Decorating

We went out this afternoon to pick out a Christmas tree. Chris and I have always had an artificial tree but this year we decided to try something different.

Yes, that is Owen hobbling along.

Chris picked the perfect tree. Just looking on as it is being trimmed.They had a machine that they put the tree on that shook the daylights out of it. I suppose to get the loose needles and any bugs off of it???

Ahhh......classic.

Everyonewanted to

**help**

She loves her baby dolls and blankies.

All done.

I wish I could figure out how to use my camera in the dark so you could see how pretty the lights look twinkling. But alas, my camera is too advanced for me and when I try this is what I get.

Here is our basket of Christmas books, puzzles and a couple of boxes full of a little people nativity set and a santa and sleigh set.

These are always favorites of the boys to pull out each year. And as a side note, Eliza is terrified of this snowman to the left; not sure why but she turns her head to the side and backs away from it if one of us has it.

Most all of my Christmas decorations are hand me downs. The nativity and the Santa on the top shelf were my mothers, the candy house on the middle shelf - my mothers, the blue glass block at the bottom was given to Chris and I from Grandpa Lewis. He made us 2 or 3 more but they have broken over the years. The little Christmas tree in the middle was Chris's as a child (or at least I think as a child - I know it was his and not mine) and the cloth tree to the right was, you guessed it, my mothers. Ah, and the candy dish on the second shelf - my mothers. :-)

And these are a few of my favorite ornaments. My mother painted this one and the ones below in 1976, I think. Her name and date are inscribed on the backs of them. Shocking that they have stayed intact all these years.The brown bear is my favorite.

Thanksgiving: Prep and Execution

We started yesterday evening prepping for our feast today.Ethan was very excited about making turkeys out of pine cones. We had been collecting the pine cones this week after school as we walked through the park.

I found the idea from another blog that I enjoy reading.

Next on the agenda was prepping our turkey. I bought a breast since I was sure we couldn't eat a whole turkey and found a recipe for a brine here.

I tweaked it slightly since we were only doing a breast.

And baby loved helping.

It was by far the best thing I could have done for the turkey. It was so incredibly juicy and flavorful. I feel like I have just been introduced to the secret of a good turkey.

After we put the turkey in the refrigerator to bathe over night we decided to plug and unplug the Christmas lights over and over.Talk about wild......we know how to cut loose over here. Watch out!

And then this morning, our Thanksgiving really got started.

So what was on our menu: Turkey, Cornbread Dressing (Courtesy of Grandma Dottie), Cranberry Sauce, Sweet Potato Casserole (Courtesy of Aunt Jan), Green Beans (Courtesy of Grandpa Lewis), Mashed Potatoes, Gravy and Rolls.

Turns out when I throw all the low cholesterol, low fat stuff out the window - I am a really good cook. I rocked this Thanksgiving. Everything tasted awesome. Chris even said "do you know why I wanted to have lunch instead of dinner?" I, of course, said no. He replied "so I can eat it all again for dinner." And those of you who know Chris, know he hates leftovers if that tells you anything.Before we started eating, Ethan said "I think we should all say something we are thankful for." He was thankful for mommy making his Thanksgiving dinner. Owen, well he was just thankful for mommy. I am doing something right. I just know it. Stay the course, mama.

And to top that off, he asked me if he could say his own blessing without the "God is Great" bit. It was perfect. For dessert, I made a pecan pie with whiskey maple cream sauce that will make you want to slap your mama. Whatever that means. It was a-mazing! The sauce is what put it over the top. I think I could have just ate the sauce by itself. Chris said I should make this and try it on lots of different things - mainly cheesecake. :-) I was thinking bread pudding would be good.
It wasn't long after we sat down to eat that baby started fading on us. Chris put the little to bed and we finished a wonderful meal together. Wonderful indeed.

