Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful around here.  The weather was glorious, the food was fattening, the dogs were cute, the couch was comfortable.  I had the whole week off (!), and enjoyed every single minute of it.  This past weekend, Chloe and I trekked down to Orlando to visit with our family down there where we ate and were spoiled rotten.

The week was happy and full and fun and relaxing and exactly what I needed.  Miss Chloe was an absolute delight, and I was very sad to see her go today.  Our human child will be very luck to have such a fun, cool aunt.

Here's what our holiday looked like, in way, way too many pictures.

 Well, hello there, 75 degrees!

Pumpkin crunch at Back in the Day.  I want to go to there.  For serious.

Torturing Reilly.

 Bought this table at a thrift store for $10.  Definitely thought it was smaller than it was.  The guys at the store didn't have any rope to tie it in my car, so they tied ties together.  So for $10, I got a table and four ties.  Score!

 Mmmmmmm, Vinnie's.  

 Chloe hearts crumbly pie crust ice cream topping.  She tried to take it with us to see Breaking Dawn.  Yes, we went to see Breaking Dawn.  In other news, I hate Bella.  And Edward and Jacob are both gross.

 Thanksgiving morning pumpkin pancakes with cranberries.

Angry Birds break.

 I'm obsessed with this cranberry apple casserole.

 Totes slept in that shirt and wore it all Thanksgiving day.  

 Dog plates.

Chloe became obsessed with making sweater skirts using old sweaters and this tutorial.

 Watching skydivers in Florida.

 Grandma and Darcey.

 "This is how the queen waves."

Chloe also became obsessed with marshmallowing.  After we made a batch of peppermint at Grandma's, I talked her through making another batch of vanilla once we got back home.  You know what I always say: "Give a girl a marshmallow, and you feed her for a day.  Teach a girl to marshmallow and you feed her for a lifetime."

So it's back to real life now.  Fortunately, I really like my real life (even if I do have to be at work at 7:00).  Also, fortunately, Christmas vacation starts on the 16th.  Fourteen school days and counting. . .

Happy Happy, Joy Joy!

Here's what I love right now.

1.  I love that I will be picking up my baby sister in like eleven hours.  You remember her, right?  Here's what she looks like.

2.  I love that Thanksgiving is fast approaching, and that we have a low-stress-high-gluttony holiday planned.  I also love that I have like 22 pounds of cranberries (oh, Sam's club. . .) and I get to have fun thinking of ways to use them (sorbet? pancakes? so many ideas!).

3.  I love the little lizards who have been hanging out on my screens all day.

4.  I love that my husband will lovingly nudge me in the direction of ellipting without calling me a cow--even when I try to avoid ellipting by pretending to have fainting spells.  I also love that he will bring me mini snickers bars to eat while I am on the elliptical.

5.  I love using the handicapped bathroom.  I especially love it when it means I get my very own sink.

6.  I love these happy dogs.

7.  I love pot roast.

8.  I love that I took my car into the shop this morning, and then got a coupon for $50 from our mechanic in the mail before I went to pick up the car.  I also love our mechanic.

9.  I LOVE having a whole week off of work.

10.  I love that I spent hours cleaning the house today, and that my house is cleaner than it's been in months, and that I had the windows open all day because we had a high of 80 degrees today--and the highs all week are supposed to be in the 70's and 80's.

Fun days ahead!  Don't be mad if you don't hear from us.  There should be lots to share upon our return.  Eat turkey until it hurts and drink a glass of wine (or five) for me!

Weekend Fun

What started off as a rocky weekend (What?  Dairy Queen is closed and I can't have a Blizzard?  Should we move to a house that is closer to a Dairy Queen or what?) turned out to be absolutely lovely and breezy.  We opened all of the windows and grilled and ellipted and watched too much TV.  I expanded The Blast's wardrobe by approximately 84 pieces.  (Girl across the street who has a little boy was having a yard sale and selling clothes for $.25/each.  And I got a pack n play for $5.  For the duration of the weekend, I sang the Subway "Five Dollar Footlong" song to Matt, substituting, of course, pack n play for footlong.  Matt has never been more excited to leave the house, methinks.)

I ate Taco Bell twice.  Why so good, Taco Bell?  Also, Matt says that if I were to go in for an ultrasound, the technician would be able to see a baby, and a chicken crunchwrap.*

I also pledged not to leave to house for most of the weekend, which meant that a bunch of those annoying little house projects that I've needed to do are getting done, and it means that I'm really feeling a deep connection with my Brothers & Sisters.  

Here's what it looked like.

Now I need to find a matching one for Mitch. 

 Reilly came to visit and to protect us from yard sale customers.

Mitch got some help with his chores.

 Clothesplosion!

 Wondering why we have all of these clothes when his father has strictly forbidden him from wearing clothes.

 As close as I could come to a Blizzard without putting in much effort.

With the guidance of a Shecky over the phone, finally cleaned out the linen closet. 

 Reilly votes that we keep the green blankets.

Now we've got to go see what's going on with that sexpot Nucky Thompson.  Happy week to you!

*Sidenote: Wouldn't it be cool if one of those baby websites would tell you how big your baby is by comparing its size to that of a fast food item?  "This week your baby is as big as a taco!"

Weekend Fun

We had a great weekend celebrating the births of Tom Cruise, America, and my favorite Jehovah's Witness crush from long ago.  (Oh, Aaron the surfer. . .)  True to form, we ate too much, drank too much, laughed a lot, played with the dogs, and enjoyed the company of friends.  Lovely, lovely, I tell you.

So here's what our weekend looked like.

I don't even know how it's possible to injure yourself on an elliptical, but I managed it.

Chicken chili from Dinner: A Love Story.  Mmmmmmmmm. 

 Holding hands with my dog child. Are you tired of pictures of my feet yet?

 Thank you, thank you very much.

 Car ride to visit Hugh and Cassie for the day!

The greatest potato skins on earth.

 

 Stand off.

Ribs! (Cassie's "Thanksgiving in July."  Um, okay!)

And ribs again!

 Matt went to the baseball game with friends.  I skipped it, took a nap, and watched fireworks from the couch.

Late night chats.

How did you celebrate the birth of our nation? And how did you celebrate the birth of everyone's favorite former pilot/sports agent/Irish immigrant/underwear dancer?