Thanksgiving weekend

I can't believe our first long weekend of the holidays is already coming to a close. Malakai was off of school for 5 days, and Ben was off work for 4. It has been so nice having them home, especially right when I came down with a rather brutal cold. Now I just need to pray hard that everyone else stays healthy!

After 9 years of double Thanksgivings (both in one day) we decided to simplify and just do one this year. Mostly because it's easier with a baby (who isn't a fan of the car seat anyway) and partly because we wanted to stay in town. We've discussed maybe starting an every other year tradition where we rotate who we celebrate with each year. It was so restful to be able to stay at one location all day instead of having to plan to transition multiple times and figure out what to eat where and all that jazz. Packing up the kids just once to leave and once to go home was one of the best parts. We missed the other side of the family but we saw most of them the next day anyhow. 

Aurelia ate + slept through most of her first Thanksgiving, so she's already pretty much got the traditions down. The boys enjoyed playing with cousins and other relatives all day. It was a nice and relatively relaxing day. 

Normally we go get our Christmas tree a day or two after Thanksgiving but with the forecast of rain and my feeling under the weather we chose to push it back to next weekend. It also gives us more time to clear a space for the tree and pull the Christmas decor out of storage. 

Last year I made an Advent calendar for the boys that they loved. This year Malakai made a chain at Sunday school that we'll start shortening day by day. Each link has a scripture verse and activity. We should be plenty busy learning and celebrating all month long. 

Thanksgiving Weekend

Well Thanksgiving was Desmond's first big family Holiday (Halloween doesn't count, especially because we did NOTHING). Since we live in the same area as both sets of the boys' grandparents and much of my extended family, we have had two Thanksgiving gatherings in the same day since we got married. I thought it was exhausting before having children, I was dead wrong.

We arrived at Thanksgiving round 1 which was hosted by Ben's parents late Thursday morning. We had to pack to be gone all day so our car was full of extra clothes, tons of diapers, food, and other miscellany that becomes necessary when out with a toddler and baby. This also means we inevitably forgot something. Ben even said, just before we pulled out of the garage "if we forgot something, we'll make due". Unfortunately we forgot the frosting I had made for the pumpkin bars and I didn't want to have to scrounge ingredients to remake it, so he went back for it. Thankfully we only live 10 minutes away.

Desmond met lots of relatives for the first time and was passed around quite a bit, although Aunt Kristi had him for the majority of the time. She even held him while she ate. Our boys are well loved.

Here is a shot of most of the group just before eating.

We visited for a while longer after dinner and chased Kai around. He was a bit overwhelmed by all the people and really just wanted to play in a quiet room or have Grandma read him books, the routine when we're over there on any other day. It was also nap time, but we had Thanksgiving round 2 ahead of us so he got to sleep about 10 minutes on the way there...

We met at a local grange hall because of the large size of this gathering. There were nearly 30 of us and that's with 9 family members missing.

Malakai ran around the open space like a maniac and wanted so badly to play with the big kids, but got run over a few too many times for mama's liking. How he had that much energy after not napping is a mystery to me. He did have a few fits that were clearly due to him being tired, but overall he did really well and enjoyed seeing everyone.

Once again, Des got passed around (and slept through most of it) as he met new family members. I made sure to get a snapshot of just the four of us as I'm usually behind the camera and forget to jump into a picture with my boys.

Once Kai's meltdowns were a bit much to handle we decided to take the boys home. Malakai passed out in the car at 6:30, even with Desmond screaming in the carseat (which I can barely stand). He stirred once around 9pm but continued to sleep for 13 hours. It was a miracle really, since he never sleeps more than 9 hours at night, with or without a nap. Ben and I welcomed the extra sleep as we were super exhausted.

Speaking of sleep, Desmond has turned a corner and I think the colic is behind us (watch, it'll come back now that I'm saying something). He is sleeping so well at night and at naps. In fact, yesterday he fell asleep on his own for nap without his binky and slept for over 3 hours (with a feeding in between). Last night he slept for a 5 hours stretch! Sleep is good.

Back to our weekend...

We didn't venture out on Black Friday or really much of the long weekend at all. We didn't even get our Christmas tree, but Mima + G'Pa did. We headed over to their place to help them decorate. Malakai had a hard time listening to the boundaries we set for him, but he's a two year old and there were shiny things involved...can you blame him?

I can't wait to go get our tree this year. We had gone to nearby lots in the past, but this year we're headed to a tree farm to give Kai the whole experience. I might enjoy it more than he does...we shall see. 

Thankful on a Thursday

This Thanksgiving I'm thankful for a lot, here are just a few things...

901. my oldest sleeping sweetly in the next room

902. my baby wiggling happily next to me

903. getting home early enough from our festivities to relax and watch some tv with my man.

904. visiting with extended family that we don't see often enough.

905. mashed potatoes and turkey smothered in gravy, mmmm.

906. watching Malakai run around with our cousins.

