Birthday Parties, Thanksgiving, and a New Cousin

Our Thanksgiving was full, crazy, and fun.  The kids' last day of school was on Tuesday.  Since they weren't going to be in school for Ellie's birthday, we did cupcakes on Tuesday.  We can only bring store-bought treats to the public schools (kind of a blessing ;-)) so I picked ordered some cupcakes from Wal-Mart.  I also ordered the cupcakes for her actual birthday to pick up at the same time.  My issue was trying to figure out how to keep the twins out of four dozen cupcakes since one of them would be in the basket of the shopping cart with them.  I waited to get them at the end of our quick shopping trip.  Luckily, the nice lady at the bakery gave them each a little sugar cookie that kept them distracted while I checked out and got out to the car.  Then it was time to pick up Lincoln and stop by home to drop off the rest of the groceries.  I ended up putting a couple dozen cupcakes in a plastic container that was tall enough so I could put her cupcake toppers on.  I was being daring when we got to the school and asked Lincoln if he could carry the box for me.  He wasn't his usual helpful self and said no.  So I carried Miles in one arm and the box of cupcakes in the other with Bennett trailing behind.  It was definitely a test of patience as I am a very fast walker and Bennett was being extremely slow that day.  After we checked in at the office, we finally made our way to Ellie's room.  Thankfully it isn't too far down the hall.  We just sat down while they finished up some school work.  They did things a little differently and sang Happy Birthday to her first.  Then we handed out the cupcakes and they took them to lunch with them.  Ellie really wanted us to stay for lunch but I knew that wasn't possible with my crew.  And it was definitely time for us to go by the time we were done.  Once we started handing out the cupcakes, Miles and Bennett were getting antsy to get one but they were all slowly disappearing.  Ellie wanted to make sure her two teachers each got one and her kindergarten teacher.  There were also a couple girls from the class that were out at the moment, so soon they were all gone.  Miles and Bennett were not happy.  So when we were leaving, I had to pick them both up.  I again asked Lincoln to hold the now empty box and he fought me about it.  He even laid down in the office after I was signed us out when I asked him to pick up the box again-he was in trouble!  So that part didn't go as smoothly as I had hoped, but we got it done.  That night was another oops moment when Ellie and I pulled up at the gym for her tumbling lesson and it was all dark.  I didn't realize they weren't having classes that night. 

Wednesday was Ellie’s 7^th birthday and the kids didn’t have school so she got to do one of her favorite things-sleep in.  We love Ellie so much.  She has such a sweet heart and really cares about people.  She loves greatly and loves to give us hugs and kisses.  Her brothers may not always enjoy that part, but she doesn’t let them stop her.  It is so sweet to see her interact with her dad-the way she will just go lay on top of him if he is laying on the ground or just take a seat on his lap.  I do think Andrew is a little easier on her sometimes than her brothers-she makes him a softie J.  She has a new-found love for tumbling and you can find her continuously doing cart wheels, roundoffs, handstands, etc in our living room while she talks and talks and talks.  She loves to read, do anything artsy/crafty, ride her bike, and play with her friends and cousins.  But she also has fun going out to the ranch with her dad and hopes to go hunting next year and get a deer.   I joke that she and her dad are also alike on their idea of what clean is.  Ellie is a bit of a hoarder and her “clean” room shows that.  But thankfully she doesn’t really notice when I go through and clean out stuff when she is at school.  Even though she can get a bit sassy with us at home she is respectful at school and does well.  She is such a blessing to our family.

Lissy came by at some point during the day and gave Ellie some pink balloons she had leftover from a shoot.  Ellie was very excited-I think she thought Lissy got them just for her J.  She decided to write on them-it was kind of humorous.