I plan on printing out each and every recipe and keeping them together because there isn't one thing that I will change. My children are happy. My husband is upstairs puttering in "his room" and I am getting ready to look at all the black friday ads. To say I am thankful just doesn't quite explain it. A better description would be to close your eyes, take a deep breath, feel the tears of joy just beneath the surface - exhale and know God is Good. God is so Good.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A Feast for All

Owen's class held a Thanksgiving feast yesterday for all the parents to attend. We each brought in an item to share and the school provided nuggets.The children filed into the gym singing and signing a song of praise to God for all that they were thankful for.

Owen was so proud of his tunic and his feathered headdress.

And I just love

these beautiful

brown eyes.

Getting my Rear Kicked

This whole broken leg thing is really kickin' my rear. Forget carrying a camera around trying to capture photos of my children - I am still carrying around 2 children. And let me tell you getting three children in and out of the car is no small feat when 2 of the 3 I have to do everything for. And let's not even get into bath time or potty time or changing clothes. I have found I just take a deep breath and say, this isn't a race. It may take longer, my back may (read: will) ache, but I can do this. And I do.

I have managed to take a few pictures here and there - none of them good - mind you. And Owen has a friend over right now so I can actually type this so here are a few. Enjoy them. Savor them. Cause I don't know when you will see more. :-)

December 3 he gets the full leg cast off and a new one put on provided the x ray shows his leg is still healing properly. The next cast has the potential to be a little smaller - below the knee or a "walking" cast. Let's hope so. This mama needs a break.

Update

We are doing a little better each day. Owen's pain is being managed much better and he is starting to put weight on his right leg to balance himself when I am trying to pick him up or put him on the potty or whatever. He slept in his bed last night for the first time since Friday and did ok. He wasn't happy about it but he did fine. A friend of mine stopped by today and brought us a sit and stand stroller so we tried it out today and met Chris for lunch. We may try to go to the mall tomorrow and drop off our letters to Santa at Macy's. Ethan is out of school for Veteran's Day and let's face it, keeping Owen confined to a stroller at the mall is not such a bad thing.

Uncle Cam stopped by yesterday and spent a few hours with Owen playing the Wii which was a blessing. Owen is a mama's boy and all, but video games are just not my thing - not to mention Eliza isn't going to let me sit on the couch with Owen and ignore her. So having Cam here was wonderful! The only downfall? Owen was talking about Cam last night and Ethan said "What?" And we had to tell him Cam stopped by to play with Owen and so the tears started to flow. He said "I NEVER get to see Cam!" Accent on the NEVER.

This afternoon Owen's teacher from preschool is stopping by to bring Beatrice's brother, Buzzy. This would have been Owen's weekend to bring him home and since he couldn't make it to school, she is bringing him here. Very, very kind of her. Plus she mentioned the children had made something for him so she wanted to drop that off too.

Two other friends of mine have brought dinner by the past couple of nights which has been so very helpful. Ethan asked me yesterday "What do you think Mrs. Sweeney will bring us tonight?" I told him that she was being a good friend to mommy and helping me out, but not for every night. She has been stopping by each morning and picking Ethan up for school and bringing him home in the afternoons as well. That has been a tremendous help! Tonight we get to eat thanks to the Parsonese family. How nice it is not to have to think about dinner. Having new mom friends is such a blessing.

So that is an update on us. We are still doing our thankful turkey, although I haven't posted our thoughts the past few days. I can't imagine why?!?!? Ethan is usually the first to want to do his feather in the morning.

One little sweet thing about Owen - each time I pick him up to take him to the bathroom or move him to another room or whatever, he puts his little arms around my neck and says "I love you, Mommy." Makes it a little easier knowing he is grateful.

Focusing on the Important Things

We are thinking of homeschooling so he can concentrate on those things that really matter.