907. a dry garage to return home to on a rainy night.

908. fitting into more of my pre-pregnancy clothing.

909. having Ben home for a 4 day weekend.

910. leftovers!

Happy Thanksgiving,

P.S. the current giveaway ends tomorrow night at 11pm PST. Go enter now!

Thanksgiving Baking

It's been a bit crazy around here. I've been catching up on laundry and other household chores. Our house is coming back together quite nicely, it feels good. But now that my kitchen is clean, I'm ready to bake for Thanksgiving (which means I'll have much more cleaning to do all over again).

I just wanted to pop in real quick and share what I'll be making for tomorrow's dinners. Yes, dinners, plural. We have two every year, the joys of having most of our family in the same town. It's really exhausting, but totally worth it to get to see everyone. All of Ben's extended family and some of mine will be meeting Desmond for the first time.

Last year I made pumpkin rolls, which are really yummy but fairly time consuming. So this year I'm cutting corners a bit and making pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting, adapted from this recipe.

What do you make/bring for Thanksgiving dinner?








P.S. don't forget to enter my current giveaway for a $20 credit to The Sunshine Stitch, ending Friday night. There's something for everyone on your shopping list!

quarantine

Wednesday evening Malakai + I came down with a cold. Thursday I had a splitting headache + sounded like a frog man. Kai was a bit fussier than usual, but we did the Thanksgiving thing anyway.

{with Aunt Kristi at Thanksgiving round 1}

{round 2, playing with his Aunt Nanner + 2nd cousins Regis + Isaac,}

Sadly, most of the food didn't have much flavor because of my congestion. I kept eating, but nothing was as satisfying as I knew it could be. Thankfully Malakai ate really well, mostly sweet potatoes, but I was able to sneak some turkey into it.

Friday Ben had the same symptoms we did and Malakai's congestion got worse. He's never been a drooler, even while teething, but the saliva has been flowing like crazy around here. We hardly know how to deal with it.

We called Malakai's new pediatrician, Dr. B and got in right away with the other doc in the office since she was out that day. We know many people who see Dr. V so we knew we were in good hands. I had a feeling that Malakai had an ear infection. His balance had been off and he started tugging on his ear that morning (something he also never did with teething, like other kiddos do).

After a very sweet interaction with Dr. V (complete with tongue depressors in Kai's toes) he confirmed that Malakai did have an ear infection. My poor sweet little bean. He also let us know that he'd be very contagious for about a week. With all the drooling, coughing, and sneezing he was doing we thought it would be best to cancel our plans for the long weekend and quarantine ourselves.

So we currently have an empty spot waiting for a Christmas tree, and were without groceries for most of the weekend. We had to watch the football game through our xbox by ourselves, and missed out on several other interactions with family + friends.

I did accidentally go "Black Friday" shopping at Target. I was waiting for Malakai's prescription and suddenly I was on the phone with my mom checking out deals for her. It was later in the afternoon though so everything was pretty much gone. That night Ben's parents brought us over leftover turkey, cookies, and a take + bake pizza since we missed out on coming over. Saturday morning they brought us "camper" cinnamon rolls which we were supposed to have with them. It was very sweet of them to help take care of us.

Thankfully Malakai loves his antibiotics, has begun to tolerate the daily saline and nose aspirator sessions, and has a fair amount of energy during the day. He's sleeping well despite his cough and is getting less cranky as the days go by.

{sleepy mama}

We are all very exhausted from the back to back sickness. It felt like we had just gotten over the flu (or whatever it was), then Malakai had an upset stomach for a few days, and next we were hit with this nasty cold. I am thankful that we followed our instincts and took Malakai in to the doctor when we did.

We're slowly but surely on the mend and will hopefully be able to come out of quarantine soon. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever!

Thankful on a Thursday: 400

It's going to be a whirlwind of a day for us with not one, but two Thanksgiving celebrations today. Just another great thing about having both my family + Ben's in the same town (most of them anyway). Malakai and I have also just come down with a nasty cold, but I'm going to choose a positive attitude and focus on the many blessings in my life.

How appropriate to reach 400 things on Thanksgiving Day. I am so thankful for...

391. the first snow of the season, putting everyone in the Holiday spirit.

392. Ben's hard work around the house. He cleared the leaves out back and made room for the car in the garage just in time for a heavy rain (which I got caught in) and the subsequent freeze.

393. moments Malakai takes a break from playing and just wants a quick hug + kiss, even if he also wants to kiss the remote, or my laptop cables. Silly boy.

394. a refreshing first meeting with Kai's new pediatrician. We liked her very much and are excited that her values are very much in line with ours. PLUS she's apparently the only pediatrician in Eugene that will email with parents. LOVE this!

395. when we get to stay in jammies all day.

396. our warm + cozy house.

397. my musical boys.

398. our jobs.

399. a bit of quiet playtime.

400. gathering with both sides of the family today.

What are you thankful for?