 

 

We ended up just ordering pizza since we were going to have almost everyone there (around 40 people including all the kids) but I wasn’t sure when everyone when be getting into town.  But to make our pizza fancy like Eloise and the Plaza, we served it on silver platters.  There were a lot of kids there so the party got kind of loud and crazy in a kid-way.  The playroom was a disaster that I didn’t deal with for a couple of days J.  But it was great and Ellie had fun.  I did mess up with the gifts a bit.  I totally forgot about Ellie’s bike until later during the party.  She was still excited though. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the party it was time to put away Eloise and bring out Christmas.  It was a long night between cleaning up everything (I ended up with a pretty large pile of cupcake crumbs), taking down all the decorations, and putting up the Christmas stuff.  Once the first parts were down, it was kind of nice putting up the Christmas decorations without any interruptions.  It ended up being around 2 am before I got to bed, but it was nice to have it all done except the tree and putting out the Christmas China.  I had to get up early the next morning so I could make a couple of pumpkin pies to take to my parents that evening.  The kids got up and got to watch a bit of the Macy’s parade before we headed out to Andrew’s parents.  Mary asked if I could make a vegetable that my kids were eat for lunch, so lemon broccoli it was.  Not exactly your usual Thanksgiving side, but the kids did eat it.  We got out to Tom & Mary’s a little early so we could visit and the kids could all play together.  Then we went over to get a tour of Matthew and Kristin’s new house.  It isn’t done yet but it is going to be beautiful.  We are excited for them and I know they will really enjoy it.  It is a little easier to get to than their old house which will be nice for them.  After our tour it was time for the delicious lunch Mary prepared and then we were serenaded by the kids while Ellie played her new guitar. 

Then it was time to head back to town and after a quick stop at our house we went to my parents.  We had more visiting, playing, and yummy food.  It was our on-year for Thanksgiving, so it was a full house. Andrew wasn’t feeling very well with a cold, so he also had a little nap.

Jackson and Ellie stayed overnight for a sleep over while the rest of us headed home.  Jackson and Ellie were excited when I finally showed up around lunch time with their clothes the next day.   I had hoped to be there earlier but it always takes me longer to get stuff done than I think it is going to.  I did get some peppermint rice krispie treats made to bring over though.  We ate some leftovers for lunch and then we took the older group to see Frozen.  Andrew worked at the office a bit and picked the twins up to take them home for a nap.  We got to the movie early to make sure we got a seat but we got the time wrong.  It actually started 20 minutes later than we thought so we had some time to waste while we waited.  Some of the kids hung out in the arcade area for a bit.  Then things started filling up.  The kids really enjoyed the movie and so did I.  Lincoln didn’t even eat all of his Skittles. 

After the movie it was about time to head out to Matthew and Kristin’s for Ashlyn’s birthday party.  She had a Cinderella theme and was so excited to greet us in her Cinderella costume.  Ellie was supposed to dress up too but all of her dress-up clothes are well-played with and aren’t very suitable to wear outside of the playroom J.  Miles and Bennett were kind of grumpy that night-a lot of crying.  They even cried over their cupcakes. 

Andrew headed out to the ranch Saturday morning with the older kids.  I worked on finishing up some food labels/reserved table labels for my cousin, Kelly’s, wedding reception.  I also made some freezer paper stencils for the art project we were doing later with the kids.  Then the twins and I headed over to my parents for some lunch.  But I took the twins home soon after that as we headed out to see the Cleaver’s new house and picked up the older three.  Their house was beautiful and they thought of almost everything to include in it.  They have a two-level section in their playroom that has a climbing wall, slide, and trapeze bar.  The kids loved it and didn’t want to leave.  Molly said it is a good thing they don’t live in a neighborhood or else all the kids would be at their house all the time. 

After we finished with that house tour, it was time to do our craft project.  I bought a book a couple of years ago called Craft Hope.  It has different craft projects you can do in it to send to different organizations that give them to people in need.  Well in the Family Fun magazine this month, they featured one of their projects that was good to do with kids.  Simple no-sew super hero capes that are sent to kids in shelters.  Lissy got all the fabric for us, my mom cut it to the size we needed, and I got the other supplies and the stencils.  Then we got our little system in place.  We had the kids pick out the color of cape they wanted and what design they wanted to paint on the back.  Sara ironed on the stencil while my mom took the capes back and forth.  Amanda and I got to help the kids paint.  There were a few messy ones but otherwise they turned out cute and the kids had fun doing it.  My mom was nice enough to finish them up by adding the ribbon to tie them and mailing them off.

 

Saturday night we were brave and my parents took all of us out to eat at AJ’s.  It actually ended up going pretty well and we even celebrated my dad’s upcoming birthday.  Things looked messy when we were done but we didn’t have any major meltdowns.  Always a plus.