Thankful: Day 7

While I was waiting on dinner to finish cooking tonight I laid down on the couch and honestly thought I wasn't going to be able to peel myself up. Owen still didn't sleep last night. The medicine they gave him, which by the way is the same narcotic that I took after having 3 c-sections, doesn't work for him nearly as well as it did for me. Granted, I am sure the dosage is slightly less, but still. Finally last night at 4am he settled down enough, or wore himself out enough, to go to sleep until 10am. I am hoping tonight will be a little better. You can't blame a girl for hoping.

Needless to say, there were no pictures taken today. So here is a sweet one of Owen from a couple of weeks ago.

As for our thankfulness, here ya go!

::Chris: Our friends.
::Owen: God making my dad and my brother.
::Ethan: Thankful that daddy cleaned up my milk that Eliza spilled at dinner.
::Tricia: A close family that loves my children.

Here's to a full nights rest.

Thankful: Day 2/2 of 5 and Day 6

We have had a rough 18 hours in our house. Turns out Owen broke his leg last night.

After no sleep for either of us, I called his pediatrician to see where I should take him this morning without embracing the chaos of the emergency room. She recommended an urgent care that is connected to Wake Med because they have x ray capabilities so off we went.

Diagnosis: He broke his tibia and praise God it reset itself perfectly. They put a temporary cast on his leg and wrapped it just to stabilize it. He will see an orthopedist on Monday for a permanent cast. He has been in a lot of pain over the past 18 hours but is finally resting comfortably with the help of some Lortab.

So without further ado; we are thankful today.

::Ethan: Camping trips with daddy and making smores.

::Owen: I took the liberty of doing his for him today since he is out of it. He talks about his new school all the time so I said he is thankful for his new school.

::Chris: Lazy weekends with my family and our health.
::Tricia: Good health care benefits.

Ethan and Chris are off again for swim lessons this morning. Poor Owen will have to drop swim lessons and basketball for the winter. We were told he will probably be in a cast for 6-8 weeks. Definitely through Thanksgiving and potentially Christmas. Poor baby.

Thankful: Day 1/2 of 5

Ethan and Chris didn't do their feathers today because we were scrambling around to get their camping stuff together so today will just be Owen and I and I will post theirs tomorrow sometime.

::Owen: Thankful mommy helped me clean up the play room.

::Tricia: The change in seasons.

We stayed around the house today so that I could get caught up on laundry, vacuuming and other such torturous activities. I hate housework. Hated it when I worked full time. Hate now that I am home. Not very Proverbs 31 of me, is it?

If you look closely at the Misses eyes you can see that they are red. That is red because she was tired and refused to nap today. Which made for a pleasant afternoon for all of us.

She is practicing going up and down the stairs. Going up is a breeze, coming down takes more concentration. Although it should be noted that she only breezes up the stairs when I am not watching her and she is getting away with something. If I am there with her, hands usually full of something, she will just sit on the bottom step and look at me as if I am her personal escalator.

She is getting it.

Always dragging a blanket with her.

When she is in her crib and won't go to sleep she will often throw her blanket out of the crib, I imagine because she gets mad and is really "going to show me." But what ends up happening is it only makes her more angry at herself because then she is without her blanket and still stuck in her crib. Tough life this one has.

Note dark circles under her eyes. I have them too. Only I would love to be getting more sleep. You won't catch me throwing my blanket out of the bed and screaming for someone to come get me. Quite the opposite, I may scream if someone does come and get me.

I was talking to another mother the other day at school pick up and she said something to the effect that motherhood is so joyful - and sometimes it is even more joyful than others. Insert sarcasm. No nap days are the more joyful days of my life.

We went out to Chris and Ethan's camp site for a little while tonight and Owen was playing on a teeter totter; I am not sure what happened but something did and he was screaming. I ran over to him and had to carry him to a chair. I looked at his leg and nothing is protruding. It isn't bruising yet. But he still can't bare weight on it and continues to cry and whimper. He iced it for a bit and is laying next to me now. We will see how it is tomorrow but it won't surprise me if I end up taking him in for an x ray.

That's it from where I sit.