Mass, 1 morning of classes. And approximately 8 office hours to prepare for it. All in the next 6 days. And my assistant is on vacation. Wha? This is not a normal week at all! A bit much. Even if it involves fun stuff, eh?

Halloween fun stuff included mini-jack-o-lanterns filled with fruit.

A big hit with the littles, though in hindsight I probably should have told them not to eat the orange rind.

***

My Cajun brother wanted to know how we get ready for the holidays around here. Oh hurray and huzzah, a theme for this week's posts !!! (hey, Carolina bro, what do you want to hear about?)

I'm not sure there's an overall plan, per se. I do enjoy a lot of the preparing. I probably begin thinking about Christmas sometime in the fall. I really like doing some type of unique Christmas photo - past years have included a lot of variations on the beach theme. But last year I learned that with a toddler in the house, it's a bit harder to pull those off spontaneously! I finally came up with an IDEA for our card this year, but I don't think we'll have a chance to snap it until after Turkey day. After it comes out, we'll compare the idea with the actual photo, k?

Not a planned holiday photo, but definitely one to put away for his prom date.

(But you do have to admire his "stiff-arm" form! What a running back!)

Holidays... on warp speed

Can you describe your Thanksgiving in five words or less? Here's ours:

Kaden's first.... "stomach flu".... freezing



I thought I'd be kind and spare you the details. Except for the 3 funniest parts:

Nephew, age 10, upon hearing his family is leaving b/c his uncle and grandfather are throwing up in the background:

"What's so bad about that? They just sound like ninja warriors: hoo-YAH" Picture him making karate chops and kicks every time a noise arises from the backroom...


Nephew, age 6, telling me he's afraid of Santa. Me: so how are you going to get all that stuff you want if you won't even sit on the man's lap? Nephew: "Hmm, that's a good one, Titi. Let me think about it."


Nephew, age 7, brother of 5 others, looking at Kaden: "Aunt Kristi, wouldn't it be neat if you had NINE kids?" I sputtered through my coffee, as I'm not ready to even think about #2 yet...


It took us THREE days to drive home- and each day had at least 8 hours of driving, and 2 hours of a crying baby (no, not the driver). Yucky traffic. And it was COLD every day. We had talked of moving to North Carolina... but you know what? It's still pretty darn cold up there. Maybe Georgia...


After ignoring Christmas music and displays and ads for the past 6 weeks, I am suddenly suprised that the big day is about 3 weeks away. Yikes! I'd like to decorate the house and set up a crafty, present making station... but, um, where? Cause our little bundle of joy has taken every free inch of floor space up! And now he can actually grab things, not just swat at them... and it looks like he'll be able to roll over by Christmas. So this will be interesting...


AND-- this weekend is the Feast of St. Nicholas, the saint who inspired Santa. Check out fun stuff here.



Here's a belated 4 month photo of Kaden. I think he looks longer- you?