Sunday was another early morning, but a very exciting one.  Jackson was being baptized during the first service.  Since some of our family was able to come, I decided to have a brunch at our house afterwards.  So I had to get all of that ready to go.  I tried to prep as much as I could before we left.  Andrew had to work at his booth that morning, so he left a little earlier with the older three and I brought the twins later-and I was late.  Andrew was a little nervous about being the one to baptize Jackson because he was afraid of choking up in front of everyone.  But they both did great and I was proud of them.  You could tell Jackson was serious about his decision.  We can get impatient and frustrated with him at times but he has definitely matured over the last year.  He will help get the twins ready to go, ask me if I need help with anything, take the trash out.  He can be very grateful and give me hugs when he is.  He was also just nominated as Student of the Month for his grade again this month.  Not that he didn't sometimes do this stuff before, it is just that his level of maturity with them has developed.

Lissy and Molly left right after church to pull stuff out of the oven for me and finish setting everything up.  It was a nice, quiet celebration of a very important event and we were grateful we got to celebrate it with some of our family.

 

We stayed busy Sunday finishing putting up the Christmas decorations.  Andrew had to run out to the ranch to pull a dead cow out of the pond.  He wanted Jackson to go with him but I think Jackson was actually traumatized last year when they had to pull multiple cows out of the frozen pond.  He really didn't want to go this time.  Lincoln was all for it though and it didn't bother him at all.  While they were gone Jackson and Ellie helped me put up the tree while the twins napped.  They really want a real tree but I thought we would use the fake one at least one more year.  Hopefully the twins will be a little easier to take out tree hunting next year.  But Jackson and Ellie did help me put all the branches on and fluff them.  They loved going through their old ornaments and talking about where they were from while I got the lights on the tree.  Then we all decorated it and cleaned up the mess. It has been neat seeing the kids get excited about Christmas.  Miles and Bennett just kept pointing at the tree and saying, "Look, Mommy."  They also love watching The Polar Express.  The kids especially like seeing tree first thing in the morning.  I told Jackson that I used to like to be the first one up when I was a kid so I could turn the tree lights on, so he had tried to do that a few times.  Then Lincoln likes playing with the nativity set so that leads to us talking about the real Christmas story.  It is just a neat time of the year.

I also got my Christmas china put out and it was around this time that I started feeling achy.  I thought maybe I was just tired from the busy week but it stayed with me for a couple more days.  I think I had the flu-the cold, achy, tired, headache kind.  It slowed me down a bit. I had been doing pretty well with my triathlon training and ended up taking a break from that.  I still tried to get other stuff done but would have to lay down for a break every now and then.  Miles and Bennett would entertain me though. 

 

They like to play downstairs in the playroom, but also bring up random toys to play with upstairs.  I guess Bennett decided he liked the Strawberry Shortcake car.

 

Monday was my dad's birthday so we went over there to celebrate.  My mom actually let me come over even though she is terrified of getting the flu over Christmas.  They had fried chicken so Jackson and Ellie were very excited.  It did all taste delicious.  And of course my kids blew out the candles for my dad.

That night Andrew told me to just head to bed and he would take care of the kids and get them to bed.  It was very nice of him, but our problem is our bedroom is right next to the family room and they can all get pretty loud.  Ellie was doing her tumbling which sounded like loud thuds and the others must have been yelling and chasing each other.  So Andrew just turned up the volume of the tv so he could hear what he was watching.  I just kept thinking that they had to be going to bed soon and we all eventually fell asleep.  The rest of the week was business as usual including starting up small group again.  It also took some time to sell some stuff on Swap Shop.  It is always nice to clerk out some clutter. Thursday night we took dinner to the Powells.  Their twins are still in the hospital in Columbia but are getting better every day which is awesome.  We gave them some of the stuff we found useful with our twins-what an adventure they are beginning.  We had Parents' Night Out Friday night which Andrew and I enjoyed.  We opted to stay in though.  We dropped the kids off at the church and came home to watch a movie.  Andrew's cold had come back and he wasn't feeling that great.  Lissy had gotten into town earlier that day and called me to see if I wanted her to pick us up anything for dinner from AJ's.  So that worked out perfectly for Andrew and I.  We ate AJ's and watched Hunger Games.  We had never seen it before and it was a free Amazon Prime video.  So we tried out our new Google Chromecast and were able to watch it on the TV.  It was a nice, relaxing night and when we picked up the kids, Miles and Bennett were sitting in a Little Tikes car together watching Polar Express. 

