Thanksgiving... or was it?

Remember that grape juice trick I told you about in the last post? Not sure that it worked as well as I hoped. Frannie and I both got a touch of the stomach bug on Wednesday. So, we spent our Thanksgiving doing this.

I will spare you a picture of me doing the same thing. I don't look nearly as snuggly and cute. :-)

I have to say that I was very sad that we missed all of our Thanksgiving gatherings. Powerade and saltine crackers do not make a very good Turkey Day meal. Alas, there are plenty of leftovers. The thing I missed most, though, was getting to see our families and enjoy time with them. It is one of my favorite things to do.

Even though we spent our day snuggled in at home, I know there is still much to be thankful for...

...like a sweet, little fuzzy headed boy that wants to tell you about Star Wars to "make you feel better, Mom"...a little ladybug to snuggle with all day while you watch movies, and play Hungry, Hungry Hippo... a sister that can make you laugh through tears... or a husband who takes over when you just need to stay in the bed... or amazing parents who you know really do miss you when you aren't there....a family that has known you since the day you arrived in this world and always love you no matter what...friends that call to check on you or send a get well message... and the list goes on. There is much to be thankful for this year. Even if the "day" to be thankful didn't turn out as we had planned, I am still very much aware of how much we have to be thankful for each day.

I hope you all had tummies full of turkey and dressing yesterday! I am planning to give some leftovers a try at the end of the day. For now, I am going to try a cup of coffee. I missed that friend yesterday. :-)

Bring on Christmas! :-)

Busy..

We have been busy. And by busy I mean battling a stomach virus. And by battling I mean only Rush has it so far. And by so far, I mean the rest of us are trying this wild and crazy trick of drinking 100% Red Grape Juice that can only be found at Publix.

The plan is to drink this grape juice 3 times every day for three days... or I guess as long as you have someone sick in your presence. There's no help for Rush in this because he has already been bitten by the bug. The rest of us are keeping our fingers crossed. Although Phil rolls his eyes at me when I hand him his juice, he is participating. Rush is happy and so far things have been mild, but I don't want to test the waters with anyone else. Only thing is that Rush wants me to make him some scrambled eggs. He has been asking all day long. It makes me feel sad because I love to feed Rush anything his little self will eat. But alas, he only gets toast in small little squares because I am afraid of the violent vomit. Also, in hindsight, the blue Powerade might have been a poor choice. Oh, and also the red Powerade. That is all about that.

In other news, Tiny Dancer had her first performance of the year. We enjoyed watching her do her thing. She LOVES it! She told Sue Sue that there were lots of people there to cheer for her that weren't her mommies or her daddies. Last time I checked she only had one Mommy and one Daddy, but she loved the cheering regardless of all that. It is possible that they were there to cheer for their own little girls, but I am not sure she realized that. She felt like the star of the show apparently, and it's good for everyone to be the star every now and then. She has truly learned so much from this class that she takes each quarter. She watches her teacher's every move and happily dances away. We will start back in January.

Rush was also vying for Entertainer of the Year with his crazy faces. He really just wanted to play cars in the gym, but he watched and was a pretty good sport.

After she finished dancing, he told SF, "You did a good job with your dancing, Tee-ta." Love his sweet little heart!

We also enjoyed a camp out with Aunt Ivy, Uncle Tony, and Kate. And by camp out I mean we all piled into our house and found a place for everyone to sleep. And by found a place, I mean there were trundle beds and sleeping bags involved. It was really lots of fun! The kids LOVED getting to spend the night together... although they slept in separate rooms. We used to have fun times spending the night with cousins at the lake, so I hope the kiddos are making some of those same memories.

I can't handle the cuteness. And by cuteness I mean the pigtails. And by pigtails, I mean the cutie patootie ones sprouting from Kate's head with the little wavy ribbons tied in to look like 'Fwannie'. Love these babies!

Halloween 2012

Trick or treat! We had some fun this year with trick or treating and costumes! The twins have reached the age where buckets full of candy have some real meaning! Rush was beyond excited to go trick or treating, and Frannie was all fired up, too!

Note to self: Do not put the Halloween decor out quite so early next year. They thought this meant trick or treating was going to be happening relatively soon. It is a LONG way from Sept. 30 until October 31. A looooong way... filled with many, "Is it trick or treat day yet?" :-)

Our neighborhood had the cute little carnival that we have visited for the last couple of years. The kids had fun! They played a few games, decorated cookies, and took a few whacks at the pinata. They had a "little kids" pinata and one for the big kids. My two are still "little kids". The little kids don't really understand the whole concept of a pinata, so when the candy fell out, rather than attacking the candy and stuffing it into bags, they all calmly walked over and were very selective about what they placed in their bags. When the big kids got their turn, it was an all-out FRENZY to grab candy. Wonder when that desperate-ness for candy kicks in?

On Wednesday, after a whirlwind of forgotten ballet tights, ballet class, and homemade pizza, we finally made it out to trick or treat in our neighborhood. Just as a side note, it is a universal sign that you trick or treat at houses where the porch light is ON, right? Even though trick or treating had started in our neighborhood, we had our light off because we were trying to get the twins dressed, eat dinner, etc. Our doorbell rang NON-STOP even though the light was off. Kids were banging on the door and screaming for us to open it. Unfortunately for one group, I did open the door once. I may or may not have used a teacher voice to explain to them why we were not giving out candy at the time. Ooops. I felt kinda bad afterwards, but we were frantic inside, and the incessant ringing and banging just frazzled me even more.

Anyway, back to fun, cute, Halloween memories... We were doing just fine with trick or treating until we ventured to a house across the street where there was a young girl dressed as a witch. She was probably around ten years old. Didn't matter. Fran shimmied up her Daddy's side and firmly planted herself around his waist. She does NOT like anything in a costume that is remotely scary. Who are we kidding? She doesn't really like anything in a costume. Period. And the girl wants to go to Disney World. That would be a pretty pricey trip to spend with your face buried in your Daddy's shoulder. We have told her that we will consider planning a trip to Disney when she hugs the Easter Bunny and the Chick-fil-a cow. I think the Disney Budget will remain safely intact for some time to come. Rush, on the other hand, went right on up and got his candy.

After about ten minutes, she moved past the witch experience for the most part. I am pretty sure her heart rate stayed up for the rest of our little trip around the neighborhood.

When we got back home, we sat out in front of our house and passed out candy to the trick or treaters that were still out and about. The little boy in the Scream mask that arrived at the door just about did Frannie in for the night. She didn't cry, but she just stared at him. When he walked off, she told me she was ready to go inside. So, we called it a night.

Even though SF was a little scared, we had a good time! Rush had an absolute ball. He ate his first Tootsie pop when we got home. He loved it! For him, Halloween was a great success!