Thanksgiving

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone. I hope our guests enjoyed themselves! I paced my preparation, as did Edwin and once again it all came together in the end.

This year I had the idea for us all to write on a piece of paper something we were thankful for, something other than family, friends, health. Then, we all took turns pulling out a piece of paper and trying to guess who wrote it. It turned out well, was fun. I wrote that I was thankful for the 50 state quarters because I thought they were cool, on Anna's behalf I wrote she was thankful for the tall slides at the playground because they were so much fun.

Anna loved hanging out with the big kids, even though she couldn't really play games with them. I usually suggest to Diane that the kids bring something to do, and this year the big hit was the transformer-like figures Drew brought along. Anna loved them! Drew left one behind by accident, and Anna has enjoyed playing with it in addition to her babies. She talked quite a bit that day which was nice, other people don't always believe us when we tell them how much she talks. Funny girl. There was a time all of us adults were sitting with her by the fire and she started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the Itsy Bitsy Spider. Baa Baa Black Sheep is still a favorite, too.

Friday morning I began painting our downstairs bathroom. It had been a cinnamon-y brown color, which I had also painted after we'd moved in but have never really been happy with how it turned out. Now the bathroom is a darker gray, which looks quite striking with the white tile and trim. The work went well and I finished the final cleanup Sunday morning. Lucky for me I didn't need to do a lot of small brush work around the ceiling. I think I may use the leftover paint to repaint the entry by the front door sometime, we'll see!

Edwin spent part of the weekend reconnecting the speakers in the family room. At some point we'll get a wireless system, but for now we still have the wires and the old-fashioned stereo system. We both are on the slower end for adopting new technology ... it wasn't until after our wedding we got a DVD player, not until I was pregnant with Anna that we got a digital camera. The television I brought to our household, and which we still use in our bedroom, doesn't even have a hookup for a DVD player. Oh well.

Otherwise it was lovely to catch up and get some extra rest over the weekend. I was able to get to the Y and also to a movie--The Bourne Ultimatim, which is about to come out on video. Definitely a movie to see in the theater. I loved those movies with Matt Damon. Who would've thought he could pull it off? But he does, and is actually quite good in the role of trained-to-kill Jason Bourne.

I just picked up Anna's pictures from Target tonight. I dropped off a little gift for Julie and thanked her for all her efforts in coaxing a smile or two from Anna during this last photo session.

Lately, I've picked up the book Atonement to read. I started it on our vacation to South Carolina but never finished it. I've noticed it's been made into a movie, so I'm anxious to finish the book before possibly seeing the movie. The Kite Runner is set to release some time next month. I definitely want to make time to see that.

More another day.

Random Updates

Edwin joined me on Saturday as I attempted for a third time to have Anna's pictures taken. This time, we went to the Target Portrait Studio in Eden Prairie, and despite having yet another difficult time getting Anna to cooperate, in the end there were about 5-6 decent poses we could use for ordering pictures. Julie rocks, period. She's definitely worth driving to Eden Prairie. The pictures aren't available until the 26th, so it'll be a while before I'm able to send any out.

Our number one choice for removing our built-in air conditioners and doing other tasks around the house has neglected to provide us with a written estimate, so that work has fallen through for the time being. Sigh! Another winter with those nasty, plastic-covered things in the house. Blechhh! I didn't even take the plastic off them in the spring, I figured if you could feel cold air rushing in during the winter, cold air was probably rushing out through them during the summer as well.

Anna has been an eating machine lately. It's always so strange when this happens, and I just try to keep the food coming when she goes through one of these spurts as they don't occur very often. Sunday morning she ate a bowl of Wheaties with Edwin, then later when we all went out for breakfast had half of a very large pancake and some of my scrambled eggs! Soon we'll be switching her from whole milk to 2 percent. She knows the colors yellow, green, orange, blue, white and red, and sometimes mixes up purple and pink. She knows the letters A, B, C, D, E, K, M, O, P, R, and W. She loves the number 4, and I think also knows 2, 6, 9 and 0. Sometime I'll need to make a list of the words she says, new ones recently have been quesadilla, pretend, noisy, pumpkin, armadillo. Favorite books are Good Night Gorilla, Curious George Rides, and the When I go to the Playground/Store/Farm/Preschool books.

All for now, and it's late so I should be off to bed!

