Happy Thanksgiving

Happy day after Thanksgiving actually.  The holiday took a decidedly more somber tone earlier in the week when Ron's father passed away somewhat unexpectedly on Monday might.  He was 91 so I guess one could say that you know someone isn't going to live forever at that age but on the other hand, up until a few weeks ago, he was living on his own in an apartment (and more recently in assisted living) and was in pretty good health.  Ron and Elaine had been planning on bringing his dad in from Ocala (where he lived) for the holiday and so had gone all out putting up the Christmas decorations including the tree.  But instead of his dad enjoying the decorations, it was Ron's sister and brother-in-law, Jack & Trish, and his son, Adam, and Adam's girlfriend Megan who had flown in the previous day.  On the one hand, it was nice to be able to celebrate the day with them but obviously we would have preferred the original plan.  The funeral is taking place tomorrow morning at 11 am in Plant City.  If we can get up in time, which I'm counting on, we're going to stop in Lakeland on the way there to go to Sabbath School.

Because of the Patriots game yesterday and other factors, our big meal was planned for 4:30.  That gave us much of the day to to do whatever.  We did let Calleigh watch some of the parade and she was glued to the TV.  Aubree could definitely not have cared less.  In the early afternoon, we took a trip out to the playground (it was 80+ degrees afterall) but first Walgreen's.  The pharmacies were having amazing Black Friday deals with tons of ultimately free stuff and I couldn't resist.  Calleigh, unfortunately, was having a heart attack about going to Walgreen's before the playground (I insisted we do it in this order because I need the girls to have their snack while we're shopping and it would be too close to lunch if we did Walgreen's after the playground).  So she's basically crying as we walk into the store as we try to shush her but I do manage to hear someone say quite loudly, "Go Patriots."  I look around and I see Doc Rivers (Celtics head coach), calling out to me as he waited in line to buy batteries. I had my Patriots jersey on so clearly that's what triggered it.  He then asked us "Isn't the game just about to come on?"  We told him we were taping it because of the kids.  We continue walking and we realized I had my camera with me and it would be cool to get a picture and he seemed very open to it since he was just standing there in line chit chatting with other people in line.  But Calleigh would not be quiet so we put a lid on that plan.  After a few minutes, I went back to the front of the store to get a basket and basically cut Doc off as he was leaving.  he said something else to me that I don't remember and then I think I said to him "Good luck!"  Anyway, our basic assessment of him was that he was very friendly which jives with other reports we've heard of him being a nice guy.  He lives in our town, Winter Park, (where his son, Austin, was a stand out high school basketball player before recently graduating), so obviously he must be home for the holiday.  Duncan said he was wondering who was in the store because when we pulled in, he noticed a Porsche in the parking lot.  I guess that answers that.  As far as the shopping trip went, we spent $44 and got back $38 (the $6 gap was due to taxes and some hair gel that wasn't free that Duncan needed) in "jingle cash".  Today when we went to Publix, I showed Duncan the magic of the jingle cash (usually called register rewards).  We bought a bunch of groceries and only paid $3 because we were able to use the $38 of jingle cash at Publix.  As Duncan says "I just don't understand."  But what's to understand is that we just stocked up on a bunch of stocking stuffers and other goodies for basically free.  Good times.

We were going to watch the game at Ron and Elaine's and have the girls nap (or try to nap) there but as it turned out, Aubree woke up a few times on Wednesday night (molars?) and so we decided to just get in her good nap at home.  I made a few things to take over and after the very entertaining football game, off we went.  Elaine had prepared quite a spread and I do believe it was one of our best Thanksgivings food wise.  After clean up, we went outside and counted down for the lighting up of all their outside Christmas lights.  The girls were pretty excited by that and of course, playing with the train under the tree.

Aubree counting while Calleigh hid.

Or course, the girls wouldn't look at the camera.

Aubree was quite taken with Jack.