 

Saturday was another early morning because we had to go to Jackson's swim meet in Columbia. Not Columbia-it was Ottumwa.   His warm-ups started at 8:30, so we dropped the twins off at my parents and headed north.  The meet was so much better than last years.  Last year it was Jackson's first meet and I don't think he was quite prepared for it.  Plus they had around 5 teams last year and this year it was just Kirksville and Ottumwa.  We were actually able to sit down and enjoy the meet this year.  Jackson's first event was the 50 Free and it was the only one that had his time from last year.  He got 3rd with a time of 49 seconds-30 seconds faster than last year!  The meet went pretty quickly since they combined a lot of events.  Towards the beginning of the meet I looked down to finally notice the shoes Lincoln had put on that morning.

Overall it was a good meet for Jackson and I'm glad he was able to participate.  Although after his 50 Fly, he decided he wasn't doing that one again.  He has decided to do the backstroke instead.  That was my favorite stroke, so I'm fine with that :-). 

After the meet, we ran by Target so the kids could do their Christmas shopping for each other.  Jackson and Ellie went with Andrew since they had Miles and Bennett.  Lincoln went with me since he had Jackson.  Then we ate lunch at Applebees and headed home.  We went straight to our house so Andrew could head out and cut ice for his cows.  He took Jackson and Lincoln with him while Ellie and I went to pick up the twins.  We had to get them home for a nap because we had a wedding reception to go to that night.  Ellie and I worked on making paper chains to put up for Miles and Bennett's Elf birthday party.  When Andrew got home he told me Matthew and Kristin were headed to the hospital.  I had texted her earlier during the day to see how she was doing and thought she would be going in soon.  But it was about time to head to the reception so we started getting everyone ready.  Lincoln was so excited to get his "office pants" on and thought he looked perfect.  He told the rest of us we either looked perfect or awesome.  It is funny how he likes getting dressed up sometimes.  I didn't get a picture of all of us looking awesome though.  We had a good time at the reception. Kelly did a great job with all the decorations.  She had a s'mores station that was super cute and a really neat popcorn stand.  The kids loved all of it.  Her cake table was really neat too with little windows standing on the table with wreaths hanging on them.  I thought we wouldn't last very long, but once the music started you couldn't get the boys off the dance floor.  Miles and Bennett loved the lights.  They were so funny to watch but hard to describe.  Bennett had a little container of popcorn that he was constantly eating out of while he started at the lights.  Miles did a little dance with his arms raised rocking back and forth.  Bennett would sometimes join in.  Then Jackson and Lincoln would bust out their moves.  I got quite a few comments from people who thought Jackson was a pretty good dancer.  They were all entertaining to watch.  It was a fun night and it was nice to see some of my family and friends.  And while we were waiting for dinner, we got a text from Matthew and Kristin announcing that Ainsley Nicole had arrived and everyone was doing well.  Very exciting news.

Sunday morning brought more cold temperatures and a little snow.  This cold weather means Andrew is going to have to spend a lot of time going out to cut ice for her cows.  Not fun.  He took the three oldest with him this time and spent all morning out there so we weren't able to get to church.  I think they helped cut ice around the ranch too.  Andrew said Jackson did a lot of the chopping and thankfully came back with all of his toes.  I spent the morning doing multiple loads of laundry and a variety of other things.  Looking ahead, we have a lot going on and I have so much to do.  I just need to stay on task and stay calm :-).  When Andrew got home we were able to go meet Ainsley at the hospital.  She is a cutie.  And it was so sweet when I was holding her, Jackson asked me if he could hold her.  It will be fun to have another girl in the family. 

 

 After our visit, we headed over to my parents for some Mexican for lunch.  Lissy was leaving, so she invited us over.  Then it was time to head home for the twins to nap.  Andrew had work to get done at the office and I had work to get done at home.  The older three spent some time playing outside in the little bit of snow we had.  It was slick enough to slide down the driveway though and that is what they did with some of the kids from the neighborhood.