Tears, Gratitude, and Inspiration

One show I like to watch on the internet from time to time is Frontline. I'm not sure when it's usually on television, I don't know that I've ever watched it during its regularly scheduled time. The show has covered such fascinating topics, I've learned so much from it, and the show I watched recently has been on my mind for several days now.

The show which aired on October 30 was titled "The Undertaking", and on its surface interviewed a family of undertakers, the Lynches, who run a funeral home in Michigan. They spoke frankly about their role in their community, being a source of support and counsel to their fellow citizens in their time of need.

To be honest, I haven't been able to watch the complete show, as there is a family on the show who share their story and though at times it is inspiring it is also heartbreakingly sad. Nevada and Anthony Verrino have been preparing for the death of their young son, also named Anthony, since the day he was born. Little Anthony was born with severe birth defects, and they know that his time on earth is short.

Whenever Anthony is shown being held by one of his parents, you can't help but be drawn to his presence, it is really quite amazing to feel you are watching an angel.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/undertaking/stories/verrinos.html#4

A story I'll never forget, certainly wasn't expecting to affect me to this extent. I strongly encourage anyone to watch the show, especially the Verrinos' story. It will move you.

In Sickness and In Health

"Hot, Momma" Anna said a couple times on the drive home from daycare last Friday. No surprise, she'd insisted on zipping her coat as high as it could go and putting up her hood. I'm sure she was warm, but she didn't want her zipper down or hood down so I let her be and kept driving. She said "Hot, Momma" again, as I was unbuckling her to get out of her carseat. Those were her last words before she started vomiting all over herself, me, and the backseat of my car.

About four changes of clothes, several nasty towels and blankets, a dismantled car seat later, and a sleepless night for me, Anna was back to normal. Over the rest of the weekend I scrubbed her car seat the best I could, scrubbed my car the best I could, and patted myself on the back for being able to catch myself up on cleaning and laundry in a day.

Before becoming a mommy, I did feel confident that I could handle most of the typical baby things which came my way. After all, I'd done a ton of babysitting, read plenty of parenting magazines and heard plenty of stories from moms regarding their experiences. However, one area I felt a little iffy about was the vomiting--could I handle the vomiting? How could I do this, I hadn't been able to do it without getting sick myself.

Well last Friday proved to me I no longer need to worry. Poor girl. She was even apologizing to me a few of the times, saying "Sorry Momma". Sweetie, sweetie.

Sunday I felt great and thought we were home free, but that evening it was my turn to be sick, and Edwin was sick as well. I just kept thinking to myself "In sickness and in health."

Miss Boo is Two!!

Miss Boo turned two years old on Tuesday. As I did last year on her birthday, I took the day off from work to spend with her and made a couple appointments around town. First was a doctor's appointment--Anna is now 25 pounds and 33 1/2 inches tall. I also let her watch cartoons on PBS Kids, then later we had a photo appointment at Target. She did not cooperate at all, so I've rescheduled for this week. Keep your fingers crossed!

Later we all went out to dinner at the Rainforest Cafe. I'd had the idea weeks ago for us to go there, as we'd just seen all of my family for Charlie and Sharon's wedding, and will be hosting Thanksgiving at our house again this year. I'd called in advance to see if it was okay for us to bring a cake (it was) and if we needed reservations (for a Tuesday night, we didn't). It went really well, and Anna loved checking out all the fish tanks and looking at the different "animals" and attractions in the restaurant. Here's the birthday girl in her new sunglasses:



















Last night we had our first fire of the season in our fireplace. We still have a ton of firewood by the house, which Edwin says has now dried out perfectly and burns well. It certainly gives the pops and fizzes you would expect in a traditional wood fire, very calming. A couple months ago I finally found a new screen and tools from Pottery Barn ... the dimensions are perfect and the single screen is sturdy, and heavy enough that I no longer worry about Anna knocking it over if she gets too close. It looks lovely and got compliments from the company we had over to our house that weekend.

Halloween night our neighbors Nicolle and Mike invited us over for dinner and trick-or-treating. We love to receive the invitation as they have fine taste in food and wine and we enjoy their company, and their kids Maddie and Ethan. Anna loves their little dog, Barclay. Anytime we hear a dog barking in the neighborhood Anna perks up right away "Barclay? Barclay barking Momma" she says. So, between Halloween and the celebration at 50th and France a few days before, Anna got plenty of candy and plenty of attention for being a black kitty cat.

Our days have been full.