Earlier in the week found us making another mall run so I could take advantage of a good coupon at Yankee Candle.  As usual, the majority of the time was spent at the playground which was just fine with me.  Playground = good napping.  Wednesday morning we took Megan to the airport so she could fly up to Boston.  It was touch and go for awhile since she had to drop her dog off at the vet/boarding before leaving and her dog had the misfortune of getting bitten by a spider over the weekend.  She was all swollen up and due to very bad timing, they wouldn't give her any of her yearly shots that were due and that she needed in order to board.  Fortunately, Wednesday morning they did give her the shots but by the time all was said and done, it was pretty late.  We dropped Megan off an hour before her flight which we were a little nervous about on the day before Thanksgiving but it turned out that she got through security in like seven minutes.  Crisis averted.  Duncan got home from work early and we were looking for something to do so we stopped in at Jeremiah's after supper.  I must say, it does feel a little weird sitting outside in your short sleeves eating ice cream on Thanksgiving eve.

Today we didn't go all Black Friday crazy, not that we ever do.  We have vowed to get most of our shopping done before we leave this year but a lot of the stuff on people's lists is not stuff you buy during Black Friday.  I did go to a consignment store that was having 35% off everything so that was nice and then I was most excited to go to Burlington Coat Factory where I finally got a pair of winter boots.  I haven't had any in years and it's always a pain to walk around Boston in my sneakers when there's a foot of snow on the ground.  We got Calleigh a pair too since she obviously had outgrown the ones from last year (but not her jacket and snow pants.  Yay!).

Aubree had to try on Calleigh's "new" boots from the consignment store.

Speaking of Calleigh, I feel like we've been going through a rough stretch.  Maybe you could call it the "Terrible Three's."  The Two's were fine but the Three's, man, they've been a challenge as of late.  She'll throw fits over not getting to wear what she wants (I'm fine for letting her pick stuff out but the things she usually puts together are completely hideous or just not appropriate) and or having to get her hair combed (as she tells me "YOU'RE A BAD COMBER, MOM").  I mean, I'm not supposed to just let her go around without her hair combed, right?  This afternoon at Publix she had an outburst because she wanted to use a particular cart (which I didn't want to use because it wasn't as safe for Aubree who needs to be strapped in).  It's times like these that I shake my head and think to myself, "Boy, I'm really getting underpaid on this job."  But then, five minutes later, she's hugging you and saying "I want you to be my mommy forever and ever" and you barely remember the kicking and screaming from a few minutes earlier.  But seriously, you can't help but question your parenting skills when these things go on but I try to console myself by telling myself that this probably happens with a lot of kids and it's (hopefully) just a passing phase.  Right?  Right???

Aubree, meanwhile, has her moments too.  They aren't on the same scale as Calleigh, thank goodness, but I tell you, that girl can get loud when she wants too.  She has this particular scream that's very obnoxious but not nearly obnoxious as her favorite chant which goes like this, "Mommy!  MOMMY!, MOOMMMMYYY!"  And it's repeated over and over until she gets my attention.  Typically it's because she wants a cracker (which she expects to get as soon as she gets into the van which is NOT how it works) or because she wants her binky.  But now she's even starting it at night.  Lately she hasn't been going right to sleep when she goes down at 8:30.  Within about five minutes of hitting the crib, the Mommy chant starts up.  So you go in there, make sure she hasn't dropped one of her binkies, move her dolls around, and tell her to go to sleep.  Five minutes later, she's at it again.  Tonight I said, no more.  She can do the Mommy all she wants and I'm not going in there.  She did go through three very loud episodes of it which I ignored and she finally went to sleep around 9:15.  The problem with all of this is that I usually take a mini-nap from 8:30, when they go down, to about 9:00 or 9:15 and it really infringes on my rest when I have to listen to her yelling.

But on to something positive.  Aubree was quite cute the other day when she was looking at my belly button.  She loves looking at my belly button for some reason and as she was touching it, I explained to her how there was a baby in my belly.  She started waving at my belly and saying "Hi baby" and then she started peering very closely at my belly button as if she was looking for the baby in there.  

On that note, I will wish you a Happy Sabbath.